Cool Choices Program

In 2013, Boardman Clark teamed up with the Cool Choices organization for its most extensive sustainability effort to date.  Cool Choices works with businesses to inspire employees to embrace sustainability through an innovative game model.  The game is similar to Boardman Clark’s 2010 leaf-earning program in that it encourages and rewards employees’ sustainable actions, but it comes complete with an interactive website, playing cards, and live feedback on the real-world effects of the actions employees take. 

One of the most compelling aspects of the Cool Choices game is the live feedback component.  Boardman Clark had pursued numerous sustainability initiatives before the Cool Choices program, but the effects on the environment and the community proved difficult to track.  Cool Choices, however, has compiled research and data that allows accurate statistical estimates to be associated with each sustainable action.  Seeing results, such as the amount of energy conserved by an action and the subsequent cost-savings, provided additional motivation and proved pleasantly surprising in many instances.

Boardman Clark played the game for three months and recorded over 14,000 sustainable acts by employees, from adjusting thermostats to car-pooling.   From this, it was deduced that (annualized):

• The electric savings would be sufficient to power 3 Wisconsin homes for a year.
• The natural gas savings would heat one Wisconsin home.
• The 65,000 gallons of water saved is enough water to fill a residential swimming pool.
• The gasoline savings were equivalent to about 100 fill-ups.
• The carbon dioxide emission reductions were equivalent to taking 10 cars off the road for the year or not burning 29 tons of coal. 

In addition the eye-opening results it had for the environment, the program educated employees on sustainability, encouraged participation, and improved firm morale through teamwork and the pursuit of a common goal.