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Instituting environmentally friendly practices does not mean sacrificing your competitive edge. Business owners are realizing that they can make a bigger impact by changing their business policies than by changing their personal behavior, and this has lead to a change in corporate culture over the last few years that has resulted in a notable environmental impact.

In the past, efforts to institute eco-friendly business practices were admirable, but these efforts appear negligible compared to the changes that are being made today. Minimizing the consumption of paper products and electricity are still effective ways for companies to save money and help the environment at the same time, but many companies are stepping outside these standardized boundaries to effect big changes.

Many companies are choosing to enact organization-wide policies that take enormous effort and patience, and the results of these efforts are just now filtering in. Leaving the choice in the hands of consumers often results in poor choices, but when companies choose to be careful about what they produce and how they produce it, the impact can be tremendous.

In the Great Lakes area of the United States and Canada, wind energy is becoming an increasingly viable source of power for companies of all sizes. Wind powered electricity costs only slightly more than standard electricity for the consumer, and many conscientious business owners are willing to pay the premium. For the producers of electricity, using wind power makes sense as a way to help reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Reducing dependence on one commodity allows the producers to further diversify and create a more sustainable financial future for their company. Thus, both the producers and consumers of wind powered electricity benefit from the creation of this clean, environmentally friendly energy source.

Pascale Engineering, a producer of portable trade show displays and trade show flooring in the Great Lakes area, has completely converted to the use of wind powered electricity in its state-of-the-art production facility. In addition to being totally wind powered, Pascale Engineering produces recycled and recyclable trade show displays that are quickly making their way into the market. These displays give exhibitors nationwide a green alternative in their trade show marketing campaign, which only serves to further the environmental goals of many companies.

End users are virtually unaware of the progress made by Pascale Engineering, as they notice no difference in cost. In fact, the Exhibit One Display System line or products produced by Pascale Engineering has seen a marketable increase in quality with no increase in cost. Thanks to research into lighter weight plywood materials, the Exhibit One product line has become more durable and more lightweight. This saves end users huge amounts of money in shipping costs each year, and increases their overall satisfaction with the product. In an effort to make their production process cause less waste, many products within the Exhibit One line use the exact same component pieces. In fact, the entire Exhibit One line can now be produced from a catalog consisting of less than a hundred parts. This means that if exhibitors want to upgrade their trade show display package, they do not always need to purchase new components, as the parts can simply be rearranged in many cases. This saves exhibitors enormous amounts of money each year. Positive environmental change does not always have to be associated with negative economic impact.

Simple changes in business practices and purchasing can make an enormous impact on the environment, and the cost of the choices is usually minimal or non-existent. Whether or not you believe that carbon emissions are the culprit behind our increasingly unstable global climate, there are simple changes that can be made that would make a big impact on the health of our planet.