By Steve Kelley
I read a good article this week by Leigh Anne Terry of Callahan and Associates on CreditUnions.com (5 Ideas Your Credit Union Can Take to the … Bank) that should probably be required reading for everyone in the credit union movement. Ms. Terry makes the point that “going green” and “saving green” aren’t mutually exclusive. We couldn’t agree more.
Though you ought to read the article for yourself, the gist of it is that there are a number of environmentally-friendly things that credit unions can do that will either save money or expand business opportunities. The five she lists include going paperless where possible, making loans for environmentally-friendly vehicles (including bicycles), using “green” architecture when building new buildings (BCI can help you with that!), making home loans for environmentally responsible dwellings, and offering remote capture to cut down on the trips members have to make to a branch.
These are all great ideas, and I would encourage every credit union to explore putting them into practice. But there’s another idea, one that doesn’t seem to have gotten much play yet, that could have enormous impact on credit unions’ bottom line and their standing in the global community: saving money by conserving energy in existing credit union facilities.
In her article, Ms. Terry encourages credit unions to go green when building new buildings, but the fact is that there are thousands of credit union buildings already in operation that are wasting millions of dollars per year in energy consumption. If we want to make an impact on the environment and become financially sound, it’s time we started talking about how to fix those existing buildings.
At BCI, we’re ready to do just that. This week we’ve launched a video series aimed at starting a conversation about conserving energy in existing credit union buildings. Episode 1 is on our website now; several more will follow in the coming days. I hope you’ll watch, give us your comments, and otherwise join the conversation.
Credit unions should absolutely be doing all they can to help the environment … and their own bottom lines. Great business and branding opportunities are out there. What are we waiting for?