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Editor's Note: This is the second post in a two-part series on sustainability initiatives at Longfellow Sports Clubs in Sudbury, Wayland and Natick, Massachusetts. In case you missed it, you can read the first post here.
In Part I of this two-part article, we showed how this Massachusetts-based health club company has made dramatic improvements in waste reduction, water usage efficiency and toxic chemical elimination -- significantly enhancing its financial performance and providing a safer and healthier environment for club patrons. Here, we discuss its energy efficiency improvement initiatives as well as its highly successful efforts to encourage sustainable practices in the communities in which it operates.

Lighting retrofits save cash and cut consumption

Starting in 2007 and going through early 2010, the company began switching ceiling and tennis bubbles over to fiberglass insulation. The insulation saves LFC an estimated $2,000 to $2,500 in heating and cooling costs each year. Throughout 2009, LFC upgraded its air conditioning systems at three facilities to more efficient units. This upgrade has an accumulated savings of $32,000 annually for the company in energy consumption. The Longfellow Clubs has identified lighting as a significant opportunity for it to save money and reduce its environmental footprint. It has spent the past 12 years conducting on-going changes and upgrades, and being a local test bed for emerging lighting technology. It contracts with local companies to conduct the changes, in turn, supporting its local community businesses.

Lighting tennis courts is tricky: There are rules established by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) that address color, glare, contrast, horizontal luminance, uniformity of luminance and obtrusive lighting. The rules grow exponentially when the tennis facilities are being used for higher ranks of play such as regional tournaments and international competitions. In addition to the ITF rules, there are local city and county rules that also must be followed. The tennis court lamps were replaced with induction lamps at one club in early 2011 and at a second facility in late 2012. The induction lamps are a lighting breakthrough: LFC has been able to replace its 1,000-watt lamps with 500-watt lamps meeting or exceeding luminosity and other factors defined by the ITF rules. The new lamps last 70,000 hours longer, depreciate slower, reduce glare and have decreased electric lighting expenses by over 40 percent.

In early 2014 LFC launched its interior lighting improvements. The old fluorescent bulbs are being replaced with Super-T8 bulbs. New interior lighting often requires a complete retrofit of the ballasts and other physical infrastructure. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, these infrastructure retrofits represent up to 80 percent of the cost of lighting projects. LFC found a way to avoid having to retrofit or dispose of the still-usable physical infrastructure: The new Super-T8 tube fluorescents enable LFC to replace just the bulbs. The new bulbs will reduce LFC’s lighting costs in excess of 55-percent.

Community engagement from the top down

Like many small businesses, the initial sustainability journey for LFC was started because of the founders’ values. Over time Laury Hammel, co-founder and CEO, has reached out beyond Longfellow Clubs to the surrounding community and engaged both households and other businesses to further drive environmental stewardship and awareness.

He put together a sustainability framework, established a nonprofit group (Sustainable Business Network) to help other small businesses pursue sustainable business practices, defined metrics for successful implementations, and engaged his staff, members and patrons. The recycling program was launched as part of a comprehensive program aimed at raising environmental awareness. In 1985, and for the next decade, LFC held an Earth Day celebration for the entire community. The celebration included such activities as removing dumped waste from a public recreation area, having a roadside clean-up, hosting an Earth Day concert and hosting a trade show for green products. This annual event drove home the sustainable earth message. Longfellow Clubs has turned over the annual celebration to other community organizers and now acts as a participant in the events.

The firm has evolved its efforts to driving environmental awareness to individuals and their households. It has hosted numerous campaigns encouraging people to measure, track and reduce their own energy numbers. The recycling efforts at the clubs, coupled with encouraging staff, members and patrons to do the same outside of the facilities is a continuous effort to change behaviors within LFC’s sphere of influence.

As an active member of the New England business community, and a proponent of businesses reducing environmental impacts, LFC enjoys sharing the story and benefits of its sustainability initiatives. LFC has opened itself up to being a test bed for emerging sustainable technologies, unequivocally demonstrating that a business can be both green and profitable. For example, since 2010 the Super-T8 tube fluorescents have been installed in 30 other buildings across the northeast.

Longfellow Clubs Total Resource Percentages Saved
Facility Location	Years Measured	% Decrease from the 1st Year
Wayland: Water	2006-2013	37.29%
Wayland: Electric	FY10 to FY13	12.12%
Wayland: Gas	FY09 to FY13	26.51%
Natick LSC: Water	2008 to 2013	0.96%
Natick LSC: Electric	FY11 to FY13	7.74%
Natick LSC: Gas		7.41%
Natick NRC: Water	2008 to 2013	64.51%
Natick NRC: Electric	FY07 to FY13	26.65%
Natick NRC: Gas	FY08 to FY13	32.39%

In its latest corporate social responsibility report, Hyatt Hotels revealed a new set of environmental goals that it's calling the Hyatt 2020 Vision.

One of the goals involves sustainable design: Starting in 2015, Hyatt will require all new construction and major renovation projects contracted for managed hotels to follow sustainable design guidelines. Starting next year, all new construction and major renovation projects for wholly-owned, full-service hotels must achieve either LEED certification or an equivalent certification.

The 2020 vision also includes reduction goals: Each of Hyatt’s three regions will reduce energy use, water use and greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent per square meter. The goal for water-stressed areas is to reduce water use by 30 percent. Additionally, every managed hotel will recycle or some how divert waste from landfills by 40 percent.

Some environmental goals have targets earlier than 2020, and one of them concerns sustainable sourcing: Hyatt partnered with World Wildlife Fund to develop responsible seafood sourcing goals. The hotel chain will source over 50 percent of its global seafood purchases from responsible sources and over 15 percent from Marine Stewardship Council- or Aquaculture Stewardship Council-certified fisheries and farms by 2018.

