ShoreBank Blog
The ShoreBank Blog is your place to find ShoreBank news, new product information, and our insight into the banking world.
Archive for February, 2009
Friday, February 27th, 2009
Guest Contributor: Ryan Schommer, Project Manager, ShoreBank Building Services
We hear a lot about the environmental impact of cars in the aftermath of record gas prices and global warming. What we do not hear about are the actual parking lots. As a member of the Building Services department, I am responsible for building and redesigning our physical locations to make them more sustainable and energy efficient. We want our designs to serve as models for future upgrades to any physical component of our 35 year history. So, when the bank decided to construct a new parking lot, I was excited to explore options to make it more sustainable.
We wanted our parking lots to provide an environmental impact for those for whom public transportation to our locations is not a viable option despite its accessibility. And fewer parking lots features impact our safety, security, and environment more than out lights - and after careful analysis, LED (light emitting diodes) outdoor lights were clear financial and environmental winners. That is why ShoreBank decided to initiate a pilot program to install outdoor LED lights in the parking lots at one of our branch campuses. In doing so, we became one of the first companies in Chicago to install exterior LED lighting.
LED outdoor lights use 65% less energy and last 7 years longer than either HID or florescent fixtures. For ShoreBank, this energy efficiency will result in an annual reduction of 73000 kilowatt hours, $6000 in energy expenses, and 134000 lbs of carbon emissions or the equivalent of 13 cars (leaving extra space in those lots for you to park). They have a useful life of 12 years, so that also means less waste for landfills.*
Of course, we still want our neighborhoods to be lit enough to deter crime but not so much that our neighbors complain! The icing on the cake is that LED is Dark Sky compliant. That means it provides a truer light designed with control shields to prevent lighting upward or shining into neighbors’ homes. So they keep the light where we want it-aiding in the restoration of the night sky while still helping security cameras and overall area visibility.
Thanks to this project, we now have a sustainable model for 3 more lots to be converted to exterior LED lighting in 2009! This will reduce operating expenses and our carbon footprint. This visible example of ShoreBank’s efforts only illuminates the surface of what we can do, and will do, in being truly sustainable. And while we may have only a few parking lots remaining to receive new lighting, together they can provide a big impact and payback, one LED light at a time. And we are proud to have paved Chicago’s way.
To learn more about LED lighting, visit: www.ledcity.org and www.darksky.org
* Impact Statistics according to David Rosenstein, Connexiones
Tags: community development, environmental sustainability, green banking, green building, ShoreBank, triple bottom line
Posted in Community | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009
Guest Contributor: Daryl Newell, Senior Vice President of Retail Banking
What do Barack Obama, the 2005 World Series Champions Chicago White Sox, and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson all have in common? If you guessed they made their first big splash on the South Side of Chicago, you’re correct. But before them came the community’s early pioneers whose art, music, poetry and more transformed not only the lives of ordinary Chicagoans but the lives of millions of Americans. And if not for them paving the way, we may have never witnessed the history that was made on that cold afternoon on the steps of the nation’s capital just a few ago.
Just as the story of these people belongs to all Americans, the history of Chicago’s South Side neighborhoods is also the story of America. Whether it was Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Joe Louis, Kanye West or the countless others who drew inspiration from their experience living the city’s Bronzeville neighborhood, the culture that emanated from here is woven into the fabric of the lives of every American. It is what drove two young African American and two white people, active in the civil rights movement in the 1960s and 70s to operate together one of the nation’s first-small business lending programs. It is what fueled their desire to buy a small struggling bank on the city’s South Shore and their passion to demonstrate that it could do good banking while doing good, or in other words, create new economic opportunities and community benefits that are a catalyst for positive social change.
Black History in Chicago reached one of its most impactful periods during the “Great Migration.” Hundreds of thousands of African Americans from the South moved to Chicago’s South Side with one goal: to build a community with the same rights as others. Their metropolis became known as Bronzeville. Today the voices and music of Sam Cooke, Lou Rawls, and Louis Armstrong still echo in the restaurants and clubs that are connected by the same public transportation routes that inspired Ida Wells to organize the NAACP and the ones that go past the baseball fields where Andrew Foster’s Negro National Baseball League was born.
This Black History Month, with the historical election recently behind us, I am reminded like never before of the impact that a community can have on one’s own life and the lives of others. The people that worked and lived here, who struggled here, who played and prospered here before me, not only paved the way for a tall skinny community organizer to find his way to Pennsylvania Avenue, but they opened the door open for a better way of life for me and future generations of Americans.
