Interns Help Small Businesses Go Green in Chinatown, LES

The Win-Win Campaign sounds to me like it would deliver about four big “wins.” So, who wins?

Youth: The training and internship program equips young people with green job skills, preparing them for work in a growing sector. Small businesses: Small businesses can cut down on expenses by increasing energy efficiency, and better communicate their greening efforts to consumers. Consumers: The program addresses the need for “Concrete, measurable, verifiable ways for consumers to gauge the greenness of a company.” Our environment: Obviously, all of this would result in fewer carbon emissions and less wasted energy.

According to Ideal Bite, the program has been offering free energy audits to small businesses in Chinatown and the Lower East Side so far, and will expand to East Harlem early in 2010. Let’s hope the idea takes hold and comes to many more neighborhoods!