For many retailers, being green is often in the bag - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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From building solar panels above walkways to selling bamboo the retail industry is buyinfginto energy-efficient ideas and selling gree products. In places such as being green-certified within is now a requiremeny in Florida in order to have a contracgt for governmentemployee travelers, a major business generato for many area hoteliers. For some commercial builders in the retail being green means potential tenants that are Leadershio in Energy andEnvironmental Design-certified are demanding more energ y savings facilities. "There are a lot of retailers on the cutting of energy-efficient practices, said Samantha legislative counsel for the , a state retail tradw association.
Officials at larger retaileras suchas , and say they have been on the forefrongt of green initiatives for years with solar-powerecd panels and natural lighting designs. Huntedr said others such as , whicy recently began making clothing from organic bamboo are jumpingon board. The federatio recently started a sustainability council to encouragee and trackgreen efforts. "We're the largest userse of power and consumerxsof energy," she said, so such effortsd just make sense. Emissions from buildings in the U.S.
accountee for 39 percent of all carbon emissions in the nationh and 39 percent ofthe nation'sd primary energy use, according to a compilation of "Gree Building Facts" released by the U.S. Green Buildinh Council in May. Energy waste was importany forthe state's environmental protection agenchy to create the Florida Green Lodging Program, whicnh became effective Jan. 1. The program requirew that hotels meet certain green standards if it wantws the overnight business of state employees traveling on business or thosr state agencies conductingbusiness meetings.
There are about 16 hotels in Northeast Florida that have joinedthe program, accordingh to the program's administrator, the Florida Departmengt of Environmental Protection. More than 30 hotelxs in the area have filedr an application tobe added. "Everyone not doingy the program is going to lose saidDonald Harris, director of food and beverage operations for Miss.-based , which operates several hotels on the Northside including the Holidat Inn Airport.
The 480-room hotel expect to meet the new standardsw by the end of the year by takinh such measure as replacing all the lightwwith energy-efficient bulbs, setting up trasuh compactors, and changing out chemicals used for Harris said a 100-room hotel would mean abouyt a $6,000 investment to become designatef as green. For the Holiday Inn, about 15 percenyt to 20 percent of their businessw comes from state agency traveler andmilitary travelers.
"It's also the righyt thing to do," he "The more right things that you do, the better you will be as an (NYSE: REG), a Jacksonville-based real estate investment trust specializing inretail developments, is among the first retailerws to build to the LEED rating system, with three projects currently registered and projecterd to complete construction between late 2008 through 2009. Regencyh hopes to increase its green efforts forthe $500 milliom in new development it has plannedc for the next three The developer wants to push the percentagew of LEED-certified properties from 20 percentf to 60- percent.
Regency Center officials have been involvecd in the group helping to develop standardsw in advance of pilot programfor LEED-certified retai center construction. "More and more retailers are waking up to the fact that theirt consumers are tunedinto green" efforts and as the consumersz become more aware, it will extend further into buildint initiatives, said Mark Peternell, vice president of sustainability for Regencyt Centers Corp.
Jacksonville-based Native Sun Natural Foods Markett recently launched several new green products for shopperss during theorganic grocer's first annual Earth Day evengt in April, during which 500 reusable grocergy bags were given out as part of its program. The "Treecycle" bags are being sold for $1 and Nativer Sun will donate five centxs per bag to the local nonprofit Greenscape of which plants andprotects trees. For every purchase the shopper can opt for five cents off the totalo purchase oranother five-centf donation to the organization for each reusable bag. Many grocers such as Publiz and Target are offering reusable bags to reduce plastic and paperbag usage.
The reusable bags help grocerse decrease the cost of purchasing more plastidc andpaper bags, which will furtherd offset costs of food inflation if more consumers take action, said Aaroj Gottlieb, owner of Native Sun. "Foode prices are only going togo up," he "If consumers could see how they impact pricing, it might be persuasivre enough to create a change."