After planting the seed, Kelly Giard is watching his business grow.
Having created an environmentally friendly lawn-care service in Fort Collins, Giard is seeing the business spread its roots to other states including California, Washington, Oregon, New York, Texas and Massachusetts. “The idea is to expose it to a bunch of different communities,” Giard said. With 10 employees locally, Giard’s business has 30 employees nationwide, and that number still is growing.
The former stockbroker launched Clean Air Lawn Care in 2006. The company uses electric and biodiesel fueled lawn mowers and other organic materials to provide residential and commercial lawn care.
Giard, who said he always knew he wanted to own a green business, began formulating the idea in 2005. “I wanted to provide a viable service
that makes money and is positive for the environment,” Giard said.
Most of the company’s lawn mowers are electric, Giard said, although some run on a B-20, and sometimes a higher, biodiesel blend.
B-20 means that 20 percent of the diesel blend is made up of biodiesel, and 80 percent petroleum.
And in a city where vehicles can pump B-20 locally, Giard knew the Fort
Collins community would embrace his
green business.
“The people here are very tied to their outdoors,” Giard said. “They are very health and environment oriented.” He estimates the company grew approximately 200 percent in its first year.
With the environment on his brain, Giard has more green plans to come. That includes possibly adding an organic treatment service, an organic gardening service and moving into a Leadership in Energy and Environmental, or LEED, certified building one day.
“The people who work here are truly engaged in something other than just making money to pay the bills,” he said. “We want to help on a local, global and regional scale.” And in the end, Giard said he feels that helping the environment is a responsibility for everyone.
“In the long-run, everyone will have to account for their impact on the environment,” Giard said. “We are just giving them another way to lower their environmental footprint.”
by Hallie Woods, The Coloradoan
Original Story: Clean Air Lawn Care’s popularity branches across state lines
Source: The Coloradoan