I know I speak for everyone at ShoreBank when I say we are proud to have played a role in the development of the city’s South Side but that our mission to inspire and create stronger communities continues and is possible because of the support of all of our friends and customers.
Tags: Black History Month, community development, green banking, ShoreBank, triple bottom line
Posted in Community | 1 Comment »
Friday, February 20th, 2009
As President Obama made clear in his speech in Phoenix, the on-going foreclosure crisis is having huge ramifications for the entire economy. Not only are responsible homeowners at risk of foreclosure being hurt, but the situation is negatively impacting their neighbors—who may not even have a mortgage or own a home, local businesses and the communities in which we all live and work. A landmark Chicago study cited by President Obama in his speech found that for each foreclosed home on a one quarter-mile radius block, the home values of adjacent properties can decline by up to 9 percent. The crisis means that cities and towns are losing tax revenues, which means everyone who depends on their services is hurt. This crisis is no longer—if indeed it ever was—limited to “a bunch of irresponsible people who bought or sold more home than they could afford.”
The President’s Home Affordability and Stability Plan substantially enhances Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s ability to help homeowners whose loans they own or guarantee, and establishes a system under which all lenders and servicers—including those, like ShoreBank, who hold loans on their books—will be incented to work with homeowners to provide affordable modifications for loans on the house they live in. ShoreBank already has a loan modification program in place, so if you are a homeowner with a ShoreBank loan that you are having trouble paying, please get in touch with us as quickly as possible. One of the valuable lessons we have learned since we started our Rescue Loan Program in 2007 is that too many homeowners, for whatever reason, wait until it is too late to take actions that could save their home from foreclosure. And while we view bankruptcy as a last resort, we agree with President Obama that the Bankruptcy Code needs to be modified to allow judicial modification of loans on a primary residence.
Going beyond what President Obama has announced, I hope the additional $200 billion the Treasury will make available to Fannie and Freddie will encourage them to buy more of the loans on the books of ShoreBank and other lenders. That will enable us to make loans to new homeowners—the new loans that are so critical to stabilizing the housing markets.
The speed and efficacy with which the President’s entire program will be implemented depends on the capacity and willingness of servicers and lenders, as well as borrowers, to make use of these new tools and to work together. And that, in turn, depends on both stopping the hemorrhaging of jobs and stabilizing the banking system. We’re pleased this Administration is working hard on all these fronts.
For additional information on how the plan may help you, click here. Or listen to this.
Tags: community development, economic predictors, green banking, home affordability and stability plan, ShoreBank, triple bottom line
Posted in Mortgage Lending | 10 Comments »
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009
You will read in the papers on see on TV that the official unemployment rate jumped from 7.2% in December to 7.6% in January. You will also learn that the economy shed 598,000 jobs in January and 1,772,000 during the last three months. What you are less likely to be told is that 17,873,000 Americans are out of work, and that the real unemployment rate, which includes those too discouraged to seek employment and part-time workers who want to work full time is 15.4%. Comparable figures for January 2008 are 10,804,000 and 9.9%. (At the height of the Great Depression, about 13 million Americans were unemployed, which then represented about a quarter of the workforce.)
The graph below shows the percentage of employed men going back to 1948. (I selected men only because the entrance of women into the workforce in large numbers beginning in the 1970s skews the long-term data. That’s not to say that changes in longevity and other societal forces don’t skew the data for men, just to a lesser degree.) The current percentage is the lowest on record and has dropped massively over the last three months. The non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for men 20 and older has jumped from 5.2% to 9.1%, while the rate for women has increased from 4.4% to 6.6%. It’s even worse for minorities. The unemployment rate for African-American men has increased from 9.2% to 15.8%. Unemployment among Hispanic males has risen from 6.2% to 9.4%. These data are the human cost of the huge declines in manufacturing and construction where men are more heavily represented. Health care and education are the only fields where employment has increased steadily, and here women are over-represented.
