Media Release

19 MARCH 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

REDUCING THE OLD ’TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE’

John and Tracey Noonan from Ambience Boutique, located in the Northern Illawarra village of Helensburgh, are really going out of their way to contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions in their small business environment, and effectively reducing their environmental footprint.

At a recent Northern Illlawarra Chamber of Commerce meeting, John and Tracey gave members an inspiring insight into just how easy it can be.

By systematically considering the ecological, social and economic consequences of their business practices, John, who has a degree in Environmental Management from the UNSW, was able to apply the principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) to guide their business decisions. He calls it reducing your triple bottom line, and says “why not, blue chip companies have been doing it for years”.

By looking at their operational practices one by one, John and Tracey have been easily able to identify where they could make changes, both economically and environmentally, and then find a practical, ecologically sustainable way in which to apply the change.

For example, from simply changing their halogen downlights to LCD, to light their shop, they increased the energy conversion to light from 10% to 98%, and at the same time saved themselves up to $400 per year in replacement lights.

Then to reduce their carbon footprint further, Ambience changed their energy supplier to TRUenergy to receive power that is produced by 100% wind; they also offset their carbon emissions from car use and flights by subscribing to Greenfleet.

John’s view is that, “from a small business point of view you have to be pragmatic about the way you can implement the principles of ESD. Every business is going to be different, and every business operator is going to have different concerns and priorities to balance”.

John’s advice for a business wanting to get started ‘the first thing is to educate yourself on the issues, think about the impacts you are having and the ways in which you can reduce them”.

Ambience boutique is a member of the Northern Illlawarra Chamber of Commerce. These are just a few of the ways in which Ambience Boutique is meeting the challenges of reducing their environmental footprint. For full details of how they are achieving it, visit the Northern Illawarra Chamber of Commerce website HYPERLINK "http://www.nicc.net.au" www.nicc.net.au
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For further information and photos please contact Lynda Starkey, Northern Illawarra Chamber of Commerce. PO Box 396 Helensburgh NSW 2508

Issued by:

Lynda Starkey
Media Liaison Coordinator
Northern Illawarra Chamber of Commerce
Mobile: 0408 623 420