AmeriGREEN Strategies Debuts

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) May 13, 2008 -- A new consulting firm has opened to help government offices and private-sector businesses develop, implement and verify their environmentally friendly policies and procedures. AmeriGREEN Strategies, with offices near Orlando, Florida and Austin, Texas, will combine established sustainability measurement tools together with Sarbanes-Oxley auditing practices.

AmeriGREEN will offer certified third-party verification of green product claims; assist both government and private sector companies with the formation of “green” committees and the implementation and adoption of green operating standards; and also provide a brokerage service for carbon offset credits.
“The sustainability movement has grown dramatically within the construction industry over the past several years and is now reaching into many non-related industries. There is a serious lack of any standardized method to both qualify and quantify what is indeed green and how green is it," AmeriGREEN president Bernie Pisczek said.

“We intend to cut through the green wash and substantiate claims through on-site audits,” Pisczek said. “We’re starting to see the beginnings of government incentives for adopting green standards and that means accountability policies will need to exist for claims validation.”
There are a number of well-defined standards already in existence by reputable international organizations such as ISO (International Organization for Standardization), ASTM International and NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). What is lacking, however, is independent verification of compliance, and that’s where AmeriGREEN fits in.

AmeriGreen staff members have the credentials and expertise to select, apply and audit the standards. Jaime Hayden, AmeriGreen’s vice president of operations, holds a bachelor’s degree in Polymer Chemistry and a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering, both from N.C. State University. She is also a registered LEED Accredited Professional. Allen Archer has joined the company as senior vice president to develop the auditing methodology. Mr. Archer holds a bachelor’s degree from Muskingum College in Accounting and a master’s degree from Ohio University in Financial Management.

“Even in today’s ultra high tech society, there is still no replacement for the on-site, one-on-one auditing process, “ Archer explained. “Anyone can send a product or chemical compound to an accredited lab to be analyzed, but the lab has no real verification as to where the sample came from. They will simply analyze what they receive and issue a report. In our process, if a company claims recycled content, we want to personally examine original invoices from suppliers and transportation bills of lading to verify how much material was purchased and where it came from. We’re not reinventing the wheel here, simply applying old proven standards to a new environment.”
George Stuart, a former Florida State Senator with an MBA from Harvard, is assisting the new company in seeking projects from local, State and Federal Government bodies and assisting corporations to adopt their own green standards. West Coast opportunities are being developed by Pat Patton, who manages the Texas office. Patton holds an MBA from the University of Greenwich in London.

“Several states are lagging behind in offering meaningful incentives associated with adopting green standards and one of the major obstacles seems to be compliance verification. We’ve solved that problem and we can now teach them how to measure and monitor conformity,” Stuart said.
For more information, visit the company’s web site: www.amerigreenstrategies.com.

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