Tags: community development, economic predictors, green banking, ShoreBank, triple bottom line, unemployment rate
Posted in Banking Industry | 1 Comment »
Friday, February 13th, 2009
Did you know that 7% of all mobile phone contain enough personal data to facilitate identity theft (according to a British Telecom study)? This statistic will most likely increase as more people conduct banking and purchasing activities on mobile devices. Additionally, with new device models, features, and services plans launching all the time, mobile phones have a short lifespan. That is why, when it is time to purchase a new cell phone, you should recycle your device. Not only is it environmentally important; doing it the right way will prevent identity theft.
In a 1.2 billion global mobile phone market, 60% of all purchases replace existing cell phones – only 1% of which are recycled. However, 99% of recycled cell phones contain personal data, including, potentially, bank account information (according to a recent Regeneris study). For Americans, whose average 18 month cell phone lifespan equates to 130 million replaced cell phones and 65,000 tons of waste, this research means that we have a big opportunity to reduce waste – but we need to protect identities in the process.
For those who (hopefully) opt to recycle their mobile phones, it is important to take more than just one step to ensure that your personal information is completely wiped from those devices. Wiping a cell is not like wiping your hard drive. For commercial reasons, mobile phones do not have the open architecture that PCs do.
That means that even if the DIY among us delete everything in their phones, this only deletes references to where the data is located and not the actual information (which is stored elsewhere). I do not know about you, but even though I love recycling, I would rather not risk recycling my identity. That is why I recommend performing any, if not all, of the following tactics, before you recycle your phone:
• Do not store any personal information on your mobile phone which you would not want a stranger to see.
• See your cell phone manual or wireless provider’s website for specific information on permanent information deletion
• Remove your SIM and memory cards prior to donating your cell phone
• Verify that the mobile phone recycling organization erases data
• Use the data erasing software programs
You can protect all of your personal information and the environment. For more information on how to recycle your cell phone, we found this article to be helpful:
http://www.voip-news.com/feature/50-ways-leave-cellphone-011608/
Tags: community development, environmental sustainability, green banking, identity theft protection, recycling tactics, ShoreBank, triple bottom line
Posted in Outreach | 3 Comments »
Monday, February 9th, 2009
If you are considering buying a house, one of the first decisions you need to make is whether buying a house instead of renting one is right for you. Many people think that buying a home is one of the smartest financial decisions they will ever make. According to the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances, there is a significant gap between the wealth accumulated by homeowners and that accumulated by renters. But in this topsy-turvy marketplace, does this piece of conventional wisdom still hold true? Let’s take a look at some of the issues you should consider when making this decision.
There are distinct advantages to buying if the following are true:
1. You plan to stay put at least three years and preferably more. It can take three to six years for a home to appreciate enough to offset the costs of selling and moving. If you know your job or other circumstances will force you to relocate in less time, it’s probably better to rent.
2. You’re psychologically prepared. Home ownership means dealing with whatever comes up — from noisy neighbors to leaky plumbing. You can’t just call the landlord for help or pack up and move as easily as when you were renting.
3. You have some extra savings. Home buyers who spend every dime they have buying a house can be blindsided by repairs, maintenance and all the other costs of owning a home. It’s important to have some savings after your purchase to be able to meet these expenses.
4. You manage your money well. Home ownership builds wealth through the forced savings of paying down a mortgage, and through appreciation — the rise in the home’s value over time. That forced savings aspect only works if you leave the equity in your home alone, and only tap it for important things or emergencies. Otherwise, it’s too easy to drain away your wealth with home equity loans and lines of credit.
If you answered yes to all four questions, then homeownership could be right for you. Despite the downturn in the real estate market, homeownership is still the way most people start building their personal wealth. In addition to providing shelter, homeownership also gives families a sense of security and is the foundation for vibrant, stable neighborhoods. First-time homebuyers have a particular advantage right now with home prices at their most affordable level in years. In my next blog, I’ll write about the issues all first-time homebuyers should know before they buy a home.
Tags: community development, green banking, home ownership, ShoreBank, triple bottom line
Posted in Mortgage Lending | 1 Comment »
Friday, February 6th, 2009
Buying time might be one of the few “purchases” that does not require me to spend any money. Yet, the government’s decision to delay the digital TV conversion is just postponing a purchase for millions of Americans. And if we need to spend green, it is also nice to save some green. Regardless of whether or not your household is among the Neilson Media Research estimated 6.5 million unprepared, our analog televisions have a sustainable question to ask us as we face our three upgrade decisions: purchase a digital to analog converter box, purchase a digital television, or subscribe to a cable service.