How Hyatt will meet energy, water and greenhouse gas reduction goals

In order to meet its energy use and GHG emissions reduction goals, Hyatt has invested in energy efficiency upgrades that include lighting, heating, and ventilation and cooling systems, as well as kitchen and laundry equipment. In 2013, Hyatt implemented over 200 energy reduction projects which will reduce GHG emissions by an estimated 20,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year.

Hyatt will reduce water use by using less water, recycling water where possible, and encouraging its colleagues and partners to develop innovative water efficiency solutions. Hyatt has already reduced water use by installing water-efficient fixtures, laundry and dishwashing equipment, plus implementing water-conserving landscaping practices. Additionally, in 2013, 66 percent of its full-service hotels around the world reported that at least 90 percent of their guest rooms use low-flow toilets.

Hyatt is making progress in cutting its waste in two ways: by reducing the amount of waste its hotels generate and increasing reuse and recycling programs. Hyatt is already making progress. Over 84 percent of its managed hotels around the world recycle at least one waste stream. Over 50 percent of its full-service managed hotels have established programs to donate untouched food, gently used toiletries, furniture and electronics to local shelters and charities. Hyatt partners with Clean the World, a nonprofit organization based in Orlando, Florida, to donate excess soap and shampoo products to impoverished people around the world. In 2013, Hyatt donated over 80,000 pounds of soap and shampoo products.

Sustainable design is becoming a part of Hyatt

Hyatt has made progress when it comes to sustainable design. By mid-2014, 14 of its properties were LEED certified, including its headquarters. Over 75 percent of interior lights are energy efficient at 80 percent of its hotels. Over 50 percent of its hotels have tinted or filmed windows and 32 percent have cool or green roofs. Over 90 percent of guest room toilets are low flow at 66 percent of its hotels. Nineteen hotels source power from on-site renewable sources such as solar, wind and geothermal.

Hyatt’s Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort is a good example of its sustainable design program. The hotel opened in 2013 and achieved LEED silver certification in 2014 the hotel has a stormwater management system. It features high efficiency energy systems that include variable speed chillers, motion-sensor lighting controls, LED lighting and in-room automated temperature controls. It also has an on-site solar thermal system that meets almost four percent of its annual energy needs.

Donating to literacy programs

In addition to its environmental goals and achievements, Hyatt invests in literacy programs around the globe. It launched Ready to Thrive, its corporate philanthropy program which focuses on literacy and career readiness, including a $750,000 investment in career readiness programs in Brazil. It built 11 libraries and supported reading and writing programs in 30 schools through a partnership with Room to Read in India. It donated 35,000 books to kids in need around the world through Room to Read and We Give Books.

Image credits: Hyatt

British high street retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) has agreed a landmark deal with Future Biogas for the purchase of 35,000 megawatt hours of biomethane certificates, a move which will reduce its carbon footprint by over 6,400 tonnes and source the equivalent amount of energy to heat 15 M&S Simply Food stores all year round.

Biomethane gas is 50% more carbon efficient than average gas supplies and is generated by anaerobic digestion, fuelled by farm waste.

The biomethane gas will be produced at the Vulcan Anaerobic Digestion plant  near Doncaster (pictured above) using break crops (non-commercial crops used for soil regeneration) from farms across Yorkshire and the North East. The gas is then pumped into the national grid. 

M&S’s deal with Future Biogas funds the production and M&S benefits from the carbon reduction through the certification scheme.

Gio Patellaro, M&S Head of Energy Supply & Risk commented: “As the first UK retailer to buy biomethane to use in this way, we are blazing a trail in the market place that we hope others will follow. With the help of Future Biogas, this deal takes us one step further in our commitment to ensure 50% of the energy used in M&S buildings comes from certified green biomethane sources by 2020.”  

With a busy week behind you and the weekend within reach, there’s no shame in taking things a bit easy on Friday afternoon. With this in mind, every Friday TriplePundit will give you a fun, easy read on a topic you care about. So, take a break from those endless email threads, and spend five minutes catching up on the latest trends in sustainability and business.

Just like everyone else, we're sad to see the summer go. But the good news is: With the fall season comes loads of thought-provoking conferences to get the creative juices flowing. Here are 15 we can't wait to hit this year.

1. NewCo San Francisco

For a third consecutive year, San Francisco’s most innovative companies will open their doors to executives, entrepreneurs, investors and future influencers during NewCo San Francisco. Notice is a bit short for this one (the SF event takes place next week), but Newco is going around the world with similar conferences in host cities like New York, Los Angeles and London.

September 11-12 in San Francisco Click here to register (discount to VIP reception with code "TriplePunditSF2014"), or follow along at #NewCoSF

2. Corporate Social Media Summit

The Corporate Social Media Summit San Francisco is a two-day event that welcomes some of the world's most social brands. Senior-level speakers like Lisa Anderson of Southwest Airlines and Jennifer Lashua of Intel offer insight into how social can drive business growth and competitive advantage.

September 15-16 in San Francisco Click here to register ($200 discount with code "TP200"), or follow along at #CSMSF

3. Social Good Summit

Presented by the tech gurus over at Mashable, along with the United Nations Foundation and the U.N. Development Program (UNDP), the fifth annual Social Good Summit focuses on how innovation and new media can be leveraged to benefit people everywhere, to create a better world by the year 2030. Speakers include Mashable founder Pete Cashmore, Helen Clark of UNDP and Yael Maguire of Facebook -- just to name a few.

