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Green Star E-News
* Shining Stars ================================== Welcome to our new members who enrolled in the Green Star Award certification program in May! Days Inn Anchorage Alaska Village Electric Cooperative Green Events in July. Look for recycling opportunities at these events… Bear Paw Festival, Eagle River – July 9-13 AEDC Investor Luncheon – July 23 Potter Marsh Grand Opening – July 26 Conscious Living Festival – July 26 =================================
LAST CHANCE THIS SUMMER!!! Total Reclaim’s Household Electronics Recycling – Saturday, July 12, 10am - 3pm, East High School, 4025 E. Northern Lights Blvd. Bring your household electronics, including computers, printers, TVs, stereos and much more, for recycling. A small fee per item will be charged. The Total Reclaim warehouse in the Huffman Business Park also will be open during the hours of this event, so you have two places to take electronics on Saturday. This will be the last planned monthly event for the summer! Visit www.greenstarinc.org/electronicsrecycling2008.php for fees and other details. ================================= You may be used to seeing the Green Star logo on People Mover buses around Anchorage. Now you will see the Green Star logo on Princess Tours’ Anchorage motor coach. Princess Tours celebrated National Tourism Week in May by unveiling exterior artwork on its motor coaches. Princess Tours' new motor coach designs feature three different scenes showcasing the unique activities, events and visitor attractions in Anchorage, Denali Park and Fairbanks. The Anchorage coach includes images of urban wildlife, backpacking, flight-seeing and biking. It also features the Green Star logo, demonstrating Princess Tours’ commitment to the environment and efficient business practices. This display of the Green Star logo indicates that Princess Tours has successfully achieved Green Star Award certified status by meeting all ten of the Green Star standards. As a Green Star Award certified business, Princess is one of 130 Alaska businesses and organizations that have actively committed to reducing waste generation and energy use by implementing a variety of sustainable workplace initiatives. One example of the type of activity Princess Tours has undertaken to achieve and maintain it Green Star Award certification is to retrofit its lighting to more energy efficient lamps. This past spring, Princess Tours retrofitted all existing fluorescent light fixtures in its office, kitchen and shop areas. The tour company replaced all inefficient fluorescent fixtures in the original building. These inefficient fixtures were four-lamp fixtures with 40-watt, T-12 fluorescent lamps. These were replaced with more efficient, two-lamp fixtures, including 32-watt, T-8 fluorescent lamps. The change achieved the same light output but reduced energy use and costs significantly. In the train bay, the existing High Pressure Sodium fixtures also were replaced with a six-bulb fluorescent fixture. Based on estimates using today’s dollars the overall savings may be $3000 to $4500 in annual electricity costs, a 40% reduction in energy costs. ================================= Switching from incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) can reduce the electricity costs for an average household by $12 to $20 per month. A large office can save even more by replacing incandescent bulbs with CFLs in recessed lighting, task lamps and other fixtures. But recent news stories about the hazardous materials in CFLs have made some people nervous about using the energy-efficient lamps. The problem is not with the actual use of CFLs, but rather in the improper disposal, which can release mercury when broken. By recycling CFLs, the dangers associated with the small amounts of mercury they contain are avoided. And now, recycling has just gotten easier. The Home Depot, Inc., has started a program to help people conveniently recycle CFLs at its stores throughout the U.S. The new program at the company's 1,973 U.S. stores is the first one of its kind to be made widely available by a retailer, Home Depot said. Customers can bring in any expired, unbroken CFLs directly to the returns desk for no fee. The waste bulbs will be turned over to an environmental management company for recycling. This program includes all stores in Anchorage. Store managers indicate that the permanent drop-off bins for CFLs have not arrived yet in Alaska but the Home Depot staff are prepared to accept the CFLs at the return desk immediately. "With more than 75 percent of households located within 10 miles of a Home Depot store, this program is the first national solution to providing Americans with a convenient way to recycle CFLs," said Ron Jarvis, senior vice president of environmental innovation for Home Depot. Industry officials estimate that the recycling rate for CFLS is currently around two percent. With more convenient drop-off locations, and increased education about how to properly manage CFLs, this number should rise significantly. The Home Depot’s CFL sales climbed to 75 million last year, from 50 million in 2006. This will reduce energy costs by $4.8 billion and reduced greenhouse gas emissions (CO2) by 51.8 billion pounds over the life of the bulbs. In a related move, Home Depot also announced it will switch from incandescent bulbs to CFLs for the light fixture showrooms in U.S. stores by fall 2008. The move will save $16 million a year in energy costs. =================================
With fuel prices through the roof, everyone is looking for ways to conserve. Besides the basic rules of driving (don’t speed, keep your tires properly inflated etc.), think outside the box and help your workplace realize the benefits of creative conservation.
