By Dave DeWitte
The Gazette

Photovoltaic cells collect solar energy at the Indian Creek Nature Center in southeast Cedar Rapids. The current system was installed in July 2003. The nature center collects solar energy using photovoltaic cells on the roof, which is converted to usable electricity to power fans, computers, lights and freezers. The center sells some of its electricity back to Alliant Energy. Photo by Jim Slosiarek.

Reporting a company’s carbon footprint, Eric Woodroof says, is a lot like reporting your company’s taxes.

“How many of you enjoy reporting your taxes?” asked Woodroof, chairman of the carbon reduction manager program at the Association of Energy Engineers.

Nobody at Alliant Energy’s 2009 Energy Summit raised a hand at the Kirkwood Community College Continuing Education Center.

Enjoyable? Definitely not. But a growing number of companies are calculating and reporting their carbon footprint in a trend linked to concern over climate change. There are several reasons to be first in your industry to report the data, Woodroof said.

“Marketing is the biggest one,” said Woodroof, who is based in Atlanta. “Companies want to be first to use it in their marketing. If you’re first, you will always be able to say you were first.”

Carbon trading opportunities are another reason. In some industries, such as cement manufacturing, early reporters may qualify for “early action credits” that have significant economic value.

Alliant Energy strategic account manager Laurie Appleget (left) and Scott Reid, Harper Brush vice president of manufacturing, tour an energy-efficient lighting retrofit at Harper Brush in Fairfield in 2007. The project reduced energy consumption by 20 percent while yielding 20 percent more light. Photo courtesy of Alliant Energy.

Customers are demanding that suppliers become carbon-conscious, Woodroof said. “Wal-Mart is asking all of their Chinese suppliers to begin doing it,” said Woodroof, who has been to Taiwan and mainland China five times in less than a year.

To calculate its carbon footprint, Woodroof said a company must complete two of the three potential inventories of its greenhouse gas emissions.

SCOPE I consists of direct emissions from assets that a company owns or operates, such as its manufacturing plants, office buildings, trucks, cars and forklifts.

SCOPE II consists of indirect emissions from purchases of electricity, steam, heating and cooling.

The SCOPE III category, which is not essential, consists of all other indirect emissions from upstream and downstream sources. It could include such things as the carbon emissions generated by the companies that dispose of your company’s solid waste, and the carbon emissions of the companies that deliver the raw materials your company turns into its products.

A good place to find a protocol for carbon modeling is on the Web site of the California Climate Action Registry, www.climateregistry.org/

“It’s a great teaching tool and gives a lot of examples,” Woodroof said.

One of the most important concepts is the Global Warming Potential Factor. It works like a multiplier to calculate the climate change potential of different kinds of greenhouse gases. A pound of carbon dioxide, by far the most common greenhouse gas, has a Global Warming Potential Factor of one. The global warming potency of other gases differ tremendously. A pound of methane has a factor of 21, while a pound of the refrigerant HFC-23 has a factor of a whopping 11,700.

By comparing the Global Warming Potential Factors of various greenhouse gases, Woodroof says it’s easy to see that a company might be able to make a greater dent in the greenhouse gas problem by tacking one relatively small refrigerant leak, for instance, than switching an entire building to high-efficiency light fixtures.

Conversion tables also can be used to calculate the carbon impact of the electricity a company uses. The amount of carbon emitted in generating electricity varies in different regions by the kind of fuel and equipment used to generate power. In California, the carbon impact of generating a megawatt hour of electricity is 878.71 pounds. The impact is almost twice that amount in Iowa because most of the electricity is generated here from coal-burning power plants.

Woodroof says numbers such as megawatt hours and carbon pounds mean very little to the public or even most corporate executives. To make a persuasive case that greenhouse gas reduction projects be undertaken, he recommends translating them into functional equivalents.

He personally has sold projects by putting benefits in terms like “taking 240 cars off the road for a year,” or “the equivalent of planting 940 acres of trees.”

“Put what it’s worth in terms they can visualize,” he said.

Woodroof said the “240 cars off the road” comparison went over like a lead balloon with one company, which happened to be in the oil business. The 940 acres of trees comparison went over much better.

Alliant Energy gave 16 Excellent in Energy Efficiency awards at the summit to schools, businesses and other organizations.