September 21-22 in New York City Click here to register, or follow along at #2030Now

4. SB New Metrics 2014

Hosted by Sustainable Brands, this conference includes three days of in-depth discussion with thought leaders seeking to expand "the way business creates, quantifies and manages the value it delivers through the metrics it adopts," SB says on its website. This year's speakers include Bahar Gidwani of CSRHub, Tom LaForge of Coca-Cola and Lindsay Clinton of SustainAbility, among others. If you're into topics like lifecycle analysis or using the web to drive sustainable innovation, this is the conference for you.

September 24-26 in Boston Click here to register (discount code: "NW3pNM14"), or follow along at #NewMetrics

5. SxSW Eco

This eco-centric spinoff of the popular South by Southwest (SXSW) conference is now garnering just as much attention as the original. The lineup includes sessions on topics like climate change, social impact and urban planning, as well as learning and collaboration opportunities like mentor sessions, an eco exhibition and Startup Central, which features up-and-coming startups.

October 6-8 in Austin, Texas Click here to register (discount code: "reg-eco-tpr_5kp0hnngrt"), or follow along at #SXSWEco

6. We First Brand Leadership Summit

The annual We First Branding Summit brings together more than 200 leaders from the most influential brands and nonprofits in the world to learn how brand storytelling and the latest social and mobile technologies can help build their business sustainably. This is no ordinary conference: It’s a hands-on executive training summit focused on helping companies protect their brands against compounding social crises, fast-changing technology and rising consumer activism and establish themselves as leaders in the social business marketplace.

October 7-8 in Los Angeles Click here to register (code "TRIPLEPUNDIT" saves $500), or follow along at #WeFirst14

7. Commit! Forum

The annual Commit! Forum attracts C-suite executives, sustainability directors and nonprofit leaders to discuss topics like corporate responsibility, balancing sustainability and profit, and building sustainable workforces and supply chains. This year's speakers include New Balance CEO Rob DeMartini, CVS Caremark CEO Larry Merlo and Ecolab CEO Douglas M. Baker, Jr.

October 8-9 in New York City Click here to register, or follow along at #CommitForum

8. SharingValueAsia Summit

The SharingValueAsia summit, developed by the PublicAffairsAsia network, is the region’s leading forum on shared value. This full-day, corporate-led conference will "examine how the 'era of empowerment' can be seized to drive Asia Pacific’s next wave of social, economic and environmental advance," SharingValueAsia says on its website.

October 9 in Singapore Click here to register, or follow @SharingValue for the latest.

9. Bioneers Summit Conference

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Bioneers Summit Conference, a leading conference on biomimicry and resilient communities. Biomimicry thought leaders from all over the world will share their thoughts and explore how going back to nature can create a more sustainable world.

October 17-19 in San Rafael, California Click here to register, or follow along at #Bioneers14

10. Greenbuild International Conference and Expo

With New Orleans as a host city, it makes sense that the theme for this year's Greenbuild is 'Leadership Jazz.' Featuring three days of speakers, networking opportunities, showcases, LEED workshops and tours of green buildings in New Orleans, Greenbuild offers a place for thousands to gather and find out what's new in the world of green building. (The U.S. Green Building Council also turns 21 this year, and we couldn't think of a better place than the Big Easy to toast their success.)

October 22-24 in New Orleans Click here to register, or follow along at #Greenbuild

11. Verge San Francisco

Hosted by GreenBiz, the annual Verge conference in San Francisco explores the technologies and systems that accelerate sustainability solutions across sectors. It focuses on transformative but practical, scalable solutions for a climate-constrained world. From next-gen buildings and resilient cities to food systems and smarter supply chains, this six-program gathering is sure to impress.

October 27-30 in San Francisco Click here to register, or follow along at #VergeSF

12. Sustainatopia 2014

Consisting of five conferences and a broad-ranging festival, Sustainatopia brings together the global ecosystem of social, financial and environmental sustainability in one of the most varied ways out there. Whether you're interested in impact investing, healthy living or sustainable strategies, there's truly something for everyone.

October 29 - November 2 in Los Angeles
Click here to register, or follow along at #Sustainatopia

13. SB London 2014

The international Sustainable Brands community is gathering in London this fall to reimagine what's possible and look for opportunities to redesign every aspect of their business. Speakers this year include James Goodman of Forum for the Future, Phil Townsend of Marks and Spencer, Karen Little of Kiva and many, many more -- discussing topics that range from sustainable brand innovation to consumer engagement. So, if you happen to be across the pond this November (or wouldn't mind making the trip), this is definitely one to check out.

November 3-5 in London, U.K. Click here to register (discount with code: "NW3pSB14L"), or follow along at #SB14London

14. BSR Conference 2014

The 2014 BSR Conference is all about transparency and transformation. It focuses on how transparency can transform things like supply chains, energy and climate, and consumer engagement, and how businesses are managing differently in a fully transparent world. The three-day conference includes more than 40 sessions with over 100 speakers, including the likes of Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo, Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, and Sir Andrew Witty, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline.

November 4-6 in New York City Click here to register, or follow along at #BSR14

15. Net Impact Conference 2014

Net Impact is a nonprofit that empowers a new generation to use their careers to drive transformational change both inside and outside the workplace. Its annual conference features more than 350 speakers in 100 interactive sessions, as well as an expo that connects attendees with more than 90 companies, nonprofits and social enterprises. This one's sure to get you inspired.

November 6-8 in Minneapolis Click here to register, or follow along at #NI14

Of course, there are plenty more, but we don't want to keep you here all day. Which upcoming conferences are you most excited about? Tell us about it in the comments section!

