Greening the Cogs of the Real Estate Market

Blue Green Ventures is examining the environmental impact of every phase of real estate, from planning to construction to sale. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Environmentalism. Sustainability. How do these practices apply to real estate? One can see that they easily apply to running a household—weatherstrip the front door, switch to compact florescent lighting, limit electricity use—but streamlining the way the real estate market operates is not yet an obvious act of environmentalism.

However, Massachusetts-based consulting company Blue Green Ventures (BGV) is trying to green the market from the inside out. BGV helps startup companies develop smart business models that are efficient and execution-based. It believes in cutting down unnecessary steps in conducting business.

Each step in bringing someone into a home leaves a carbon footprint. Designing, developing, building the property, selling it, and then maintaining it all have an impact.

The name Blue Green Ventures is inspired by the image of a blue sky and green fields. “What we’re looking at right now is how to make the real estate market more efficient,” said its CEO, Jeffrey M. Eckman.

“The current systems that are out there in terms of information technology are very inefficient. The way that the markets have been very local is also inefficient.” A tool that streamlines information across markets are amalgamated real estate websites and multiple listing services, which are becoming increasingly popular, Eckman said.

Eckman earned his MBA from MIT’s Sloan school of Management and his bachelor’s degree in Operations Technology from Northeastern University. BGV’s proximity to MIT allows it to draw on the university’s expertise in informational technology, and apply them to the industry. “There’s a huge energy initiative that’s been going on at MIT,” Eckman said. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative (MITEI) aids in the research and development of alternative and renewable energy.

Eckman was inspired to start BGV last June after hearing a speech by Gary Herschberg, chairman and president of Stonyfield Farms. The topic of his presentation: how to make money and save the world.

“It got me thinking, if I were to start a business, what would be the overall theme?” Eckman said. BVG was born.

The current definition of social corporate responsibility “is a program, a fad if you will,” said Eckman. “I think on a systemic level, that’s where things are changing, and markets drive that and some of the market failures have been driving that. I do believe in the invisible hand, and that some of the structures we’ve put in place are rather imperfect.”

How organic.