“Climate change is at the forefront of everyone’s minds right now, and energy efficiency is one of the best ways to preserve the environment,” Senior Vice President of Energy Delivery Dundeana Doyle said.

Actions taken by the 16 organizations save enough energy consumption to reduce carbon emissions by 35,000 tons per year, Doyle said.

Recipients included Kirkwood Community College, General Mills, Nordstrom Direct and Rockwell Collins.

By Dave DeWitte
The Gazette

Photo illustration by Jupiter Images

Iowans who seemed to be in some of the safest jobs before the recession are now facing some of the longest waits in limbo to find new employment.

Veteran workers who once held midlevel and management jobs constitute what some are calling “the new unemployed.” They are older, more experienced and better educated than the typical unemployed of the past.

“We are seeing people with more tenure in the workplace and a higher average age,” said Kim Johnson, executive director of continuing education at Kirkwood Community College, which provides services to job seekers.

The March unemployment rate for Americans 55 and older was 6.2 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was lower than any other age group, but the highest it has been in more than two decades. It also had climbed the fastest of any age group in the past year — 89.2 percent.

Veteran workers are less likely to be laid off in an economic downturn, but they also are likely to suffer the worst if they are laid off, said Peter Orazem, Iowa State University professor of labor economics.

Orazem said employees who’ve worked for the same company for a long time acquire skills specific to that company that make them more valuable to their own employers but not necessarily other ones.

“Your value to that firm is rising more rapidly than your value to anyone else,” Orazem said. “As a result, when you are laid off, it not only takes you longer to find another job, but you also get the largest reduction in pay.”

The academic term for this is “firm-specific human capital.”

At the end of 2008, 32 percent of job seekers 55 and older had been unemployed for at least 27 weeks, compared with only 23 percent of those age 25 to 53 and 18 percent of those younger than 25.

The Gazette interviewed six workplace veterans hunting for new jobs to learn about their frustrations, challenges and inspirations in a tough job market. These are their stories. 

Ed Saunders

Joy Nicholson

Eric Wolfe

Ed Wischmeyer

Phil Sutton

Rick Springsteen

© Gazette Communications 2009

By Jamie Kelly
The Gazette

You have a shiny new BlackBerry, iPhone or other smartphone. But you need to be careful – the thing you bought to keep you connected could end up separating you from your co-workers.

People get into trouble using smartphones during meetings when they don’t know the corporate culture, according to Deanna Hurst, director of human resources at the Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa.

Deanna Hurst, UI Tippie College of Business

“The best bet is to turn it off and put it away,” she said.

Pam Tbrdy, manager of media relations at Rockwell-Collins in Cedar Rapids, said she tries to strike a fine balance.

Because she deals with reporters from all over who need information quickly, she’s constantly checking her BlackBerry. But, she said, she knows she shouldn’t be doing that during meetings.

“It’s challenging,” she said.

She’s found the best policy for her is to either turn off or leave behind her BlackBerry for some meetings. That way, temptation is removed.

Deborah Rinner, Tero International

The people running important meetings can help their own communication, too, said Deborah Rinner, director of international protocol and corporate etiquette at Tero International in Des Moines.

The meeting leader should make his or her expectations clear, she said, and ask people to turn off their phones and put them away. Then they can give people a break every 60 to 90 minutes to stretch and to check their messages.

Usually, even the most urgent messages can wait the hour that most meetings take, Hurst said.

And, if you’re expecting one you can’t wait for, tell the meeting organizer you might have to step out to respond. That way, she said, you’re being respectful of the others in the meeting.

And although you might think you’re being sly by sitting quietly and checking your BlackBerry, you’re not.

“It’s not as inconspicuous as people think,” Hurst said.

About a dozen riders joined several Cedar Rapids City Council members on a bike ride along the Cedar River Trail during Bike to Work Week in southwest Cedar Rapids. The riders set out from Greene Square Park and pedalled south to Aegon’s southern campus, then back to the park. Photo by Jim Slosiarek

By Jennifer Hemmingsen
The Gazette

First thing Monday morning, I pulled my old blue bike off the hooks in the garage, dusted her off and filled the tires.

Then I slung my briefcase across my back, strapped on my trusty Bell helmet and coasted down the drive.