Based in Philadelphia, Mary Mazzoni is a senior editor at TriplePundit. She is also a freelance journalist who frequently writes about sustainability, corporate social responsibility and clean tech. Her work has appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, the Huffington Post, Sustainable Brands, Earth911 and the Daily Meal. You can follow her on Twitter @mary_mazzoni.

The first annual Impact Weaver Award recognizes the internal leaders that work behind the scenes to build the team and operational infrastructure that make up a successful organization.

Friday Consulting, in partnership with Social Capital Markets (SOCAP) launched this award to recognize the unsung heroes of social entrepreneurship. Friday Consulting’s Founder, Shivani Ganguly, notes, “We frequently praise the founders of social enterprises for their vision and willingness to take on the challenges and great risks that come along with building a successful venture. However, we tend to forget about the internal leaders that build the team and make the hundreds of strategic and tactical decisions needed to bring the vision to fruition.”

Triple Pundit: Congratulations on winning this year's Impact Weaver Award! Can you tell us a little bit about you and your company?

Lindsey Engh: Hi! I'm Lindsey, and I'm lucky enough to work with an incredible team to make Impact Hub Seattle a reality. Our revenue model is based on coworking, events, and educational workshops, but at our core we are a community of individuals working at the intersection of technology and social good. We believe that strong human relationships underline everything we do, and we also recognize that everyone has a unique set of skills and passions that, when recognized and activated, can change their sense of self-worth, which in turn, changes the world one person at a time. Our mission is to equip every individual who walks through our doors with the tools they need to make their most impact possible.

As for myself, most of my time is spent at Impact Hub -- I'm a co-founder and manage most day-to-day operations. I'm pretty easily excited by a delicious Jasmine Pearl tea, T-shirt cycling weather, excellent non-fiction, my bike, going to bed early and waking up even earlier (4 a.m.!), dancing, and a cozy grey Seattle day spent curled up reading.

3p: How has weaving has helped you solve business challenges? Can you share an example?

LE: The biggest lesson I've learned in entrepreneurship is that you can't do everything. As an internal leader, the most important thing I can do to make Impact Hub Seattle into a success is hire for my weaknesses, and then make sure that I wake up every day asking myself two questions: 1) What can I do to clear a path for my people? 2) How can I further work myself out of a job?

One quick example: Working in the social sector can be tough, because you have long hours and big demands coupled with mediocre monetary compensation. Many times, the people who choose to work in the social sector do so because they truly care about the mission -- but as a leader, it's important to remember that no one is 100 percent altruistic, and if you don't remember that your team members are people with personal ambitions and goals, you may run the risk of burning them out. At our annual team retreat, we ask everyone to come prepared to share their selfish motivations for working at Impact Hub with the rest of the team -- their selfish motivations are the completely non-altruistic, 100 percent selfish reasons why they wake up every morning to do the work they do. We write them down and then post them in our office. Whether those motivations are increased speaking opportunities to expanding their current community to the ability to use Impact Hub to launch their own ventures or interests, both as a team and as internal leaders, we make sure to put each other in positions where our selfish motivations are realized on a consistent basis.

3p: What does it mean to you to be a social entrepreneur?

LE: We actually tend to shy away from the term social entrepreneur, as we find that the description is a bit exclusive because people need to self-identify as such. When we were first starting Impact Hub Seattle, we met so many incredible people whom we thought were social entrepreneurs, but they didn't think of themselves that way! That being said, sometimes a buzzword does help to refine a new way of thinking; I think the buzzwords around social enterprise have helped give rise to a new way of thinking about business.

Consider this: Fifty years ago, increased profitability was the only growth pattern a company should have. Fast forward twenty years, and the term social enterprise was coined by Bill Drayton. Of course, social enterprises existed before that term was coined, but the creation of that buzzword helped give rise to a public conversation, and then to a new trend in business that hadn’t been there before. In the last ten years, we’ve seen huge growth in self-identified social enterprises all around the world, and those buzzwords like 'social entrepreneur' and 'social enterprise' have became part of the public psyche, making it easier for traditionally corporate companies to shift their thinking about profit and what that means in different ways.

To me, social enterprise refers to business as it should be - human-centric, problem-based instead of solution-based (meaning that a business idea grows organically because the problem exists first), the mission is long-term growth instead of a short-term acquisition, the company considers their impact on people from all ends of the supply chain (from their employees to their customers), and a company where 'profit' is a multi-faceted equation that includes both real dollars earned and individual impact as two metrics to measuring overall profit. To me, being a social entrepreneur means being a pragmatic optimist - understanding and working within the current realities and confines of the systems around you, but keeping that ideal version of the world as you believe it should be in front of you at all times.

3p: So, you've won a pass to this year's SOCAP conference! What do you hope to gain by attending?

LE: Quality time spent with other Impact Hub founders and doers and shakers in the impact realm! The value of a network inherently lies in the people who are in that network, so I'm looking forward to conversations with the people apart of this network that will help me reflect, learn and grow.

3p: What challenge (business, environmental, social) do you hope to have solved by this time next year?

Disclaimer: This challenge will probably not be solved by this time next year, but we're definitely having fun thinking through it!

So much of our work in the social sector is a long-term investment with little to no short-term returns, and I want to change that. Creating human-centric products and services that are focused on growing human capital instead of purely profit is the most sustainable way to create a business, because we humans are the ones making decisions with our time and cash -- but in today's current systems, it's hard to create sustainable companies that focus on providing those types of products because they just don't make money! I'd like to create more opportunities in this sector that provide real short-term return (i.e. CASH $$$), but that still focus and build on long-term vehicles for utilizing human capital (i.e. empowering each individual to make their biggest impact possible). How are we going to do this? You'll just have to keep up with us, and wait and see!

