Perspective: Being Green at BuildingGreen

Perspective: Being Green at BuildingGreen

we can be doing. We’re committed to greening the building industry, but how are we doing relative to

our own operations? I’ve listed some of our accomplishments below:

•We strive to use high-recycled-content, chlorine-free paper in everything we do. Whenever practical, we do two-sided (duplex) laser printing, and we reuse paper that has been printed on one side in our fax machine.

•We go beyond responsible paper use with our newsletter by promoting “paperless” subscriptions. (To find out how to convert your print subscription to electronic, visit our Web site.) We also rely heavily on e-mail for in-house and external communication.

•We recycle waste religiously in-house; weekly our staff of 13 (including two interns) generates less than 2 ft³ (0.06 m³) of uncompressed trash. We regularly reuse incoming packaging materials, and we compost organic matter in our office kitchen. We also try to avoid throw-away cups, paper plates, and plastic utensils.

•When we outgrew the space above my garage three years ago, we moved to a historic 130-year-old factory building that had once housed the Estey Organ Company. We carried out extensive renovation and improvements, being as green as we could—including extensive daylighting and energy-efficient fluorescent lighting—on a

very tight budget. (Come visit us!)

•Our in-town location permits several employees to walk to work. I can use our office shower when I bicycle seven miles to work—which I try to do two days per week, weather permitting.

•The company encourages telecommuting, which I take advantage of on Tuesdays and Thursdays and others take advantage of on a less regular basis. Five of us use laptops to facilitate this.

•We rely on natural ventilation on all but the hottest, most humid summer days, when we use three prototype HCFC-free window air conditioners that were provided by Carrier Corporation for testing—they are working great after a second season! (Our relaxed dress code also helps minimize air conditioning use.)

•As for water efficiency, we (well, some of us) use a waterless urinal that we estimate is currently saving about 6,500 gallons (29,000 l) of water per year.

•We are working on quantifying our “carbon balance”—a measure of CO₂ emissions attributable to our operations.

This is just a start, however, at achieving a truly sustainable business. We hope to go a lot further and are looking into the possibility of installing photovoltaic panels on the roof in an effort to become carbon-neutral for in-house operations. We’re considering purchase of a company car (hybrid, of course) for business travel and ride-sharing among staff members—some of us may no longer need a second family vehicle. And we’re investigating tele-video conferencing to reduce company travel. After learning about some of the practices implemented by companies profiled in this issue, we’re fired up about BuildingGreen being even greener!

– Alex Wilson, President

BuildingGreen, Inc.