I’m embarrassed to say that I usually take my car to work, even though I live only a mile or so from the office.

Oh, I’ve got all kinds of excuses – I have to drop my daughter off at school. I have to hit the post office on the way home. It’s too hot, too cold. I’m in a hurry.

“File your excuses in another drawer,” Lisa from Cedar Rapids wrote when I blogged about participating in Bike to Work Week. 

Lisa says she bikes to work nearly every week. So does Scott, for all the reasons people usually do – it’s good for their health, good for the environment. It’s fun.

Cedar Rapids traffic engineer and bicycle coordinator Ron Griffith planned to bike to work.

Griffith has been coordinating the city’s application to become a designated Bicycle Friendly City by the League of American Bicyclists.

“We’re still a long way from that goal, but we’re hoping to see some exciting changes for the cycling community this summer,” he wrote in an e-mail. His Bicycle Advisory Committee has been working on an action plan for months and will soon present some of its work to city council members.

The fact is, I’ve just gotten in the wrong habit. It doesn’t take much longer for me to bike than it does to drive.

Actually, bike advocates say that bicyclists can travel at least as fast as cars on in-town trips of up to seven miles. Plus, parking is usually closer – and free. If you live in Iowa City or Cedar Rapids, you know that means something.

There’s a quality of life benefit to boot, as I was reminded, passing neighbors and strangers with plenty of time to say hello and smile.

The weather was 60 degrees, the sunlight was golden, birds were chirping, lilac was blooming – great stuff easy to miss when you jump in the car in the morning, hands clenched on the steering wheel, one eye on the road and your mind on the day’s mountain of tasks.

Not everyone can bike to work, but I bet there are a lot of folks out there like me – people who could get to the office just as easily on two wheels as on four.

This is the week to give it a try.

For more information: www.bikeiowa.com

© 2009, Gazette Communications

By Cindy Hadish
The Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS — Just three weeks into Desmond Waters’ new job as Mercy Medical Center’s pharmacy director, disaster struck.

Pharmacy technician Paula Sion demonstrates how Mercy Medical Center Pharmacy's new MedCarousel helps organize medications during an open house. The MedCarousel can slash picking and restocking errors by up to 96 percent. Photo by Chrid Mackler.

The pharmacy, in Mercy’s basement, was ruined by the historic June flood.

“It went from complete organization to total chaos,” said Mercy CEO Tim Charles.

Nearly 11 months later and no longer in the basement, the hospital’s pharmacy has been more than rebuilt.

Mercy unveiled its new, fully automated, 7,500-square-foot pharmacy last week during an employee open house.
A robotic medication system, fully integrated with a drug storage carousel, high speed packager and special software, is central to the operation.

The automation improves accuracy and will be used in conjunction with Mercy’s bedside medication verification, a bar code system that’s set to begin in June.

Waters said the robotic system pulls and “counts” single-dose packages about 6,000 times a day and is expected to handle more than 2 million doses in a year.

And while the machine does the work of three technicians and two full-time pharmacists, he said, it doesn’t replace the pharmacy staff.

In fact, five full-time pharmacists have been added since the flood.

Those employees will be able to spend more time on patient floors, rather than filling prescriptions, Waters said.
Most importantly, the new system offers “99.99 percent” accuracy, he said.

Since 2000, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has received more than 95,000 reports of medication errors.
The automated system virtually eliminates the chances of error, Waters said.

It works like this: when a prescription is ordered, the robot picks that specific medication by reading the bar-code on the package and inserts it into an envelope labeled with a patient-specific bar code.

Medication will be given to the patient only after the patient wristband and medication are scanned and a match is verified.

The pharmacy, which cost $2.6 million including construction and the new medication system, is on the hospital’s first floor in the site of the former Eye Surgery Center.

Waters, who came to Iowa from a Michigan hospital, said Mercy’s administration could have delayed the project as the hospital recovered from the flood, but chose to make the investment.

“It really was a silver lining,” he said.

© 2009 Gazette Communications

Larry Horbach has decided to close his family's furniture store in Toledo to go into the insurance business. Photo by Dave Rasdal.