3p: What's your favorite way to spend a Saturday?

LE: Up and at 'em early - usually yoga first with a smoothie to finish, then finding a cozy window at my favorite cafe to do some quiet, no interruption work, and finishing the day with some good food, friends, and dance.

More information about the Impact Weaver Award is available in the press release.

Image courtesy of Friday Consulting 

Latin America overall has bountiful supplies of water; in fact, the World Bank estimates that 31 percent of the world’s freshwater resources can be found in this region. But that does not mean citizens necessarily have equal access to this vital resource, and climate change could have a drastic effect on future supplies of water. PepsiCo, working with the Inter-American Bank (IDB) and European governments, has released a new data management program with the aim to assist Latin American nations with forecasting future water availability and supplies.

The modelling tool, which the IDB has named Hydro-BID, is an open-sourced program that has already projected water supplies in Argentina, Brazil, Haiti and Argentina. Pepsi announced Hydro-BID’s launch at the annual World Water Week in Stockholm.

Access to such a tool is important for managing water supplies throughout Latin America because the evidence suggests climate change has already had in impact on water management within the region.

Water-rich Brazil, which generates much of its electricity from hydropower, has seen its economic center, São Paulo, reel from its worst drought in 80 years. Argentina is a prime example of how access to clean water is a huge challenge in many rural areas while wealthier areas take it for granted. The rapid growth of Peru’s capital, Lima, has led to many of its residents living without reliable supplies of running water. In Haiti, Water.org estimates that only 60 percent of the nation's people have access to clean water, and 1 in 5 is able to use a toilet. According to Pepsi, Hydro-BID has already projected water supplies in these countries to the degree that up to 3 million people could benefit from safer supplies of water by 2017.

To date the PepsiCo Foundation has funded IDB with $5 million for the fund’s water and sanitation investment arm, AquaFund, to roll out Hydro-BID. The goal is to go beyond projects to improve clean water and sanitation access to citizens in poor neighborhoods and urban areas. This resource, according to Pepsi, will help countries with allocating water, the measurement of watersheds, plan for the long term, plus help communities and their leaders prepare for droughts and floods. Despite recent economic hiccups, Latin America is still projected to achieve continued growth, which means more strains on water as more people move to the cities while farms in South America continue to feed more of the world. As a current map of IDB projects demonstrates, water projects are hardly relegated to the dry, arid regions of Chile and Peru: Most are in areas that have been water-rich, but for various regions have not been able to manage supplies efficiently.

Pepsi’s partnership with the IDB is yet another example of how beverage companies have become more engaged with ensuring safe reliable supplies of water in regions in which they are increasing their investment. These firms really have no choice, and have to go beyond making their own internal operations efficient, as Pepsi says it has during 2013. If companies such as Pepsi are going to be able to pitch their soft drinks, snacks and beer in the emerging economies of Latin America, Africa and Asia, they must ensure that they have safe water supplies; and they also have to safeguard water for their potential customers so they can make a decent living. Projects such as Hydro-BID are not just about being a good corporate citizen — they also are a good business practice.

Image credit: Wikipedia

Leon Kaye has lived in Abu Dhabi for the past year and is currently spending some time in Uruguay. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter. Other thoughts of his are on his site, greengopost.com.

A few weeks ago, Class A shares of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway topped a staggering $200,000 a share.  Berkshire, which came in at No. 4 on the latest Fortune 500 list, has 300,000 employees spread across 59 subsidiaries, and more cash on hand -- $55.5 billion -- than any other company in America.  Its market value is roughly $330 billion, and it is often cited as one of the “most admired” companies in the world.  Berkshire has achieved all of this in the fashion of an old-school American conglomerate, refusing to focus on just one sector or industry.  As a result, Berkshire’s stock and subsidiary portfolios include such behemoths as American Express; Burlington Northern Santa Fe; Coca-Cola; GEICO; Heinz; IBM; Walmart; and Wells Fargo, to name just a few.

Yet, the company’s growth has slowed: Over the last five years, it underperformed the S&P 500 for the first time in its history -- and Berkshire skeptics question whether such a large and tentacular entity can continue to thrive without its Oracle-in-Chief.  Lawrence Cunningham, a law professor at George Washington University and author of the thoughtful "Berkshire Beyond Buffett:  The Enduring Value of Values" (Columbia Business School Publishing), is betting that it can.  While Cunningham's book works quite well as a testament to Warren Buffett’s unassailable vision and leadership, as well as to what Berkshire embodies and may continue to embody after Buffett, it comes up a bit short as an argument for why Berkshire’s greatness will outlive its leader.

The Berkshire culture

Some have criticized Buffett for an apparent desire to prove that his “methods are not just for him, but can be institutionalised and passed on to a new generation of managers under whom Berkshire Hathaway will continue to thrive.”  Cunningham has flipped this criticism on its head and made it the operating thesis of "Beyond Buffett": It is precisely Buffett’s methods -- Cunningham calls them values -- that will ensure Berkshire’s long-term, post-Buffett success.

To Cunningham, these are values in the economic, rather than ethical sense, and he categorizes them in an acrostic that spells -- what else? -- B-E-R-K-S-H-I-R-E.*  Berkshire's defining characteristic is the size and diversity of its many subsidiaries, which “vary in nearly every way.”  Yet, Cunningham argues, there is a “common thread running throughout”: Each subsidiary exhibits one or more element(s) of the Berkshire "corporate culture," as defined by the B-E-R-K-S-H-I-R-E values acronym.  The bulk of Cunningham's book is devoted to illustrating just how the various Berkshire subsidiaries support this conclusion.  GEICO, Cunningham tells us, best illustrates the "Budget conscious" value; Gen Re gets credit for its focus on "Earnestness," and so on.

