Going green, saving green

Take it from Bruce Reuser. His Cloverdale landscape materials company is on track to reduce its use of fossil fuels 40 percent by installing solar panels, converting to electric-powered processes and using vegetable oil to power and lubricate trucks and machinery.

Such investments can be costly, but Reuser has stayed competitive by constantly improving operations at his 30-year-old business.

"It's about being more efficient. Now it's called green," he said.

Reuser was among 16 businesses honored Friday for environmentally friendly practices by the Business Environmental Alliance, a Sonoma County public-private partnership.

A growing number of local companies are joining the alliance. More than 250 business and government leaders attended the group's annual awards breakfast in Rohnert Park, more than five times the number at the inaugural event seven years ago.

The turnout was encouraging to Sonoma County Supervisor Tim Smith. Local businesses must play a critical role in efforts to conserve natural resources and cut greenhouse gas emissions, he said.

"We are now confronted with no doubt what will be the world's biggest challenge. It's you folks, it's not going to be the government, who make the changes," he said.

Friday's awards went to a cross section of local businesses, from wineries and inns to a builder and an auto body shop.

Turning to solar power, retrofitting energy systems, reducing water use, packaging with recycled materials, converting to alternative fuels -- these are some of the ways businesses are going green.

Sonoma County has been a leader in a growing nationwide effort to set local goals for easing global warming. The county and all nine of its cities have committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2015, even more ambitious than California's aim to meet 1990 levels by 2020.

"If it doesn't happen in Sonoma County, it's not going to happen anywhere," Smith said.

Reducing and reusing has paid dividends in diverting waste from landfills and stretching water supplies. Still, businesses, as well as individuals, must do more, county officials and business leaders said. Saving money on energy and water use, waste disposal and other costs can be a powerful incentive.

"It's not only a green thing to do, but it's economical," said Susan Klassen, Sonoma County's deputy director for transportation and public works.

Recycling programs have helped divert 61 percent of the county's waste from landfills. While that exceeds state mandates, the county has a goal of 70 percent by 2015, Klassen said.

To get there, the county wants to improve recycling of construction materials, food and landscape waste, and cardboard and paper.

Water conservation is a foremost concern. Reductions in use helps to ease energy demand, as treating and pumping water accounts for about 20 percent of energy used in the county and statewide, said Grant Davis, assistant general manager for the Sonoma County Water Agency.

Energy efficiency improvements are central to Reuser's business plan.

The spelling of his family's name, Reuser -- pronounced Roy-sir -- embodies his business. The Cloverdale company "reuses" material: sawdust, bark and wood chips from timber mills, as well as scrap wood and waste mulch. Most of it is converted into landscaping materials, although some goes to make paper and cardboard and fuel for co-generation power plants.

The company has streamlined and lightened trucks and purchased newer vehicles to improve fuel efficiency, aiming to raise its fleet average to 7 miles per gallon. It uses 7,500 gallons of fuel annually to power some 25 trucks and pieces of machinery.

Stretching fuel is even more important because Reuser has converted to a blend of 20 percent biodiesel and standard diesel fuel. The vegetable oil-diesel blend costs 20 cents more per gallon than regular diesel – a premium Reuser is willing to pay to reduce emissions.

"There's enough biodiesel that we can buy it now. It's more expensive, but it's the right thing to do," said John Reuser, one of Bruce Reuser's sons.

The company also is converting from diesel to electric to power four machines that shred and separate bark, wood chips and other landscape material. Electric motors are twice as efficient.

"It's lower emissions and a cost item for us," Bruce Reuser said.

That electric power will come from a solar energy system Reuser is placing on the roof of a new operations building the company expects to complete this spring.

One of Reuser's first moves to ease potential environmental impacts was converting to vegetable-base hydraulic oil a decade ago to lubricate all machinery. It costs $14 a gallon compared with $7 a gallon for standard hydraulic oil, but is not toxic in the event of a spill.

"You just don't have environmental problems with it. I can't tell you how much money I save," Bruce Reuser said.

You can reach Staff Writer Michael Coit at 521-5470 or mike.coit@pressdemocrat.com.