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An Inspiring Corporate Model of Sustainability
Last month GreenBy3 had the opportunity to visit the Holland, Michigan headquarters of Haworth, Inc. a world leader in the sustainable design of adaptable, user focused office work space and furnishings. As a showcase of Haworth’s commitment to sustainable design, the 750 work stations within the 300,000 square foot building all have access to natural light and views of the minimally disrupted natural landscape outside.
A tour through the building lets visitors see nearly endless configurations of Haworth's flexible workspace designs, movable walls, and their modular and freestanding furniture.
Haworth's signature designs are flexible and made to promote collaborative work environments.
In 2004, Haworth committed to to developing their facilities in accordance with the LEED Green Building rating system. Since then, in addition to the headquarters building we visited in Holland, they have certified 11 projects and built two facilities to LEED standards in Calgary, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Pune (India), San Francisco, Shanghai, Singapore, Toronto, Washington DC, and Zurich.
It is always inspiring to visit a company who has led industrial sustainability efforts for so long.
EVs in SC – The Future is Here
Last week there was a meet-up in Mount Pleasant for electric vehicle owners and enthusiasts. Interested? Go here to see all the cars available now.
Left, Richard Williams, Center, Jim Poch, Executive Director of Plug In Carolina, Right, Jorge Riano
Richard’s Tesla is custom made of carbon fiber, the same material used for race cars. Jim brought the more widely available Chevy Volt.
Jim’s organization, Plug In Carolina, is a nonprofit organization that educates the public on the environmental, economic, and national security benefits of plugin vehicles. The website also maintains a current list of plug in stations across the state so you can plan your trips. And, of course, there are apps for that.
The future is already here. You’re going to be seeing more and more EVs in South Carolina.
Local Business Owner Makes Green Choices as She Grows
Long-time West Ashley State Farm agent, Paula Hampton, is mindful of how her expanding business impacts the environment.
GreenBy3 recently stopped by to reclaim surplus hurricane windows and saw that our friends at Harbor Contracting are making good progress on Hampton’s new State Farm office building, located on the same lot as the old office at 1104 Savannah Highway.
We like the way the new building was carefully sited to obscure parking from the street and to preserve the many 100+-year- old Grand Oaks that are on the property. Those shade trees enhance the neighborhood and will help the new building’s cooling system.
Ms. Hampton plans to rent the second story to other businesses, reducing additional urban sprawl.
Other choices that enhance the building’s energy efficiency include foam insulation, a tankless hot water heater, and appliances with top energy ratings.
We salute Paula Hampton for taking these steps to protect the environment and to preserve those wonderful old trees as she creates the working space needed for her growing agency.
Posted in Blog, Reclaimed Materials
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Introducing Biz 611
In recent posts we have shared some detail about our new project in Hendersonville, NC. Now that deconstruction and reclamation are complete, we are ready to focus on the new building that is to take shape on the now empty lot at 611 Church Street in downtown Hendersonville.
The new building will be a business incubator for start-up green and software development companies. Appropriate to its purpose, it will be an environmentally friendly building; maximizing natural light, generating solar energy, and capturing water for the building’s use by way of the inverted roof.
For anyone passing by on the street, a couple of features will immediately announce the building’s green orientation. One is the plug-in station for electric or hybrid vehicles. Another is the “living wall” featuring a vertical garden on the the Church Street side of the building.
The 9,000 square-foot, two-story building will have 16 individual offices spaces, ranging from a one-person office to a suite that will accommodate six to eight people. Generous shared space including a conference room, kitchen, porches, and a rooftop terrace will encourage networking and collaborative processes.
In this drawing you can see the inverted roof line that will enable the bulding to capture water. Some of that water will trickle through perforated pipes that form the frame for the "living wall" Irrigating the plants that grow there.
Architect Ken Gaylord says, “I think not so much the building, but what it represents, will be a game changer for Hendersonville and contribute significantly to a thriving green economy.”
The intent is for the building to be used often by the public and community groups. Educational displays will be in common areas giving all who work in and visit the building information about environmentally friendly materials, products and processes.
Wall-mounted computer screens will display the building’s real-time “vital signs” – the energy use of the solar panels and the HVAC system, and the amount of water used. This visual data feedback will help tenants know how their behavior impacts the energy and water use in the building and will encourage behaviors that increase efficiency.