This first part of Cunningham's argument is compelling.  After reading "Beyond Buffett," few will doubt that the company has a unifying set of values and a well-defined vision; but that only gets us half way.

*   B: Budget conscious; E: Ernest; R: Reputation; K: Kinship; S: Self-starters; H: Hands off; I: Investor savvy; R: Rudimentary; E: Eternal.

Is culture really enough?

The second part of Cunningham's argument is that the B-E-R-K-S-H-I-R-E value system is not Buffett-dependent -- and instead will continue to support the company's success long after Buffett's departure.  Rather than a litany of well-researched and cleverly-categorized examples, however, here Cunningham's chief piece of supporting evidence essentially boils down to a single entity: the Marmon Group.

Started in the early part of the 20th century, the Marmon Group evolved from a law firm into an investment firm under the stewardship of the Buffett-like brothers, Jay and Robert Pritzker.  Motivated by an identical set of B-E-R-K-S-H-I-R-E values, the Marmon Group evolved into an extremely successful but highly diversified conglomerate.  In other words, it became a "mini-Berkshire."  Just as some have predicted the unraveling of a post-Buffett Berkshire, "Many analysts thought that the Marmon Group was too unwieldy for any but the Pritzkers to run and predicted it would perish soon after they left."  Of course, "The analysts were wrong."  What happened to the Marmon Group after the Brothers Pritzker passed on?  Why, it was swallowed up by Berkshire Hathaway!  Moreover, after joining the Berkshire empire in 2008, the Marmon Group has been left to operate "pretty much as it had for decades," thereby refuting all those who predicted its demise and simultaneously supporting Cunningham's theory about the wherewithal of the B-E-R-K-S-H-I-R-E values.

While arguments by analogy can be convincing, this one seems a bit too cute and a touch too anomalous.  After all, where is the Berkshire that will buy Berkshire?

Moreover, recent Berkshire-related news has cast some doubt on the wisdom of the Berkshire culture, and whether such a culture can actually persist under increasing economic and regulatory pressures.  For example, in recent weeks, Berkshire missed filing deadlines for investments in Dow Chemical Co. and USG Corp., the latter of which resulted in an $896,000 penalty from the Federal Trade Commission.**  Buffett and Berkshire have also recently come under fire for financing Burger King’s purchase of Tim Hortons, which critics have argued is really just a ploy to escape a hefty U.S. tax burden.

Though Cunningham does an admirable job ascertaining and explaining the corporate culture of Berkshire Hathaway -- both how that culture has evolved and how it has contributed to Berkshire's success -- what he doesn't do nearly as convincingly is explain why this culture will in fact endure beyond Buffett.

**  To his credit, Cunningham anticipates some of these challenges, noting that “problems will arise from [Berkshire’s] acquisition model, hands-off management, and a sprawling decentralized structure that eludes tight control and consolidated non-financial reporting.”

Buffett’s real legacy

Cunningham closes with what is perhaps the most important note about Berkshire's leader, and one worth noting in any coverage of Warren Buffett:  He is in the process of giving all of his wealth to charity.  Buffett’s “giving pledge,” which he announced in 2006 in conjunction with Bill and Melinda Gates, has thus far encouraged 127 billionaire or former billionaire individuals and couples to make similar pledges to give away most of their fortunes.  Buffett has always championed the idea that with great wealth comes great (social) responsibility, partly due to the fact that, in Buffett’s own words, we live in a society that:

"rewards someone who saves the lives of others on a battlefield with a medal, rewards a great teacher with thank-you notes from parents, but rewards those who can detect the mispricing of securities with sums reaching into the billions."

To Buffett, the troubling disconnect between social and economic value inherent in a capitalist economy demands social responsibility and philanthropy from those fortune enough to benefit from it.  One certainly hopes that future billionaires will continue to follow Buffett's lead.

Cunningham is clearly in awe of his subject, and it’s easy to see why.  As he puts it in this book, Buffett is sui generis, and "Beyond Buffett" certainly supports that claim.  Whether there will truly be a “Berkshire beyond Buffett,” however, is another matter.

Image credit: Stuart Isett/Fortune Most Powerful Women via Flickr

The first annual Impact Weaver Award recognizes the internal leaders that work behind the scenes to build the team and operational infrastructure that make up a successful organization.

Friday Consulting, in partnership with Social Capital Markets (SOCAP) launched this award to recognize the unsung heroes of social entrepreneurship. Friday Consulting’s Founder, Shivani Ganguly, notes, “We frequently praise the founders of social enterprises for their vision and willingness to take on the challenges and great risks that come along with building a successful venture. However, we tend to forget about the internal leaders that build the team and make the hundreds of strategic and tactical decisions needed to bring the vision to fruition.”

Triple Pundit: Congratulations on winning this year's Impact Weaver Award! Can you tell us a little bit about you and your company?