By Dave Rasdal
The Gazette

TOLEDO — “Sold” signs hang on sofas and chairs at Horbach Furniture, signifying more than one or two pieces moving out the door. This is a “Going Out of Business” sale, one that brings an end to the store that has served the Tama-Toledo area for 43 years.

It ended with an auction last weekend to liquidate all inventory.

“I’m ready for a change,” says owner Larry Horbach, 45, as he rests for a moment on an unsold sofa. “I want to provide a different service to this community.”

So, after 30 years in the family’s furniture business, as the last to leave it, Larry will sell insurance.

That’s not so unusual when you learn that his family has followed that path — mother, Verlene, in it for 20 years in Toledo, older brothers Lon and Lance in it for 16 years and 12 years, respectfully — in other areas of Iowa.

“Everybody needs insurance,” Larry says. “Furniture isn’t always at the top of your list.”

Still, for 43 years, Horbach Furniture in Toledo provided a good living for the family. The father, Ron, opened it in 1965 after growing up in the family’s Grundy Center furniture business. Lon, Lance and Larry began as delivery boys, and all had a financial interest at one time or another. Ron is the only one left in furniture, selling it to stores in the Dallas, Texas, area for nearly 27 years.

The Horbach Funiture Store building. Photo by Dave Rasdal.

Now that Horbach Furniture has closed, the Tama-Toledo area, which once had five furniture stores, is left with only a rent-to-own store.

“I’d love to see another furniture store come in here,” says Larry, surrounded by the wide-open space and the original tall tin ceiling of the two-story Masonic Temple building erected in 1898. The Masons met upstairs until a decade or so ago when they moved to Tama, selling that portion of the building to Larry.

Larry tried to sell the business, but nobody could come up with the money. He’s tried to sell the building, too, but so far has had only lookers.

The market — about a 40-mile radius — is still viable, Larry says.

“The biggest challenge would be competing with the bigger stores (in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids),” Larry says. “I can compete with Marshalltown, no problem.”

But, for Larry and his family — wife Chris, who works for the Iowa Department of Human Services, and children Abby, 19, and Brandon, 16 — it’s time for a change.

After statewide training, Larry will take over his mother’s State Farm Insurance agency upon her retirement Jan. 1. And he’s not going far — that office is next door.

© Gazette Communications 2009

Justice system relies on interpreters

By Trish Mehaffey
The Gazette
 

Court interpreter Samuel Nzoikorera (left) of Cedar Rapids translates English to Kirundi and visa versa for Bernard Nyabugulu (second from right) and his attorney Kjas Long (right following a hearing at the Linn County Courthouse in Cedar Rapids. Nyabugulu's wife Mwajuma Ntibagirinzigo is in the background./Photo by Jim Slosiarek, The Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS — Most people would assume court interpreters fluent in Spanish are in high demand.
But who would have thought such a demand for Kirundi would exist in Linn County district courtrooms?

Kirundi is a Bantu language spoken in Burundi, Africa, and Samuel Nzoikorera is the go-to guy when someone from that area is accused of a crime in Linn County.
Statewide, the demand is greatest for Spanish interpreters, followed by Bosnian, Croatian, Arabic and Vietnamese.

The state has 249 certified and non-certified interpreters. The roster lists no Kirundi speakers.

Nzoikorera, a Burundi native now living in Cedar Rapids, isn’t listed because he hasn’t completed the formal courtroom interpreter training. But he started interpreting for the courts in 2003 before the state interpreter program started 2004.

Lori Schoon, Linn County District Court case specialist, said the legal system latched onto Nzoikorera because he’s the only English/Kirundi- speaking person in the area.

Recruiting interpreters isn’t new for Linn County, Schoon said. They used to rely on 6th Judicial District Judge Fae Hoover-Grinde, when she was with the public defender’s office in the late 1990s.
Hoover-Grinde wasn’t strictly an interpreter, but she was fluent in Spanish and the law.

“I was the only Spanish-speaking attorney around,” she said. “They would call me for initial appearances.”

Schoon said interpreters with no formal training, like Nzoikorera, have to sign a waiver for the state to be paid. The waiver allows them to interpret at initial appearances in a criminal case, for simple misdemeanors (more minor crimes) and during civil court proceedings.

