The $90 million building called ” Cleantech One ” will offer about 404,000 sq ft of office space that could house up to 50 green businesses when it is completed by December 2011.

The building will incorporate green features such as solar systems, rainwater harvesting, sky gardens and green architecture, said JTC at a briefing on Monday.

‘If the solutions we implement are successful, we will replicate this throughout the rest of the Cleantech Park and share it with the rest of Singapore and the region,’ said JTC director [Aerospace, Marine and Cleantech cluster] Tang Wai Yee.

JTC launched a design competition for the building last December and local architecture firm Surbana International Consultants emerged the winner from 31 entries.

JTC said Surbana’s entry won for its highly compact design and ecological features, it said.

source: http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_507968.html

Practices, products, organic food, recyclable packaging, the green list is never ending. More than ever businesses are claiming to go green, to the point where society needs a term to describe consumers being misled by a company regarding their environmental practices. The term ” greenwashing ” was claimed to have originated from a NY suburban environmentalist named Jay Westerveld in 1986, although the actual practice originated somewhere in the 60s alongside the emerging environmentalist movement.

It’s no wonder that green business has become so popular when over half of the baby boomer population – some 40 million – are environmentally conscience consumers. Therefore greening your business can be an all around profitable endeavor from a marketing standpoint as well as a cost savings standpoint. The danger is when it comes to advertising a practice or an approach as green which isn’t reflected in the day to day operations. It’s simply fraudulent or better known as …greenwashing.

The Think Green Alliance aims to provide a safeguard against ” greenwashing, ” which is common in the marketplace today when so few standards and regulations exist for determining whether a company is truly environmentally friendly and if so, just how environmentally friendly they are. The criteria for membership, established by Cybernomics, are simple but telling.

Think Green Alliance members (1) must show tangibly that they have incorporated green principles into their business plan, (2) must have a concrete, measurable, and step-by-step approach to integration of these principles, and (3) must be committed to a continuous cycle of improvement.

Think Green Alliance members span multiple industry verticals and therefore lend a multidisciplinary approach to companies looking to start adopting green principles into their business plan and operations, as well as provide a benchmark to companies who have already embarked upon a green plan.

With a global conversation centered on the planet’s health and its declining natural resources, going green is the biggest trend to hit today’s marketplace.

Organizations, governments and individuals all are striving to be some shade of green and are more environmentally conscious than ever.

Companies are recognizing real bottom-line benefits exist to going green. They are taking steps to integrate environmental and social responsibility into daily business practices.

Blogs and Web sites are popping up all over the world, with a focus on businesses that produce environmentally friendly products and services.

Consumers are accessing information on the environmental practices of companies to find out how “green” they and their products really are.

Increasing numbers of people are making purchasing and employment decisions based on how ecofriendly a company is, and rewarding businesses that have a commitment to sustainability.

A recent study done by Yankel ovich, a consumer research company, found that 80 percent of recent college graduates are looking for a job with a positive effect on the environment, and 30 percent of U.S. workers would prefer to work for an environmentally responsible company.

The Boston Consulting Group also surveyed 9,000 consumers in North America, Europe and East Asia and found that more shoppers deliberately sought and bought green products in 2008 than the year before – despite the economic downturn.

The group’s report, “Capturing the Green Advantage for Consumer Companies,” stated that 75 percent of consumers surveyed said it’s important or very important for companies to provide information on their environmental effects, and 66 percent said companies routinely should offer green products.

These and numerous other polls show that green business es have a distinct and growing advantage.

The green marketplace is full of smaller, younger companies that have found success through innovation. These green upstarts are competing with global organizations.

Incorporating sustainability into the values of your organization and communicating your efforts with the public is one way to ensure long-term competitiveness. The reality is that green means change in terms of how we consume, do business, work and approach innovation.

Some businesses are incredibly resistant to change and falsely believe that incorporating more sustainable business practices will be expensive and time consuming. While some products might cost more initially, they could save a tremendous amount of money in the long run.

From an economic standpoint, rising material and energy costs are pressing companies to streamline operations, eliminate waste and reduce energy consumption as much as possible. These changes also benefit the environment.

Ultimately, if companies don’t change their habits to accommodate the changing demands of consumers, they will be left behind by quicker, smarter competition.

Today, numerous resources are available to help businesses become more sustainable. The Thurston Green Business Program is a local recognition program for businesses with environmentally friendly practices.

Participating businesses receive designation stickers to display, and outstanding efforts are recognized with annual awards.