Chicken Restaurant Flies to the top with its LEED Gold Certification

One of my favorite fast-food restaurants in Fort Worth has achieved LEED Gold status one year after opening. The Chick-Fil-A in Montgomery Plaza was recently certified with LEED status.  According to a press release put out by the company, it is the first restaurant in Fort Worth to receive this achievement. Also, as a result of this success, Chick-Fil-A plans to build four more LEED restaurants.  

The release goes on to say “The initiative places emphasis on four main areas of operation: cup recycling, energy and water efficiency in existing restaurants, sustainable new restaurant development and sustainable supply chain.”

Some of the technologies used to achieve this status include low-flow plumbing fixtures and an underground cistern. The Cistern collects rainwater which is used to water the landscape. These technologies create as much as a 40% reduction in water usage.

Mt favorite quality when visiting this restaurant is the sky-lights. This feature allows more direct sunlight which reduces the need for lighting and in turn reduces on electricity consumption. The sky-lights, paired with windows and energy efficient appliances helps the restaurant save about 14% in energy consumption.

This restaurant chains shows everyone in the food industry that it is possible to build sustainably and create a more positive environment for the future.

REFERENCES

http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/03/13/2918410/a-fort-worth-chick-fil-a-seeks.html

http://www.chick-fil-a.com/Pressroom/Press-Releases/leed-release

From Trash to Treasured Energy

One company known picking up trash is leading the way in an alternative source. Waste Management, the trash giant, has spent extensive time and money to develop ways of taking landfill gas, something they have readily available and transforming it into usable energy. According to Waste Management’s web site, “using landfills, we produce over 550 megawatts of electricity, which is enough to power more than 444,000 homes. This amount of energy is equivalent to offsetting over 2.2 million tons of coal per year.”

The process works by capturing the gases naturally released from the landfill and harvesting it into a renewable energy source.  Essentially this company takes our trash, and turns it into our treasure= energy.  Waste Management has plans to expand its alternative energy capacity to power over  two million homes by 2020.

REFERENCES

https://www.wm.com/sustainability/renewable-energy.jsp

Hybrid What?!?!?

When you think of hybrid vehicles you think of a Prius which is a small four door car. You do not typically think of 18-wheelers carrying tons of product all over the US. However, a large international company has invested in just this. Coca-Cola started changing its US fleet in 2008 from traditional diesel trucks to hybrid trucks. They are slowly adding more to the fleet and have almost 200 hybrid trucks running product all over the US.

A US government organization, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), tested the hybrid truck against the diesel truck and came up with some interesting results.  According to the data, “The 13-month field study, the hybrid group had a 13.7% fuel economy improvement over the diesel group.”

The report also indicated Coca-Cola was getting a positive Return on Investment (ROI). The cost to operate the hybrid trucks was 24% less than operating the diesel trucks. This indicates that Coca-Cola realized real savings from the beginning of use of the hybrid trucks.

Big companies also have lots of choices for where to direct their money. It’s nice to see a Fortune 100 company recognizing the importance of giving back to the environment one truck at a time.

REFERENCES

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels/avta/publications/hd_library.html

http://www.livepositively.com/#/transportation

Make recycling Count with Recyclebank

If you are a Fort Worth resident like myself, then you have two city issued bins- one for trash and a black bin for recycling. You pay the city every month to empty these for you on a regular basis. However, one of those bins can play you back for using it- your recycle bin. The City of Fort Worth has partnered up with Recyclebank, an online community that has members register, earn point and collect rewards.  Members, like the residents of Fort Worth, earn points when they recycle.  You can use points towards gift-cards or donating to a cause or school.

The web site also offers users the ability for members to earn extra points through different learning modules and inviting friend to join. Recyclebank is committed to education.  It has a program called Green Schools.  According to its web site, Recyclebank rewards grants to schools that can use the fund for environmental projects. Members can donate their points towards a school and make the world a greener place.  

 I joined Recyclebank when the City of Fort Worth offered it to its residents. So far, I have been able to cash in my points for a gift-card to go out to eat.  This program is easy- I just have to recycle and then watch the points add up.

