» business

Working with GTRI

Krystal Persaud — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 13:43:28 +0000

For the past few weeks I have been meeting with some fantastic people at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) that want to start making their building more green. Moon Kim contacted me, my adviser from when I formerly interned there Fall semester in 2009, asking if I could help them with sustainable living tipes and set up an enviromental management system (EMS).

There are so many great ideas! GTRI has already established a group of people to act as the “environmental cheerleading team” (sounds silly, but is very important to have when starting an EMS). Two employees are determined to set up an urban rooftop garden! How incredible would it be to take your lunch break on the roof in an environment as pictured above? I would be a much needed improvement from eating at your desk. I have done it on a regular basis, and I truly believe that eating at your desk in front of your computer during (a time that is supposed to be a break from work) is a soul drowning activity. But, that’s just me.

I am really happy to be part of the project. I think more and more businesses will realize that there IS a business case for sustainability.

Saving energy = saving money.

More green space = happy employees.

A solid environmental management system = marketing advantage (and green street cred).

“Recycling Volunteer” ?

Krystal Persaud — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:15:15 +0000

This Thursday I am volunteering to help out at the GreenBusiness Works Expo. I am not really sure what my volunteer work will entail yet… but I am excited about the networking opportunities. My title is “recycling volunteer”. I am not sure if that means I am supposed to educate people about recycling… or am I volunteering to recycle things for people? That is kind of funny considering this Expo should be full of people who love recycling. We shall see..

Anyways, there are going to be SO many companies with sustainable objectives that I could talk to. It is going down at the Cobb Galleria Centre on September 2nd and 3rd if anyone is interested in attending. Check out the GreenBusiness Works Expo website and program.

I am going to make up a ton of cards to give out. I wish I had more time to really fix up and organize the site to how I want it to be, but … it will have to do. I think in the future, It would be awesome to hire someone to re-organize it for me. First I need money though! So perhaps before Thursday I will set up my Paypal donation button and get some donations that way. Just to help the site grow. I just need to be 110% clear that it is NOT tax deductable and goes into a personal closed loop bank account I have to help the site/organization.

Think it will get too messy? I think it may…

NPO, LCC, INC, What?

Krystal Persaud — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:27:18 +0000

So over the past few weeks I have been debating where I think Closed Loop can go. My first instinct was it should be an NPO (non-profit organization). However, after talking to my friend Rohit, who works for the ONE campaign, he explained to me that maintaining an NPO takes a lot of money and a lot of man power. Both of which I don’t have. You have to collect some odd thousand and designate it here and there. Have a board of directors, meetings, etc.

But… right now it is just me, one person, with a cause doing some work in my spare time. So he suggested that the best bet for me would to just declare myself a consultant for design sustainability. I can help out companies, homes, schools (like I am with Amerlux), and use that as my consultant-portfolio. Since I need some financial help to get started, I can collect donations now from family and friends explicitly saying “this donation does not apply for any tax exemptions”. Then use that money to pay for marketing materials, website upkeep, and other things that you need to do starting off. Then later on, I can charge clients for consulting services. Then donate a % of the profits to environmental NPOs that I choose.

I think this plan could work…