Mary Voelbel: I’m a Minnesota native with a penchant for social justice issues and a passion for international experiences. I earned my BA in Psychology from The Colorado College before launching my career as the Center Director for SCORE! Educational Centers in the Bay Area. Following my passion for travel and culture, I spent a year teaching English in Chile through the Ingles Abre Puertas program designed in collaboration by the United Nations and the Chilean Ministry of Education. Before returning to the U.S., I moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina to continue my work in teaching, community outreach, and customer relations roles. After two and a half years working abroad, I had a soft landing back into the States, when I earned my Master's in Human Development & Psychology from Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Upwardly Global brought me back to the Bay Area! We are a national nonprofit that connects highly skilled immigrant and refugee professionals with U.S. employers looking for global talent. There are 1.8 million skilled immigrants with the legal right to work, who are unemployed or severely underemployed -- engineers that are driving cabs, accountants working as security guards and doctors working as nannies. Upwardly Global provides the training needed to navigate the U.S. job search and partners with employers to access this often hidden talent pool. We currently have offices in the Bay Area, Chicago, New York and Detroit and are serving job seekers through our online program in 40 different states.

3p: How has weaving helped you solve business challenges? Can you share an example?

MV: An “Impact Weaver," or the role of middle management, is often times like changing the wheels on a moving bus. To get it done right, you need a fantastic team, creativity and trust. As the Bay Area Program Director, I manage the team locally and work collaboratively with my counterparts across the four offices – essentially giving me access to all the inner-workings of our organization.

Last year, Upwardly Global decided to move our program online. We recognized that to more effectively serve our job seekers out of the local offices and to reach job seekers outside of the four metro areas, this programmatic change was imperative. Having the option to access training online allows job seekers with children, transportation issues and survival jobs to continue to access, review and complete Upwardly Global’s trainings without the mandatory in-person training session. Sounds like a simple plan, but it was that “moving bus” in regard to national implementation requiring upgrading/adaptation of current systems and processes and creating staff buy-in across all levels of the organization.

The relationships an impact weaver holds and their ability to understand the organization from the top down is instrumental to addressing any given challenge. In the case of the online training implementation, “weaving” is what enabled us to address this business challenge -- input was gathered from staff, job seekers were enlisted for feedback, buy-in was earned and all the relevant program pieces were woven together into a comprehensive plan.

With the support of the online training program, in the last 12 months alone, we have placed over 500 job seekers into professional positions and increased the annual income of struggling immigrant and refugee families by more than $20 million.

3p: What does it mean to you to be a social entrepreneur?

MV: Simply said -- a social entrepreneur finds innovative ways to solve the world’s most intractable problems. What that means for me, is a life dedicated to creativity, social justice, and work with like-minded, amazingly talented and driven people. It’s clearly the place to be!

3p: So, you've won a pass to this year's SOCAP conference! What do you hope to gain by attending?

MV: I’m hugely excited to network with the other conference attendees. There are so many interesting and innovative initiatives going on and I can’t wait to learn about them. I hope to leave the conference with new personal and professional contacts as well as a revived sense of confidence that together we can find and implement solutions to our world’s toughest challenges.

3p: What challenge (business, environmental, social) do you hope to have solved by this time next year?

There are so many challenges to overcome and a year is a very short period of time, but I’m going to go big picture with this question. There are 1.8 million immigrants that have the legal right to work but are unemployed or severely underemployed. At the same time, there are 3 million open positions in the U.S. and the vast majority of the positions are requiring skills that employers are having a hard time finding. This is a problem with at least one simple solution – we need to recognize skilled immigrants and refugees as a valued source of talent.

Weaving, on a national loom with government, employers, and community members, will make a difference. It’s time to lift this pool of talent from barely surviving to thriving for the good of all. If we do this, together, we will have thousands of families with strong providers, reduce the need for government benefits, and ensure the U.S. will continue to attract the brightest and the most ambitious. A year from now, my hope is that Upwardly Global will be in all 50 states and immigrant professionals will be rebuilding their careers in exponential numbers. Find out if UpGlo is in your state! To get involved or learn more go to www.upwardlyglobal.org.

3p: What's your favorite way to spend a Saturday?

You will find me biking through the Presidio, hiking near Tomales Bay, or with friends at my favorite brunch locale in the city.

More information about the Impact Weaver Award is available in the press release.

Image courtesy of Friday Consulting 

Editor's Note: This is the fifth post in a six-part series examining the Supreme Court’s 2010 “Citizens United” decision that affirmed the legality of treating corporations as persons. Using JPMorgan Chase as an example, Donald J. Munro of the University of Michigan focuses on how certain human moral values and some corporate behaviors are incompatible. You can follow the whole series here. 

By Donald J. Munro

Trust is a state of mind in which an individual expects benefits from another person or organization to which she gives something of value, while understanding that the other person could possibly cheat her. For example, a candidate for office may tell me that he will support policy X. I trust him. I believe in his integrity. He gets my vote. But then he is in a position to vote for policy Y, to my detriment. The candidate gets an advantage -- my vote -- which helps get him in office. But he does not have to give back any benefit to me.

At first, I believe in the integrity of the other person. My trust is enhanced by transparency in relevant actions and in sharing relevant information. Trust is essential for non-coercive relations between the leaders and the led. It promotes cooperation and enables people to have some justified foresight regarding matters of concern. The cooperative behavior is reinforced in part because trust is pleasurable, measured at the objective level by examining the oxytocin and dopamine levels of trusting parties.

Cooperation involves some conformity with group rules, which results in predictable, consistent behavior. Among the reasons people seek it is that is that it reduces stress and provides a sense of being in control of situations. Evidence of this can be found by measuring levels of the hormone cortisol.

Scientists have investigated the association of stress and levels of hormones; they have found elevated levels of cortisol in people who are under stress. Thus they have been able to demonstrate that people engaged in cooperative behaviors have less cortisol — less stress — than people engaged in non-cooperative behaviors, whose cortisol levels are higher than normal. In this sense, cooperation can be said to foster group evolutionary survival.