Nzoikorera, a freezer worker at Heinz, said he only interprets on his days off. He’s interested in going through the formal training for interpreters, but notes the work doesn’t pay enough — $25 an hour, but only occasionally — for him to make a living at it.

Ed Duran of Cedar Rapids gets the most calls in Linn County as a non-certified Spanish interpreter, but he also can’t give up his day job as an assistant manager with Wal-Mart. Duran interprets about two or three hours a week and makes $40 an hour.

The hourly pay is determined by training and certification. Certified interpreters can make up to $55 an hour.

Duran, who was born in Cuba and grew up in Miami, started out teaching English as a Second Language classes in Sioux City and then later went through the court training program. He said he enjoys being the “invisible person” who helps offenders understand charges and their rights.

Starting without formalized training in court procedures — the case for Nzoikorera and Duran — is common, said Beatriz Cochran, a certified Spanish interpreter in Iowa City.
That’s how she started about 12 years ago when she moved from Mexico to Marshalltown. She had a friend who interpreted for the police and then they started calling her — mainly in the middle of the night.

Cochran, who mostly works in Johnson County, was in the first class to go through the court training in 2004.

To be listed on the state roster, interpreters must attend a two-day orientation and pass two exams. The first exam tests the interpreter’s knowledge of general English vocabulary, slang, legal terminology and court-related issues.

The second exam covers ethics. Interpreters must follow rules such as interpreting an answer exactly as an accused person states it, without embellishment, and phrase responses in the first-person.
Hala Scheetz of Cedar Rapids, a non-certified Arabic interpreter, said getting certified is hard.

Certified interpreters must pass exams where they orally interpret written documents and do consecutive interpreting and simultaneous interpreting. They also must pass an exam on written translation.

Scheetz, a Jordan native, only has the oral part of the certification process to complete. She started without training while working for an Omaha, Neb., law firm in 1992.
She said interpreters have to make sure offenders know the interpreter is not on their legal team.

“We are a tool of communication for them,” she said.

2009 Gazette Communications

Biz organizations help shape future entrepreneurs

Linn-Mar High School Senior Parker Valdez works on his resume for the state FBLA conference slated for April in Cedar Rapids. Hundreds of FBLA students from across Iowa will compete in various business areas including interviewing skills, public speaking and graphics design. Photo by Janet Rorholm/The Gazette

By Janet Rorholm
Edge Business Magazine

Parker Valdez always wanted to be an entrepreneur, and he started early.

Valdez, a senior at Linn-Mar High School, started his first business with his brother, Preston, when he was 9 years old. The brothers handed out fliers in their neighborhood offering to mow lawns. They have been encouraged by their father, Perry, who owns his own business, Ultimate Touch Detail Center in Cedar Rapids.

Valdez says the experience of running his own business has been invaluable.

“I was able to learn a lot of things, like time management. I had to call on people and give them estimates. I also had to learn how to deal with people.”
Valdez plans to shut down that business when he goes off to college at the University of Iowa in the fall, but after graduating in business, he hopes to open up his next venture, an auto collision repair business, also with his brother. Both are taking auto tech classes at Kirkwood Community College.

Valdez also is working on his business skills through Linn-Mar’s Future Business Leaders of America, an organization that hones business skills for students as young as middle school.

“To provide the opportunity for students to get practical experience is valuable on many fronts. They get experience and responsibility. It also gives them a better sense of finance and how to deal with money and anything we can do to improve financial literacy is important,” said David Hensley, director of the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center at The University of Iowa.

Business organizations for young people like FBLA and DECA, Business Professionals of America and business mentoring and internship programs aren’t just important for students. They also are important to the state in terms of economic development and to communities as well, Hensley said. There is always a need for more opportunities for young people to interact with entrepreneurs and business people in the state, he said.

“All of those interactions help mold and develop our students in unique ways – whether they get a job in business or create their own company,” Hensley said.
Everyone wins by participating in these opportunities, he said.

“Business owners get to see what the next generation is like and what kind of talent they bring. They can help develop that talent,” he said.

Often these students also learn just what it takes to make it in business.

“It also comes down to hard work. Students learn how hard you have to work. They get a sense of what it takes to be successful,” Hensley said.

