There are multiple state-wide Environmental Regulations in place to prevent pollution and keep business operations within the state efficient and sustainable. These regulations specifically regard Air Quality, Water Usage, Waste Management, Pollution Prevention and Recycling Assistance operations. Be sure to check these guidelines to make sure your business complies with the criteria.

Sustainable Stamford

Established in 2007 by the mayor to promote energy efficiency, environmental education, waste reduction, and recycling, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, green buildings, and all efforts affecting sustainability within the city.

Offers information regarding the following eco-friendly practices:

• Double Sided Copying and Printing
• Local Transportation
• Carpool Information
• Energy Conservation

As well as descriptions of current initiatives such as:

• Information on Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
• The Corporate Sustainability Challenge  
• Solarize Stamford

State Assistance Programs

There are three major programs offered by the State of Connecticut to assist in cutting your energy costs.

• Energize CT
  Helps identify clean energy strategies that make sense for your business and connects you to programs, tax credits, incentives and funding resources. Energize CT also strives to make the cost savings from these energy efficient practices visible through thorough analysis and accurate estimation.

• Connecticut Green Bank
  Offers a variety of programs and funding opportunities to business owners and institutions interested in benefiting from clean energy sources, entrepreneurs working to develop and commercialize new clean energy technologies, and real estate developers who want to offer clean energy sources.

• Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE)
  Helps commercial, industrial and multi-family property owners access affordable, long-term financing for smart energy building upgrades. Allows building owners to finance qualifying improvements through an assessment of their property tax bill. Property owners pay for the improvements over time through an additional charge on their property taxes. Keep in mind that the repayment obligation will transfer automatically to the next owner if the property is sold.

SBA Assistance Programs

The federal government offers a variety of incentives for small businesses to operate efficiently and restrict their environmental impact.  

• Green Certification and Ecolabeling
  Differentiates your product or service as environmentally friendly and allows you to include their logo or "ecolabel" on your product's label and other marketing materials. The link above shows many of the federal and third party certifications that can be obtained.

• Environmental Grants and Loans
  Helps find financial assistance to cover costs relating to energy efficiency upgrading, to finance innovative environmental products and technologies and to support an overall environmentally friendly business. You can also categorically search grants.gov to find grant applications specific to energy, environmental topics, natural resources, transportation, science and technology, agriculture and disaster prevention and relief.