Proximate commute: A proximate commute is defined as working from a location closer to an employee’s home or closer to a meeting location, therefore reducing commuting distances. If employees can efficiently and effectively work from a proximate location, it makes sense to do so. This benefit is especially encouraged under circumstances when a meeting or other event is closer to home, or if an alternate location would make necessary resources more readily available. If an alternate location can provide inspiration or better focus, this option could be equally beneficial. So if, after attending that mid-afternoon meeting in south Anchorage, it doesn’t make more sense to drive all the way back to your downtown office before heading back south to go home, you could get work done on your laptop at a coffee shop or at the library before heading home. Some offices even encourage and reward employees for their proximate commuting by tracking it on timecards and offering reimbursements. Virtual meetings: Some businesses require a lot of meetings, which often leads to a lot of driving around town. New technologies allow more interaction to take place virtually. Webinars have taken the place of face-to-face workshops and trainings in many instances, and conference calling (video and otherwise) can eliminate the need to drive across town.
Compressed work week and flex time: By working four ten-hour days, employees can take one day per week off, reducing the number of days they need to drive to work.
Work at home/telecommute: Try to group meetings into a few days a week and spend the other days writing reports and doing research at home. New technologies make working at home even easier. You can forward your phone, access email, and even work on your work computer directly with remote access software. It’s as if you were sitting in your office but without the travel time and expense. Alternative transportation: If all else fails, get out of your car and get to work some other way. Bus, walk, bike, ski, or kayak! Yes, one Green Star member organization has employees who kayak to work down Campbell Creek to an office off International Airport Road. Your workplace may want to support alternative commuters by creating an emergency ride home program so that an employee who needs transportation in the event of an emergency is guaranteed taxi service, car rental, or a work vehicle. Green Star is currently offering free sample bus passes to any member business that initiates an alternative transportation program for employees. Contact Green Star at 278-7827 for details. ================================= This week’s question – What would convince you to change your driving habits? Read the responses, add your own, or view responses to past questions in a number of different topic areas. Tons of good information!
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Platinum ($10,000+): BP, ConocoPhillips, GCI, Municipal Light & Power, Rasmuson Foundation, Total Reclaim, University of Alaska Anchorage, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Gold ($5,000-$9,999): Anchorage Daily News, University Center Silver ($2,500-$4,999): Chugach Electric, Microsoft
Bronze ($1,000-$2,499): Anchorage Media Group, Best Buy, Mini-Brute, Peak Oilfield Services, Princess Tours Green ($500-$999): Anchorage School District, Dan Miller Graphics, Frames Etc. Supporter ($250-$499): Alaska Communication Systems, Lynden Transport Contributor (up to $250): Alaska Center for the Environment, Alaska Interstate Construction, Alutiiq, Inc., Carolyn Foundation, Choffie’s Kitchen, Chugach Electric, Clear Channel Radio, Egan Civic & Convention Center, Food Service Warehouse, Free Spirit Wear, Great Harvest Bread Company, Kroeker Consulting, Moose’s Tooth Pub and Pizzeria, Odom Corporation, Pacific Environmental Corporation (PENCO), Peppercini’s, Pepsi-Cola Bottling Group, USKH, Within the Wild Adventure Lodge ==================================
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