Hensley said the University of Iowa has pushed experiential learning for youth for several decades.
“The idea isn’t that you turn 4- or 5-year-olds into entrepreneurs. You get them to think about it and how you take their interest and use it. Young people are very, very creative and we want to get them to harvest those skills… we want to motivate and empower them,” he said.

That includes experiential learning programs for high school and college students like the Okoboji Entrepreneurial Institute that Hensley helped found. The institute gathers together students from the state’s three public universities at the Iowa Lakeside Laboratory on West Lake Okoboji in northwest Iowa for a one-week crash course in entrepreneurship.

Students are mentored by area entrepreneurs, an experience Cody Seeley found the most valuable.

“To get the opportunity to speak with them and share contact info was probably the greatest benefit,” he said.

Seeley, 22, a senior at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business, graduates in May. He and a friend and business partner, Jason Willcox, are planning their own online investment firm catering to college students.

Seeley said he’s turned to the entrepreneurs he met at the institute for advice as he works on starting his own business.

For younger students, some of that mentoring comes from the National Future Business Leaders of America program, the largest business career student organization in the world. Nationally, it has about 215,000 members at the high school level, about 15,000 at the middle school level and about 11,000 college students. The organization’s professional division has more than 3,000 members.

Iowa has about 1,031 FBLA members at 27 schools. Cedar Rapids will host the state FBLA competition April 1-4 at the Crowne Plaza Five Seasons Hotel in Cedar Rapids.

Students will come together to compete in everything from Web site design, interviewing skills, public speaking and economics.

Dana Lampe, FBLA adviser at Linn-Mar High School and for the state, said students who get involved in FBLA don’t just learn business skills, they learn important leadership and communication skills.

“These kids really develop a self confidence,” she said.
Zafir Dharssi, a junior at Linn-Mar who is involved in FBLA, said he was looking forward to the state competition.

“It’s given me a lot of new experiences and I’ve met so many new people. I really like that social aspect of it,” he said.

He said his motivation for getting involved was simple. “I wanted to see if I could get into business and learn the fundamentals,” he said.

Dharssi has dreams of owning his own business some day.

©2009, Gazette Communications

Sustainable-building practices hot despite a cool economy

Dan Thies, principal architect at OPN Architects, goes over plans for the proposed $15 million human services building in downtown Cedar Rapids with Lois Buntz, president and CEO of the United Way of East Central Iowa. The building has been designed with sustainable building design practices. Photo by Janet Rorholm/The Gazette

By Janet Rorholm
From Edge Business Magazine

Flooding may have damaged Stamats’ 75-year-old headquarters last June, but the company knew it would rebuild and, in doing so, would embrace the green trend.

“It was time to practice what we preach,” said Guy Wendler, president and CEO of Stamats.

Stamats was familiar with green building practices from its business-to-business publications, Buildings, Interiors & Sources and Archi-Tech.

Employees were in favor of the idea and “it just made economical sense,” Wendler said.

So the company changed its lighting and included more natural light, installed water-efficient faucets and toilets, installed all recyclable carpet and used environmentally-friendly paint. It also insulated the drafty building with soy-based biofoam.

Wendler said going green cost the company about 10 percent more, but he expects the payout to be worth it through reduced costs in the long run.

Stamats isn’t alone in thinking green. Environmentally friendly building design and remodels are quickly becoming the norm across the country, and especially in the Corridor. As of early March, there were 128 projects seeking Leadership Energy and Environmental Design certification across the state, 32 of which are located in the Corridor. Stamats is one of those projects.

Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council in 2000, LEED is a third-party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. To certify as LEED, projects must satisfy certain prerequisites and earn points in six categories: sustainable sites; water efficiency; energy and atmosphere; materials and resources; indoor environmental quality; and innovation in design. The number of points the project earns determines the level of LEED certification the project receives. LEED certification is available in four progressive levels: certified, silver, gold and platinum.

The economic downturn hasn’t slowed down the number of green projects, overall.

“It’s kind of independent of that,” said Kevin Monson, president of Neumann Monson Architects in Iowa City. “People have a much more heightened awareness of their carbon footprint than they ever have before. Part of that comes from the spike in energy costs that we’ve seen.”

This long-term thinking has created a demand for buildings that are as cost-efficient as they can be, especially since the cost of energy is only expected to increase.