Each one of these digital conversion alternatives consumes varying quantities of energy and resources. Cable service alone cannot decrease that 50 billion kilowatt hours of electricity US televisions consume. Digital televisions and converter boxes increase the quantity of energy required to produce and run those electronic items. However, should you decide to minimize energy and dispose of our analog televisions, consider that only 18% of consumer electronics, including TVs, are collected for recycling despite making up almost 2% of the municipal solid street waste. How can you possibly make the sustainable selection?
Consider the following if you are:
LiveEarth.org
Adding a converter box or a cable service
• Purchase and plug all electronics into a power strip and turn it off when done watching
• Ask your cable service provider about its cable and/or digital-to-analog converter boxes’ energy consumption when deciding upon or renewing a cable service contract.
• Look for a digital-to-analog converter box with an ENERGY STAR label. If all converter boxes met this spec, we could save 823 million kilowatt-hours of energy and $85 million in higher electricity bills.
• Select the “home” mode for brightness. The “retail” mode or “vivid” mode consumes 10-30% more power.
Purchasing a digital television
• Choose a LCD television. In some cases, LCDs can use 50% less energy than their plasma counterpart. A typical 42-inch plasma TV will cost at least $200 more to operate over the life of the product of a similar sized LCD.
• Purchase a smaller TV. Larger TVs use more energy than smaller ones using the same technology. You can save money on the store and on electricity.
• Ask if the retailer or manufacture will recycle your old TV. Best Buy, for example, will charge $10 to recycle any item with a physical screen and give a $10 gift card to each customer that recycles a television.
Disposing your analog television
• Donate. You can list your analog television on www.freecycle.com or on www.craigslist.org to find it a new home. Another alternative is to give your old TV to a charity organization. However, check whether or not the organization is accepting analog televisions in light of the pending digital transition.
• E-cycle. Investigate the following sites to locate your local e-cycler:
o www.earth911.com
o www.nrc-recycle.org
o www.mygreenelectronics.org
Of course, unless you cease watching television, once we have converted to digital, the next big question is how often to watch our televisions. This transition gives us the opportunity to change our television consumption behavior to create long-term environmental impacts. Let us use this delay to save some green all around.
Statistics Sources:
National Resource Defense Council
Environmental Protection Agency
Federal Communications Commission
ENERGY STAR
Tags: community development, energy efficiency, green banking, recycling tactics, ShoreBank, triple bottom line
Posted in Green Collar | 1 Comment »
Monday, February 2nd, 2009
Better keep those energy drinks close by, ‘cause we’re going to need ‘em
With record amounts of funding for energy efficiency and alternative energy likely to be included in the federal stimulus package, the practical implications of all of this money are beginning to set in. Indeed, at the recent Midwest Energy Solutions conference, sponsored by the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, discussion of the impending federal funding appeared to spark both euphoria and panic among industry professionals.
Clearly, the volume of spending will lead to a lot of new green collar jobs – the requisite number of knowledgeable contractors, program administrators, architects, and financiers simply doesn’t exist. The amount of spending under discussion is many times (some say upwards of 30 times) the level currently deployed annually. To put this in perspective, according to Sheree Dallas Branch, program manager with Wisconsin’s Department of Administration, approximately 100,000 homes are weatherized annually under existing DOE programs – and 10% of those are in Wisconsin alone. The President’s plan calls for 2,000,000 homes to be weatherized. For the mathematically challenged, that’s a very large increase.
I believe the funding offers an even more compelling opportunity. Because most energy efficiency programs are tied to utility sponsored initiatives, evaluation centers almost exclusively on “cost effectiveness.” This analysis looks at the costs to save the kWh or therm as compared to the cost to produce or procure them. The analysis completely ignores other benefits, such as employment, social equity, carbon savings, or reductions in other harmful emissions. The analysis also is completely detached from metrics the public cares most about – ones focusing on how individual households or communities are better off. It is no wonder we have such trouble engaging public support for energy efficiency programs.
In contrast, the stimulus package, as the name implies, is focused on stimulus – economic output and job creation. These are metrics that the public cares deeply about. It is my sincere hope that the federal funding not only catalyzes the industry and marketplace, but even more fundamentally, alters the way we evaluate energy efficiency programs and how we communicate their benefits to the wider world.
Tags: community development, energy conservation loans, green banking, green jobs, Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, ShoreBank, triple bottom line
Posted in Green Collar | 1 Comment »
