Businesses here are finding a variety of ways to offer green and sustainable products, practices, and services, an anecdotal roundup suggests. Some of them say they're finding that "going green" saves them "green," whether through reducing waste, conserving energy, protecting the environment, or reusing finite resources.

One such company, Spokane-based Power City Electric Inc., recently formed a new division that deals with energy efficiency and sustainability, driven chiefly by an increase in commercial interest in solar panels that generate electricity, says Terry Farmer, the company's sustainable energy project manager.

Solar-panel technology is improving, Farmer says.

"Generally, the capacity is going up, and the cost is coming down," he says. "I've seen costs go down 30 percent in the last two years."

Under current state, federal, and utility incentives, solar panel systems cover their costs and provide a return on investment in seven to eight years, Farmer says.

Today, solar energy systems cost about $7 to $10 a watt, depending on how much frame fabrication is required to install them, and maintenance costs are low, he says.

Photovoltaic panels, which convert sunlight into electricity, have no moving parts, and the only maintenance required involves washing the panels occasionally, Farmer says.

Most photovoltaic panels produce energy in amounts that are at least 80 percent of their initial design capacity for 20 to 30 years, he says. Inverters, which change direct current produced by solar panels into alternating current for household use or for uploading to the power grid, require replacing some electronic parts every five or 10 years, he says.

Power City Electric, located at 3327 E. Olive, sells its solar power systems mostly to the commercial market. Most users tie into the power grid, so the electricity their systems produce reduces the amount of power they have to buy.

Solar panels can be installed on roofs or integrated into awnings, which also help reduce cooling costs, Farmer says.

Another Spokane company, Baldwin Sign Co., is shifting its focus to products built with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to promote energy efficiency. LEDs likely will become the industry standard, replacing fluorescent and neon lighting technology in certain signage, says Jon Whipple, who along with his wife, Nicol, owns the company.

"LEDs are 50 percent to 70 percent more energy efficient than standard fluorescent and neon lighting," Whipple says. In addition, he says, LEDs last 10 times longer, meaning signs made with them are less expensive to maintain.

Currently, he adds, Baldwin Sign employs LED technology in about two-thirds of the enclosed-illumination signs it fabricates. In such signage, the verbiage is between the light source and the viewer.

Baldwin Sign employs 10 to 15 people, depending onthe workload, and is located at 6409 N. Pittsburg.

One Earth Starch, of Spokane Valley, launched a manufacturing operation here in January that makes a packaging material that's an alternative to plastic-foam "peanuts."

The company, a subsidiary of Blaine, Wash.-based Rugosa Trading Inc., occupies 5,000 square feet of floor space in the Spokane Business & Industrial Park.

The biodegradable packaging material, called Eco Smart loose fill, is manufactured from corn and potato starch into a product that looks similar to the ubiquitous peanuts and has similar cushioning characteristics, says John Dill II, who manages One Earth Starch.

The company is shipping three truckloads of the packaging material a month from Spokane Valley, Dill says. It has two employees here and plans to hire two more due to growing sales, he says.

In another innovation, Wright Brothers Sunrooms LLC, a Spokane Valley residential remodeling company located at 15704 E. Sprague, began offering this year a new product that increases the energy efficiency of any type of window, says Rob Wright, owner of the company.

The product, named In'Flector, is a flexible, see-through window covering that uses a process called inflection to reduce the amount of energy needed to heat and cool a home, Wright says. The product usually is mounted in a framed panel that's set on the inside of a window.

"It can be fitted in any window frame without having to replace the window," Wright says.

The panel material, which is made by In'Flector Control Systems, of Fort Worth, Texas, consists of a dark-colored, perforated carbon-graphite fabric sandwiched between two plastic sheets, one of which has a shiny metallic coating on one side.

When the dark side of the panel faces the glass, it captures heat from direct sunlight that augments the heat produced by interior heating systems.

"In the winter, you want that solar gain," Wright says.

The panels are designed to be turned around in warmer months so their shiny side reflects direct sunlight and exterior radiant heat away from a building's interior, reducing cooling system workloads.

In'Flector panels cost about $30 a square foot, so those who are interested in them are looking for long-term value, he says. They also can be incorporated into blind systems, Wright says.

Earlier this year, Yoke's Fresh Market implemented a composting program in its seven Spokane-area stores in partnership with Sunshine Disposal & Recycling, of Spokane Valley, says Scott Brower, Yoke's district manager here.

As of August, the Spokane Valley-based grocery store chain had diverted a total of 70 tons of waste per store from the incinerator or landfill. That material went to Sunshine's commercial compost facility in Spokane Valley, where it was mixed with grass clippings, leaves, and other plant trimmings to turn into compost.

Yoke's employees separate food trimmings, coffee grounds, waxed cardboard, paper, and other organic materials to reduce the flow of waste that would be incinerated or buried in landfills.

Brower says Yoke's saves about $1,000 a month per store on disposal fees by diverting compost material from its waste.

"A good portion of what used go into the regular trash now is going into the compost bins," he says.

Sunshine Disposal will package the finished compost, he says, adding, "We're hoping to be able to start selling it next spring."

Separately, Clean Green, a Spokane company that specializes in house cleaning and window washing, emphasizes its use of biodegradable cleaning products, says Tiffany Richardson, who along with her husband, Steve, owns and operates the company from their home.

Clean Green makes most of the cleaning products it uses out of common kitchen ingredients such as baking soda and vinegar, Richardson says, adding that it doesn't use products that contain phosphorus, bleach, and ammonia.

She says the more environmentally friendly cleaning agents Clean Green uses work just as effectively and usually are less expensive than harsher chemical cleaners. Clean Green also cleans with reusable cloths and mop pads, rather than disposable materials.

Richardson says most of Clean Green's clients contacted the company, rather than vice versa, because they wanted a home-cleaning service that doesn't use harsh chemicals. The company has five employees in addition to the Richardsons.

D&D Auto Body, in Spokane Valley, has converted its paint facility to a waterborne system from a solvent-borne system, says Doug Harding, who owns the shop at 110 N. Park Road.

Waterborne paint products emit far lower volumes of air pollutants, called volatile organic compounds, than solvent-borne paint, which contains petroleum-based thinners, Harding says. Waterborne paint also produces less waste because most of the water in it evaporates.

"We have considerably less waste than we had with solvents," he says. "With solvents, we just contained wastes and paid somebody to haul them away and recycle or dispose of them."

Meanwhile, Portland, Ore.-based Oil Re-Refining Co., which does business as ORRCO and has a collection facility in Spokane Valley, recycles petroleum products, including hydraulic fluids, gear and lube oils, and greases and also recycles coolants and vegetable oils, says Jon Syverson, ORRCO's manager here.

ORRCO has operated an outlet here since 1999, Syverson says. It has two employees here and occupies warehouse space at 11916 E. Empire.

Syverson declines to disclose the amount of material collected here, but says the volume is growing.

"We're seeing an increase," he says. "There is more interest here in used petroleum products being re-refined."

The used materials are transported to Portland, for decontamination and re-refining into light and heavy diesel fuels, heating fuels, asphalt oils, and coolants, Syverson says.

Most of the finished products are used for industrial marine applications, and because Portland is a seaport, ORRCO sells all of the products there, he says.