“That means more than ever it is important, in light of these economic times, to make sure that fixed costs like power and energy are at the lowest they can possibly be,” Monson said.

In the United States alone, buildings account for:
– 72 percent of electricity consumption
– 39 percent of energy use
– 38 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions
– 40 percent of raw materials use
– 30 percent of waste output (136 million tons annually)
– 14 percent of potable water consumption

Dan Thies, principal and LEED certified architect at OPN Architects in Cedar Rapids, agrees that the number of companies and residents interested in sustainable-building practices will increase.

“Far more people are interested in this, and I think over time we will only see that number continue to grow,” Thies said.

Soon, sustainable-building practices could become second nature, just like the American with Disabilities Act.
“When the ADA came out, there was a lot of discussion and concern about how to incorporate all of these standards into a building. Now it’s not even a conversation anymore. It’s just how you design a building. In my view, soon people won’t ask anymore about efficiency and sustainability, they are just going to expect it … It won’t be a buzz concept. It will be the baseline,” Thies said.

Thies said OPN now has 50 percent of its staff LEED accredited. It hopes for that number to be 100 percent soon.

“We want 100 percent of our staff to be LEED accredited, we think it’s that important,” he said.

Thies said often the first question clients ask is, “How much more will it take to make the building green?”
Today, the answer is often minimal.

“All of these elements of building (green) are now mainstream and so many of the premiums have evaporated,” he said.

Monson said national estimates suggest that sustainable building practices account for about 2 percent of additional construction costs today.

“Many times that is quickly paid back through increased productivity, energy-cost savings and the increased value of the building,” he said. “LEED-certified buildings tend to receive higher rental rates … That’s just making it good financial sense as well.”

Rockwell Collins’ gold certification LEED building at 131 Rockwell Dr. NE proves going green doesn’t have to be costly. That building was constructed at less than $100 a square foot, Thies said.

The United Way of East Central Iowa also is thinking green with its proposed $15 million human services building in downtown Cedar Rapids.

“When, or if, we (build), we feel we have an important obligation to do things as economically and environmentally friendly as we can,” said Terry Bergen, director of marketing for the United Way of East Central Iowa.

Bergen said United Way is working with OPN architects to make sure it can incorporate as many green aspects to the building as it can within its budget.

“The money you spend comes back to you. It will be returned over time in energy savings, but the other aspect of this is being a good citizen of the community. We want a building that will have benefit to our community,” Bergen said.

Clients are able to build a sustainable building regardless of their budget, Thies said.

“The beauty of sustainable buildings and design is that there are all different kinds of ways you can approach the various strategies … so clients have choices,” Thies said.

Today’s sustainable buildings include energy efficiencies such as natural daylight to reduce the use of lighting and positioning buildings to best use natural daylight from the north and shading on the south and west side that will protect the building from direct sunlight, therefore reducing the cooling load. Other features include dimmer switches and occupancy sensors that turn off lights when no one is around, water use reduction features, water-efficient landscaping and using renewable energy.

©2009, Gazette Communications

By Janet Rorholm
Edge Business Magazine

When Susan Donohoe started plans to open her own physical therapy business two years ago, the economy was still solid. Since that time, however, things began changing quickly.

Susan Donohoe corrects Nancy Viscondi's form during a Pilates class at The Physical Therapy Center, 600 Blairs Ferry Rd. NE, Cedar Rapids Donohoe offers Pilates and Tai Chi classes in an effort to help attract clients. Despite opening her business in the middle of the recession, Donohoe said she doesn't regret chasing her dream. Photo by Janet Rorholm/Edge Business Magazine

“We didn’t know this was going to happen when we started plans. In August, I had two banks vying for my business,” she said.

Today the country is in a full blown recession, credit is tight and people are trying to save as much as they can. That includes co-pays. But Donohoe refuses to be discouraged.

“For me this was a life dream …” she said. “I think I’ll never regret it. I just need to look at obstacles as opportunities.”

Donohoe opened the doors to The Physical Therapy Center, 600 Blairs Ferry Rd. NE, Cedar Rapids, in January and began building clientele through e-mail blasts, limited advertising and free Tai Chi and Pilates classes in February.

In addition to physical therapy and the fitness classes, the business also offers women’s health and weight loss classes and plans to add massage therapy.

