Carrotmob raises money for green updates

Carrotmob gave local businesses the chance to raise money to upgrade buildings.

Carrotmob is a group of activists reaching out to small businesses to make their stores more energy efficient, according to its Web site. A percentage of profit goes directly to utility updates for the building. The movement started in San Francisco in 2008, and Charleston is the third city in the country to participate.

Over 15 local stores competed for the chance to invest a certain percentage of their one-day sales into the building updates. Queen Street Grocery offered to invest the highest percent of profits and was chosen to participate in Carrotmob on April 11.

Green Drinks Charleston, Carolina’s Eco-Unit, Holy City Bikes, other local organizations and over 400 consumers helped Queen Street Grocery raise $4,870, surpassing its average Saturday sales of $1,400.

Queen Street Grocery co-owner Mary Wutz said her store has been struggling for some time, and through Carrotmob they were hoping to make much-needed upgrades.

“Our biggest concern was energy efficiency,” Wutz said. “We have inherited dirty equipment from the 1970s and there are holes in the building.”

Mutz said she was excited about the idea to participate in this type of event and hoped the community would come together to help.

“A lot of local companies and our friends and patrons are supporting us,” Wutz said. “Young people are trying to organize power and funnel it into something good.”

Queen Street Grocery already practices recycling and re-using and this event can help them become more environmentally friendly, Wutz said.

Carolina’s Eco-Unit business developer John McQueen said 33 percent of the day’s revenue goes directly to fix major problems throughout the store and make energy efficient upgrades.

“The biggest problem is air loss and heat,” McQueen said. “Heat is being put off from the cooler motors and the holes in the building are giving solar exposure to the wall, which influences the rest of the shop.”

McQueen said he hopes to build in barriers to keep the heat outside and make other major upgrades to lower energy bills.

“We want to fix all of these problems,” McQueen said. “We plan on building in a barrier to vent and making a box with a hood to keep the heat out. Also, we want to seal the air unit from the outside and change the light bulbs to 3-watt LED.”

McQueen said that regardless of the profit made through the event, he plans on helping with these necessary upgrades.

“Whatever they got, we are going to make sure it gets done,” McQueen said. “That is important to us, it is a no-profit job.”

Senior Seth Buller decided to get involved to help local businesses.

“It is an easy way to support businesses that are interested and willing to make sustainable changes to their shop,” Buller said. “The more money they made, the more money they got to buy Energy Star appliances, repair insulation and any other improvements to be made.”

Jason Cronen, organizer of Green Drinks Charleston, organized the event to bring together the community to help Queen Street Grocery. An energy audit of the building found problems with inefficient, outdated equipment.

“We put our money together and used the revenues to make a huge success, it is awesome that it worked out,” Cronen said.

Cronen said that C of C students were a big part in making this event successful.

“What’s really important is that C of C incubated the idea,” Cronen said. “It is about the one-on-one dynamic. From the volunteer film-makers to the cookers today, it is just people looking for ways to do good.”

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