GreenBy3 has been involved this project from its inception, providing advisory services and developing ideas to make the construction and operation of the building a model of green design. During the next year, we’ll be making several more trips to Hendersonville to be involved in various phases of the project.
Reclaimed Furniture Will Lower Costs for GreenBy3 Clients
A local firm moving to new offices offered GreenBy3 the furnishings they will not need in their new space. Last week we rented a 20-foot truck and made three trips from the downtown office to our warehouse, reclaiming desks, chairs, couches, end tables, and filing cabinets.
Discarded office furniture to be reused rather than sent to the landfill.
Many of these furnishings will go to two current GreenBy3 clients who are looking for more sustainable options for their projects and more affordable options as well. Some of it will go to Crisis Ministries to furnish the construction office trailer that will see heavy use while the new men’s shelter is built.
Desk and task chairs
GreenBy3‘s project in Hendersonville, NC will also become the recipient of some of these furnishings. That client is building a two-story business incubator for green and tech start-up companies. Reclaimed furnishings are a good fit for the building’s purpose and tenants, plus the cost reduction will make a big difference on this ambitious project.
A reused leather couch will give an up-scale look to a waiting room furnished on a budget.
Making the effort to reclaim and reuse building materials and furnishings helps the environment by saving the energy of producing new goods and reducing the load at landfills. GreenBy3 is glad to be able to offer more sustainable and more cost effective options to clients who are helping people and our communities.
Posted in Blog, Projects, Reclaimed Materials
Tagged crisis ministries, Hendersonville, reclaim
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Hendersonville Reclamation Project
(This is our third post about a recent reclamation project in Hendersonville, NC. If you missed them, check out New Project in Hendersonville, NC and How to Reclaim 9,000 Brick in 6 Days)
For the big reclamation project in Hendersonville, GreenBy3 not only reclaimed brick, but also lumber, iron, and some odds and ends that were too good to pass up — even though we don’t quite know what we’ll end up doing with them.
Working inside, we selected boards and beams to salvage. We worked with the contractor to leave enough of the building's structure intact for it to be safe for us to continue to work inside the building.
Once we selected the boards we wanted, the reclamation process proceeded by handing the reclaimed lumber to our crew outside.
This will go to the warehouse to await the construction phase of the new building planned for this site.
As we worked inside, we had our eye open for any reusable materials. These are iron counter-weights from old-style double sash windows.
When we had done all we could inside it was time for the demolition crew to get to work. The operator of this excavator knew what we were trying to do so when he saw something he thought we might want, he’d look over at Jorge and get a thumbs up or a thumbs down. If we wanted it, he’d do his best to pick it out for us and set it aside.
The demolition crew came in behind us to clear the two lots for the new building. They worked in cooperation with our goals and helped us reclaim even more lumber and iron. In this picture, the excavator operator is moving scrap iron to the "save for GreenBy3 pile".
These are nice wooden beams so it was great that the excavator operator picked them out of the rubble for us.
The excavator operator helped us reclaim all of this lumber and iron. Plus, this is construction debris that won't be going to the landfill.
Two blocks from our building site, Hendersonville has installed these two charging stations for electric cars. This is clearly a community that is committed to going green!
How to Reclaim 9,000 Brick in 6 Days
A reclamation project on the scale of the one GreenBy3 did last week in Hendersonville has to be planned months in advance. Several site visits were made to assess exactly what we wanted to save from the two buildings before the demolition crew arrived. And there were certainly cost-benefit calculations to weigh.
We knew that the bricks from the older building would be easier to save. The mortar used in the 1920s was more porous than what was used in the 1970s for the newer building. The older bricks had also had an additional 50 years of weathering the elements making the mortar significantly more brittle and quicker to chip away for a clean brick, suitable for reuse.
So, we concentrated on saving, cleaning, and setting aside those bricks, leaving us time to also reclaim lumber, metal pieces, and an assortment of miscellaneous materials we knew could see another life of usefulness. Our goal was to reclaim at least 9,000 bricks.
It took a general contractor who knew exactly what we wanted, two good GreenBy3 men, a trailer, and a truck all putting in “brick time” each of the six days we were there.
The General Contractor removed the exterior brick, mainly from the older of the two buildings.
Drew Merrit, recent graduate of Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, helped GreenBy3 with this project.
Greenby3's Mark Gourdine came up from Charleston to get the job done.
Our truck and trailer could haul away 1800 bricks at a time.