Donohoe hopes to ride out the turbulent economy.

“You’re not expected in a new business to break even for at least six months. This economy makes me think it’s going to take longer,” she said.

Still, she says “health care is always a good bet” for a business.

Donohoe isn’t the only entrepreneur who is opening a business in the Corridor in today’s difficult economy.

She’s got plenty of company and opening a business now isn’t as crazy as you think, said Curt Nelson, president and CEO of the Entrepreneurial Development Center in Cedar Rapids, a non-profit organization that assists businesses in interstate commerce.

“There are a lot of very successful businesses that started during down times,” he said.

Nelson calls it the “best-of-times, worst-of-times scenario.”

Patrick Lage, president of MidAmerican Career Associates in Cedar Rapids, gets a business update from Scott Sanborn, vice president of client services. Lage started the business in the middle of a recession. Photo by Janet Rorholm/The Gazette

“It’s the worst because it’s hard to raise the money necessary right now, but with so many people out of the work force right now, those who have thought about opening their own business are thinking about it now,” he said.

People resist change and so a lot of people who have always thought about opening their own business find it hard to leave a steady job and go out on their own, but getting laid off can certainly be the push they need, Nelson said.

“All of a sudden you find yourself on the street. So now is the time to start thinking about starting your own business. You’ve got the time,” he said.

While capital may be harder to find, it’s not impossible. Venture capitalists have money, although the terms may be tougher in today’s economy, Nelson said.

Nelson said there are areas where timing is right for entrepreneurs with the right product or service. Products that focus on the baby boomer generation, especially ailing baby boomers, will likely do well, as will products that can help people or companies save in this weakened economy, he said.

“It’s all about being smart about starting a business,” Nelson said.

The current economy makes it far less tolerant of poor practices, so playing it smart has never been more important, Nelson said.

“The reason good businesses are started in tough times is because people do the extra work before starting up,” he said.

Bridget Casey knows some people thinks she’s crazy for opening a restaurant now, but she’s convinced the timing and her location is ideal. Casey just opened The Bohemian in Czech Village in one of its flooded out buildings that used to be a cafe, a costume shop and, most recently, an antique store when the flood hit.

“It’s when the building was flooded and we were up to our eyeballs in mud that I said, ‘Let’s turn this place into a restaurant,’” Casey said.

Casey is banking on Czech Village coming back bigger and better than ever, but she also sees a real need for a community center of sorts for the area and she’s hoping her restaurant/bar will serve that purpose.

She said people still eat out, they just may not be spending as much and she believes that they want something unique when they do dine out.

“People don’t want to go to another chain or fast-food place,” she said.

On the plus side, the higher unemployment rate has allowed her to be choosy with her employees. She said she’s received hundreds of applications from out-of-work steel workers to homemakers needing to supplement their income.

Business is already good for Patrick Lage who opened his own business, MidAmerican Career Associates, in Cedar Rapids. Lage is using his skills as chief operating officer at PepsiCo for nearly two decades and his skills at running another career services business that he operated with a partner before going his own way in October 2008.

“I’m challenge-motivated, so I’m always looking for my next challenge,” he said of opening his second business in the midst of a recession.

While unemployment is high, Iowa is faring better than the rest of the country with the sixth-lowest unemployment rate in the country as of January. Still, Lage has seen his clientele base double to about 45 percent unemployed compared to what he saw two years ago in his prior business. The company works largely with those in managerial positions.

“You’ve got to know where to look and know how to hunt and that’s what we teach them – how to penetrate the market,” he said.

Starting the business wasn’t as easy this go around, however.

“The economy is dicey, there’s no doubt about that. That creates some challenges in getting start-up capital,” he said.

So Lage turned to family and friends, writing them promissory notes to get the doors opened. With companies outsourcing human resource functions and many people looking for new jobs, business has been good, so good the company is ready to double its staff to six in about as many months.

His advice to others thinking about opening a business in this economy?

– Make sure you find a niche.

– Make sure you are fully capitalized. Make sure you have at least six months of cash flow on hand.

– Make sure you surround yourself with the best people.

Lage said the economy may be difficult, but suddenly he’s found himself enjoying getting out of bed and going to work again.

“I’d do it all over again,” he said.

©2009, Gazette Communications