Can there be a trust relationship when the purchaser of a home loan does not know who owns the mortgage? Before large investment banks got into commercial banking, the mortgage holder was a local bank in which the loan officer was likely to know the borrower. This ended with the advent of bundling together many home loans (including risky ones) into mortgage-backed securities, sold as a profit to hedge funds. These are CDOs or “Collateralized Debt Obligations.” Obviously, in this situation the home owner does not know who carries his mortgage and has no way of figuring out whom to trust.

The record of JPMorgan Chase

1. A group of 10 mortgage services, including JPMorgan Chase, agreed on Jan. 7, 2013 to pay a total of $8.5 billion to end a review of housing crisis foreclosures. There had been allegations of robo-signed documents and faulty foreclosures. [GMIRatings]

2. On May 10, 2013, the attorney general of California sued JPMorgan Chase, charging that the company falsely signed documents to collect credit card debt from about 100,000 people. He accused the company of the illegal robo-signing of legal documents, without reviewing bank records or even reading the documents before signing. [GMIRatings]

Can there be trust when there is no accountability? In September, 2013, JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $920 million to settle civil allegations brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators due to the London Whale case.

But where is the money coming from to pay that “record fine”? As Andrew Ross Sorkin pointed out in the New York Times, the answer is: the shareholders, who already were victims of the scandal.

Next: Learning and foresight

Image credit: Flickr/epicharmus

Donald J. Munro is professor emeritus of philosophy and Chinese at the University of Michigan. Munro connects venerable philosophical traditions to modern scientific discoveries, always with a concern for the ethics of human action. His books include The Concept of Man in Contemporary China, Images of Human Nature: A Song Portrait, and Individualism and Holism: Studies in Confucian and Taoist Values. In recent years he has been the Ch’ien Mu Lecturer in Chinese History and Culture (2006) and the Tang Junyi Visiting Professor (2009) at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is a founding member of the Interfaith Partnership for political Action (ippa.us).

By Debbie Fletcher

Wind turbines and solar panels both utilize natural resources to produce clean, renewable energy. But in order for these technologies to make a real difference in the way we produce power, energy companies will need to find an effective way to store the power that can accommodate the fluctuations caused by intermittent sun and wind. Here we will explore the current state of the industry and some of the steps that are being taken to bring renewable energy to the next level.

Wind and solar industry growth

Both wind and solar have grown significantly in recent years and can help to provide valuable sources of renewable energy for future generations. According to Clean Line Energy, the United States has the potential to produce nearly 10 times the country’s existing power needs using wind alone. Wind power has also become increasingly cost-effective as technology has improved and the industry in the U.S. has grown. There are now more than 400 manufacturing plants across the U.S. using dedicated equipment and facilities like bespoke blast rooms to produce large volumes of towers, turbines and blades.

Similarly, the price of solar panels has continued to drop as technology improves. The industry employs over 100,000 Americans, and there are now over 13,000 megawatts of cumulative solar capacity operating in the U.S., enough to power more than 2.2 million homes.

Energy storage potential

Wind turbines and photovoltaic installations now produce enough energy to sustain themselves. However, there is an issue in that both types of technology require extra, large-scale infrastructure to store the energy so that it is available on demand and not just when it’s windy or sunny. A study by a team of Stanford researchers concluded that the wind industry will be able to afford to invest in these large-scale technologies and remain sustainable, while the solar industry will find it more difficult due to the extra energy required to produce photovoltaic panels.

Commenting on the survey, Professor Sally Benson found the results for the wind industry very encouraging: "They show that you could create a sustainable energy system that grows and maintains itself by combining wind and storage together. This depends on the growth rate of the industry, because the faster you grow, the more energy you need to build new turbines and batteries."

Solar power, on the other hand, will require further development if it is to become a viable option. Michael Dale, a Stanford research associate, commented: "Our analysis shows that today's wind industry, even with a large amount of grid-scale storage, is energetically sustainable. We found that the solar industry can also achieve sustainable storage capacity by reducing the amount of energy that goes into making solar photovoltaics." This suggests that the solar industry needs to rid itself of the need to draw on other power sources to make up the energy required to produce the panels in the first place, while wind power is already operating efficiently enough to give it the scope to grow further.

The viability of storage systems for renewable energy sources like wind and solar is already beginning to be put to the test in the real world. According to a recent article in the Globe and Mail, Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) has recently commissioned five companies to build 12 demonstration models which will capture and release energy, thereby accommodating the power fluctuations associated with renewable energy sources. The technologies being tested include batteries, hydrogen storage and kinetic flywheels. The IESO hope that these storage systems will not only allow renewable energy systems to be incorporated into the power system but will also help to balance supply.

IESO President Bruce Campbell commented: “Energy storage projects will provide more flexibility and offer more options to manage the system efficiently.”

A recent article on Clean Technica gives examples of how storage technologies are also progressing elsewhere: The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has been working to bring down the cost of Sodium-β (beta) batteries, which are considered by many as having the potential for widespread energy storage but have always been limited by their relatively high cost. However, PNNL’s latest research has helped to decrease the cost and improve the operating life of the battery using a new liquid metal alloy, which could be a hugely significant step for the renewable industry.

Advances in technology like this show that widespread renewable energy is more than just a pipe dream and that, in the future, wind and solar could offer major advantages to energy suppliers, providing more efficient energy solutions that can be managed on a day-to-day basis.

Only time will tell which storage methods will prove to be effective, but it is still very encouraging to see wind and solar emerging from the sidelines and making strides towards becoming a major part of power production.

Image credit: Flickr/kubina

Debbie Fletcher is an enthusiastic, experienced writer who has written for a range of difference magazines and news publications. Follow her here: @Debbie_Fletch18.