Tibs' green-minded employees

ATLANTA--Tibs, a division of MC Dean and a systems integrator doing about a third of its revenues in electronic security systems, pitches itself as a green-minded company. MC Dean is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council, Tibs recently added a green-power expert to its management team, and, said Tibs president Mark Tibbets, "virtually every lighting package that MC Dean designs incorporates energy efficient features, either in response to a project requirement or as value engineering." Now, with a new program announced in October, the company is actively encouraging its employees to go green as well. Tibs' Green Energy Employee Matching Program will match each of its 150 employees for every block of "green energy" they buy from Georgia Power, up to 200 kilowatt hours per month. At a cost of $4.50 per block, this represents a potential investment of $10,000 in green energy per year, to be used by Tibs employees in their homes. Georgia Power generates this power through renewable means like solar, wind, hydro, biomass or geothermal. Tibbets said Tibs challenges other companies, in all marketplaces, to support their employees in similar fashion. "Having some green practices, even if it's just recycling office paper, is almost a requirement for any firm that wants to claim to be ethical and a good corporate citizen," he said. "If this sort of momentum continues, what was once extraordinary will become a standard way of doing business." He said energy-efficient lighting is a prime example: Because the federal government saw the logic in this way back in the 1970s, it's now expected that lighting design consider energy consumption. As of yet, customers like Emory University, the Cobb County Water Authority and Gwinnett University haven't asked Tibs to fully incorporate their energy and security systems, Tibbets said, but law-enforcement and corrections customers have: "In detention and correctional facilities, building systems, including security, are typically controlled via interfaces to a central command location," he said, but "the purpose of integrating these systems is really security rather than energy efficiency." Tibbets hopes to make progress in this area, though. "Our commitment to green practices is really related to our position as an industry advocate," he said. "We are an advocate for green practices in the green engineering and construction services we deliver to our clients, in supporting green programs, and in encouraging the business world to follow our lead."