We are excited to announce a partnership with award-winning telecom provider Call One to launch an LED exit sign Eco-Blitz for their network of customers.

This is totally unique for a telecom company – and another way Call One believes it can bring value to its clients.

What to do with all of those old exit signs we have been replacing?  Here’s a beautiful part of the solution: Artist and designer Ted Harris transforms discarded objects into lamps (see a recent New York Times Article featuring his work).  Harris took some of the older Western Electric signs we replaced in Evanston, and refurbished them into these amazing pieces!

Can you spot the exit sign?

e-One stopped by his recent show at Scout in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago to meet Ted and see the fantastic work.  We are so excited to see these old signs transformed into something so interesting!

We helped the Business Alliance for a Sustainable Evanston to plan and manage their latest Bi-Monthly Meeting on Sustainable Transportation.

On July 27, green business owners and community members met up at Edzo’s Burger Shop in Evanston. Guest speakers from CTA, Active Transportation Alliance and I-GO Car Sharing discussed sustainable transportation.

Presenters

Anjuli Seth, Corporate Relations Manager at I-GO Car Sharing explained how I-GO can benefit businesses by allowing businesses to rent cars by the hour. Businesses can use this as an incentive to get their employees to use public transportation to get to and from work, then use an I-GO car to get to a meeting, or lunch during the day. I-Go has many locations in Evanston, and BASE Members are eligible for a special discounted Business rate.

Lina Hoffman, North Suburban Coordinator at Active Transportation Alliance, talked about the Shop by Bike program that business owners can use to harness the huge untapped Evanston bicyclist market. Shop by Bike focuses on providing bike parking to customers, as well as offering them a discount for biking to one’s store. Lina also mentioned that Evanston will enjoy a “Car-Free Day” very soon.

Joe Iacobucci, a Project Manager at CTA, explained the Transit Benefit program, which businesses can use as a benefit for employees. The program allows employees to get tax-free monthly passes taken directly from their paycheck.  Joe spoke about how businesses can use their Bus Tracker program to entice customers to take public transportation. This program allows people to get real-time information about when the next bus will be at their stop. Businesses can set up LED screens or laptops that display the bus tracker online for stops near the business.

I’ve been doing a good deal of research on low-flow pre-rinse sprayers.  Now, I get it – this is not the most glamorous topic.  But these things present incredible savings for restaurants, dining halls, and any other facility that rinses a lot of dishes.

Low-flow sprayers use a fraction of the hot water that old ones do, while simultaneously reducing cleaning time.  This means restaurants save on water, natural gas, sewer charges, and labor.

If an entire community launches a replacement campaign, it could generate large pollution reductions as well as saving hundreds of thousands of dollars for local businesses.

Right now in Illinois there are $25 utility rebates available which – in many cases – halve the price and bring the payback period down to a matter of weeks.  In Illinois, rebates are available for customers of People’s Gas, North Shore, and Nicor, to name just a few utilities.

If you’re interested in learning more, check out the Food Service Technology Center which has a page dedicated to low-flow sprayer savings.  They have tested a number of the low-flow sprayers that qualify for utility rebates.  Or, just contact us.

e-One can launch a citywide or organization-wide campaign to bring these quick retrofits to your community.  We will take care of the research, rebate paperwork, purchasing, orders and installation.  Your community gets the best sprayers at a better price.

We’re thrilled to report we have launched our second-ever LED exit sign eco-blitz in Northbrook, Illinois.  It’s a campaign on behalf of the Village to replace old emergency exit signs with super-efficient LEDs- local businesses, nonprofits, building owners, schools and basically anyone else can take advantage of one per-sign price to replace their signs and get ComEd rebates.  We manage the entire campaign so it costs the Village nothing.

Want more details? Download a flyer and participation form, or check out an online application. Watch the countdown to the Village’s 1,000-sign goal via Twitter.

Why should your community or association let us do an exit sign Eco-Blitz for you?

First of all, LED exit signs are a total no-brainer for energy efficiency.  A single sign will save your community members over $800 each in energy and maintenance costs over the lifetime of the sign. No more bulb switching; LED bulbs last ten years and should carry a warranty that ensures as much.

Apart from saving your community members money, however, you’ll also be responsible for a big CO2 emissions reduction, community-wide: definitely something to brag about!  For instance, our Northbrook campaign will help the community eliminate nearly 3 million pounds of CO2 over the next ten years.

Contact us and we’ll launch an LED exit sign initiative in your community.  Save money, save the environment, and look good doing it.