Sustainability Emerges as a Business Model

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Sustainability Emerges as a Business Model

These two entrepreneurs have learned the cost savings and competitive advantages of going green. Learn how you can be a green entrepreneur in your industry.

By Bill Roth

When pondering the question "how many ex-environmentalists do you know?" Village Associates real estate agent Ben Olsen's answer is immediate. "The answer is none--once your customers get it, they get it forever." That's why he's incorporating green strategies into his business plan.

Sustainability as a business practice and opportunity in real estate is just emerging. The industry is beginning to add green data into its Multiple Listing Service (MLS). If it's true that you are what you measure, then green is hitting the real estate radar. In addition, real estate transactions are paper-based--generating large paper files. And they've spent decades conditioning buyers that the key buying factors are location, price and square footage even though personal health, operating costs, commute distance and resale are major issues for home owners.

Olsen and other entrepreneurs are stepping away from traditional practices by adopting sustainability. Chris Bartle, president of Green Key Real Estate, is also jumping on this trend. He's starting a national franchise that establishes green-based brokerages.

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"My business goal is not to convert the masses," Bartle says. "I am focused on the existing green market and building data that will be compelling to later adopters."

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