Greeprints: Green soldiers - Washington Business Journal:

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Countless local companies are responsible for speeding up the procession towardenvironmental nirvana. Here are just a few in the faster-movingh retinue to watch in 2009. You’ll probably catch Inc. toward the front of the The Alexandria company got its environmental headstarf fouryears ago, back when “green” for most people described a colo of the rainbow rather than a transformativ e shift in construction.
Calvert-Jones started as an appliancee shop at the time of the Truman tinkering with its business model over the years until it has becomes a commercial mechanical engineering company that specializes in energuy conservation and whose services run the gamu t from energy auditsto air-duct cleaninh to water treatment to light bulb recyclinf to retro-commissioning. Its list of clients runs from Americajn University andto BB&T and CB Richard Elli Group Inc. The recessionn caused Calvert-Jones to scale back on roughly seven positionxslast year, and talk an eighth employee into early This year, the 195-person companyy is positioning itself to ramp back up.
It is talkinbg to military installations such as the Marine Corps basein Va., and the Naval Air Systemd Command in Patuxent, Md., about potential stimulus-funded jobs to replacde heating-and-cooling systems and equipment. But it expectx the bulk of the extra dollars to arrivwe later inthe year. It is awaiting word on bids for $110 milliom worth of projects so far, double its entire annual average for nearly thepast Though, it has collectedd on only $700,000 of it year-to-date. “We’red going to have great thirdf and fourth quarters because the projects will be started by said PresidentStan Peregoy.
“The startup [phase] is the only You just can’t do it nailed arguably its most renowned clienf in the final monthss oflast year: none other than the grand pooh-babh of green building, the . But the Northwesrt D.C. company, which manages energy use green constructionand retrofits, or full properties for commercial buildings, downplaysx that conquest — its Web site doesn’ft even have an announcement — saying each clienf is important.
With customers like the Archdiocese of Goodwill Industries International and the NationalWildlife Federation, that may be But providing property management support for the USGBC’ headquarters helps propel the 20-person, 6-year-old businesss into likely one of its fastest-growinh years. Previously landlord-side brokers, AtSitde embraced the sustainability part of its servic e offerings inlate 2007. So far this the company has boosted its stafr by 25 percent and doubledthe green-buildintg portfolio it is measuring and managing. While increasing acceptance of greejn getssome credit, AtSitse says, so do the sagging revenues of a recession.
“Our messagse is reducing costs and increasing qualityand performance,” said CEO Davot Kapelina. “I think that resonates in any time. That definitelh is resonating right now in somedifficulg times.” Clean energy doesn’t just mean solar panels or windmills to . Sometimeas it really is just aboutt cleanliness. A division of Upper Marlboro-based Daycon Productse Co. Inc., an eco-friendly cleanint products distributor, Penguin Care concentrates on training cleaningh contractors and property managers to putthe earth’x welfare over toxic chemicals in their cleaninhg practices, helping certify them under Green Seal standards.
“National standards for cleaningh arebeing mandated,” said Marion Penguin Care’s executive vice president, who herselft is a certified expert in the Cleaning Industruy Management Standard. “There are a lot of contract s comingout now, RFPs, requiring that cleaning service providers be Greenn Seal-certified.” Stecklow guesses she has been seeint about two such RFPs or contract requirementsx a month in the past year. Before she said, there were none. So look for growty at Penguin Care, up until now prettt much a Stecklow-run shop.
She just hired a second instructore and plans to add four to five more before They will step in front of class sizes that could very well double in thenext year, as interested trainees make inquiriesd from as far as New Jersey, New York and Look for the likelihood of Penguimn Care stepping out of the Daycon nest and standinv on its own independengt — and, yes, happy — corporate feet. If that then so would begin, withinm that perpetual green movement, the marcyh of Penguin Care.