REFERENCES

https://www.recyclebank.com/

Sprinkle away the water savings

When you think of water conservation, many people think of low-flow plumbing fixtures or rain barrels. These technologies do decrease your water usage but not like evaluating your sprinkler system. According to an article in The Courier of Montgomery County, as much as 80% percent of water is wasted because of a sprinkler system.

  

Many municipal water districts (MUD) and city water organizations are worried about the impact of this on their decreasing water supplies. Some utilities though have a found an answer: WISE Guys. Water Irrigation System Evaluation is what wise stands for. This is part of the Vepo LCC Company. Essentially, certified irrigation specialist come to a business or home and evaluate the sprinkler system.

After the evaluation, the specialist recommends changes to decrease water usage and increase efficiency of watering yards. This in turn, saves the consumer money on their monthly water bill and also the municipality water can be conserved.

Several MUDs are offering this service to their members for free. A typical evaluation if the MUD is not paying for it ranges from $55-$80.

REFERENCES

http://www.vepollc.com/wise_guys.aspx

http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/courier/news/article_b96b1717-da2f-5cfe-99fc-8898eda30b2d.html

New River creates Vision for the Future

My favorite presentation was seeing the Trinity River Vision (TRV). Shanna Cate, presented to our class at the office of the TRV. She took us through the plans for the river as well the steps it would take to get to the final product. I love the idea of the TRV and think it is a great project for the City of Fort Worth. Shanna talked about all the agencies involved in this project. In additon to federal, and state agencies, the local government has supported the effort as well. Below is a video of Mayor Betsy Price speaking on the project.

Shanna talked about several of the events to bring the community together and promote the project. This project goes beyond bettering the city. It is a huge creator of social sustainability. It gets people from the community out from their homes and into the Trinity River. People come together to clean up with the river on trash-day as well as enjoy a concert during the Rockin the River summer concert series. Pictures of these events can be seen in the link below.

http://www.trinityrivervision.org/trvblog?Year=2012

My husband has a personal connection with this project. Five years ago, he worked in Washington DC for Congresswoman Kay Granger. He personally worked on proposals for funding of this project.  This project is a huge undertaking and requires lots of money to complete. It is through the hard work of people passionate about the City of Fort Worth that this vision will become a reality over the next decade. We live close by the Trinity and enjoy walking our dogs along the trails.  I cannot wait to dine next to river or take a ferry to the Stockyards one day.

REFERENCES

http://www.trinityrivervision.org

Happy Workers Happy Company

Jerry Burbridge is an expert in LEED and saving companies money through sustainability. He spoke to my class about an interesting topic: Space Planning and the benefits of tele-working. Jerry currently is contracted by the Department of Homeland Security for Border Patrol. He is a project manager that manages new construction and leases for the government. He has decades of experience on space planning for a variety of industries.

Jerry talked extensively on how much space companies need per worker. In the government, the amount of space is determined by job description.  Everyone in same the category receives the exact same amount of office space. The government is looking at ways to cut back on amount of space used in order to save money as wellas create a smaller carbon footprint. One of the ways they are doing this is through tele-working.

Teleworking or telecommunting is defined as "the use of home computers, telephones, etc. to enable a person to work from home while maintaining contact with colleagues, customers, or a central office." By having a workforce telecommunte companies cut down on the amount of office space needed as well as the amount or cars communting.  Several people in my class commented on how productivity and happiness increases in those individuals who telecommunte for part of their job.

I work for Coca-Cola. We have policy that certain departments are able to take advantage of this. For example, a department has everyone sign up to work from home 1-2 days a week on different days of the week. All employees that I know that take advantage of the program love it. The only downside I have seen for my company is that when everyone is in the office for weekly meetings, we experience a shortage of conference rooms at times. However, this problem is small and the benefits of teleworking far out-weigh the problem of conference room space.

I never looked at the benefits of teleworking in regards to sustainability before Jerry spoke. I sincerely believe teleworking is a great concept and all companies should try to adopt it on some level.


REFERENCES

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/teleworking