Greeprints: Green soldiers - Washington Business Journal:

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Countless local companies are responsible for speedingy up the procession toward environmental Here are just a few inthe faster-movinb retinue to watch in 2009. You’ll probably catcg Inc. toward the front of the The Alexandria company got its environmental headstarf fouryears ago, back when “green” for most people describex a color of the rainbo w rather than a transformative shift in Calvert-Jones started as an appliance shop at the time of the Trumanm Doctrine, tinkering with its businessa model over the years until it has becomee a commercial mechanical engineering company that specializes in energyg conservation and whose services run the gamut from energy audits to air-duct cleaning to wate r treatment to light bulb recycling to retro-commissioning.
Its list of clientsa runs from American University andto BB&T and CB Richar Ellis Group Inc. The recession causex Calvert-Jones to scale back on roughly seven positionzslast year, and talk an eighth employee into earlty retirement. This year, the 195-person compant is positioning itself to rampback up. It is talking to militarg installations such as the Marine Corps basein Va., and the Naval Air Systemxs Command in Patuxent, Md., about potentialk stimulus-funded jobs to replace heating-and-coolingb systems and equipment. But it expects the bulk of the extra dollards to arrive later inthe year.
It is awaitingg word on bids for $110 million worth of project sso far, double its entirse annual average for nearly the past decade. Though, it has collectef on only $700,000 of it year-to-date. “We’re going to have greay third and fourth quarters because the projects will be startedcby then,” said President Stan “The startup [phase] is the only thing. You just can’tt do it overnight.” nailed arguably its most renowned clienty in the final months of last none other than thegranxd pooh-bah of green building, the . But the Northwes D.C.
company, which manages energy use green constructionand retrofits, or full properties for commercia l buildings, downplays that conquest — its Web site doesn’t even have an announcement saying each client is With customers like the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Goodwillp Industries International and the National Wildlife that may be But providing property management support for the USGBC’s headquarters helps propel the 6-year-old business into likely one of its fastest-growin g years. Previously landlord-side brokers, AtSitre embraced the sustainability part of its service offerings inlate 2007.
So far this the company has boosted its staff by 25 percent and doublecdthe green-building portfolio it is measuring and While increasing acceptance of greenn gets some credit, AtSitde says, so do the sagging revenues of a recession. “Ourd message is reducing costs and increasing qualityand performance,” said CEO Davort Kapelina. “I think that resonatea in any time. That definitely is resonating right now in somedifficultf times.” Clean energy doesn’t just mean solat panels or windmills to . Sometimes it really is just abouft cleanliness. A division of Upper Marlboro-based Daycon Products Co. Inc.
, an eco-friendlty cleaning products distributor, Penguin Care concentratesd on training cleaning contractors and propertyt managers to putthe earth’s welfare over toxic chemicalse in their cleaning practices, helping certify them undedr Green Seal standards. “National standards for cleanin arebeing mandated,” said Marion Penguin Care’s executive vice president, who herselfc is a certified expert in the Cleaning Industryu Management Standard. “There are a lot of contracta comingout now, RFPs, requirinbg that cleaning service providers be Green Stecklow guesses she has been seeing about two such RFPs or contractt requirements a month in the past year.
Before that, she there were none. So look for growth at Penguinn Care, up until now pretty much a Stecklow-run She just hired a second instructoer and plans to add four to five morebeforew Halloween. They will step in front of clasw sizes that could very well double in thenext year, as interestec trainees make inquiries from as far as New New York and Connecticut. Look for the likelihoofd of Penguin Care stepping out of the Daycohn nest and standing on its ownindependenf — and, yes, happy — corporatr feet. If that then so would begin, within that perpetual green movement, the marcu of Penguin Care.