It seemed like those bricks just kept coming, but by the end of the week, Mark and Drew had wrangled more than 9,000 into neat piles on pallets, out of the way, but close by just waiting till they will be needed for the new building.
New Project in Hendersonville, NC
This week, GreenBy3 is working in downtown Hendersonville, NC. We’re salvaging and reclaiming building materials to be upcycled into a new building that we will be working on.
As the general contractor deconstructs two side-by-side buildings, GreenBy3 sorts, selects, and stores materials to save for future use. We’re saving bricks, building lumber, iron, and other materials. Some will go into the new building planned for this space and some will be used by local community organizations.
We're taking the time now to save these bricks for use in the new building. That will reduce the environmental footprint of the new construction and visually, it will help the building fit into Hendersonville's historic downtown street scape.
We're using a Denailer for the first time on this job. It's very efficient and allows us to reclaim more boards than was previously practical.
As the week goes on this space will fill with the reclaimed building materials we will reuse in the new building.
The deconstruction and reclamation work going on this week is just the first phase of a project we’re real excited about. The new building that will go into this space will be a “business incubator” for start-up green businesses and start-up software development businesses. The City of Hendersonville, Henderson County, local community organizations, and the community will have a part in the project. We are very excited to have the support of the City of Hendersonville, Henderson County and the community.
The building will not only be offices for start-up businesses but it will also be made available to community groups for educational programs, workshops, film presentations, and other events and meetings.
As part of GreenBy3‘s mission the building itself will be a model of green design and operation — we’ll be telling and showing you more about that in the next few months.
A New Warehouse for GreenBy3
For the last couple of weeks GreenBy3 has been moving into a new warehouse. We’ve put in some long hours but we’re almost done. The old warehouse is starting to look like this:
While the new warehouse is looking like this:
Our new space is located on the Navy Base and is in the same building with our friends at Fisher Recycling. Our businesses are really compatible so we ought to make good neighbors for each other.
Fisher Recycling not only provides recycling solutions for businesses but they even make new products from some of the materials they recycle. A big plus for us is that they have a sense of humor and enjoy their work. Here’s one of their trucks.
Yep, we’re really happy with the neighborhood — and will definitely be glad when we are completely settled in.
Energy Tips (con’t)
Today’s post continues with five more of our top ten “Biggest Bang for Your Buck” list of energy tips. You’ll notice you don’t have to spend a lot of money to begin to save energy and save money on utility bills.
- Plug Those Air Leaks — When it’s cold outside, keep that air outside by sealing all the little holes, gaps, and openings you can find in your home. Common trouble spots are around window and door frames (use weather stripping and caulk), light switches and electrical outlets (put inexpensive foam inserts behind the switch plates), and small holes under the sink and where electrical wires go to the outside (use spray foam).
- Switch to CFLs — Compact Florescent Lightbulbs (CFLs) are more energy efficient. They last longer, use less energy, give off less heat, and shine a clearer light on things. Each bulb saves an average of $30 over the course of its life. Helpful Hint: Please don’t just toss CFLs in the trash or recycling bin. They each have a tiny bit of mercury we don’t want released into the environment and some of their materials can be reused. All Lowes, Home Depot and Best Buy stores have drop-off bins where you can take them and they will be recycled safely.
- Replace Your Air Filter Monthly — a clean, lint-free filter makes it easier for your air handler to pull air from your home and recirculate it. Easier mean it uses less energy and using less energy means you save more money. (When you change the filter, write the date on the filter’s frame. That way, when you check the filter, you won’t have to remember the date it was new.)
- Watch Your Refrigerator — Refrigerators cost $5 – $8 per month to operate and consume 3% – 5% of your home’s total energy use. Keep the refrigerator at 36 – 38 degrees and the freezer at 0 – 5 degrees. Regularly clean dust out of the the coils and don’t let the freezer ice build up. Keep the door closed as much as possible to keep warm room air out.
- Reduce Water Use and Never Notice the Difference — Add aerators to all your sinks and switch out your toilets with low-flow models. This dramatically reduces the amount of water used in your home daily. A low-cost strategy is to place a half-gallon milk jug filled with water in the tank of your toilet. This causes it to use less water to fill after each flush — saving you money.
If you missed the first five tips, find them here.
At GreenBy3 we have found these to be reliable ways to reduce energy costs in your home. Give them a try and let us know how they work for you.
