Beautiful craftsmanship and reliability are the foundation of our company mission. Yet equally important is how we treat the environment, the way we contribute to our community, and the health and happiness of our team.
We believe that our role is to consistently deliver on the promises that we make to our clients, and in doing so, make decisions that respect the environment, that use resources efficiently, that minimize waste and that strive for simplicity over complexity. Is true sustainability ever really possible? It’s a lofty ideal that presents us with challenges every day - some we solve with creativity, some we solve with better design, and some we’re still working on....but we are learning more every day.
By approaching our processes thoughtfully with an eye for quality and good design, we believe that we can add value to your green building awards and help leverage your message and commitment to sustainable building.
Green Building Awards operates in an inspiring and healthy "living building" called Strawberry Fields. The building was renovated by Eclipse Awards in 2007 and features extensive natural lighting and a 2000 sq.ft accessible green roof for staff and visitors.
Here we've outlined some of our ongoing, past and future commitments that we've made to become more sustainable and to reduce our carbon emissions:
Environmental Action Plan
To reduce our carbon footprint, Green Building Awards is targeting a 20% reduction in CO2 by 2013 from 2007 levels. In order to achieve this, we have created a 5 year action plan that identifies some opportunities for the company to reduce its carbon footprint.
Green Building Awards: Standing Commitments and Programs
- Zero-Emissions Vehicle Incentive: we will pay up to $450 towards the purchase of a zero emissions vehicle (electric scooter, bicycle, hybrid car), if that vehicle will be used as the primary mode of transit between work and home
- Green Exercise Incentive: we pay our staff $0.30 cents for each kilometer walked to work, and $0.20 cents for each kilometer biked to work
- Public Transit Initiative: where an Eclipse staff member buys a transit pass as their primary means of transportation to work, we will pay 50% of the cost of the pass
- Lavender Ridge - we still maintain the first guerilla garden that we built at the end of our block
2004
- purchased our first Green Power Certificates from BC Hydro, committing to buy 100% of our green energy for 2 years
2005
- completed our first guerilla garden "Lavender Ridge" by converting a neglected 100' strip of land on the street outside of our business
2006
- recommitted to BC Hydro's Green Power Certificates to buy 100% green power until 2010
2007
- formed partnership with BCIT School of Green Roof Research to explore building a green roof on the Blueberry Building; created concept drawings that included the idea of rooftop gardening
2008
- completed our first 2500 sq.ft greenroof on the Blueberry Building at 121 Heatley Ave in partnership with the Environmental Youth Alliance
- ClimateSmart employee training & energy reduction campaign (completed, successful)
- renovated a derelict old building into what is now Strawberry Fields - a "living building" renovated to include low-flow toilets, natural lighting, open air ventilation, and on-site kitchen & shower facilities
- added a greenroof on Strawberry Fields to provide accessible green space while also moderating temperature to lessen use of air conditioning and heat.
- Improved recycling program to encompass more products.
- switched from delivered bottled water to WA-2 filtered tap water
2009
- worked with suppliers to reduce materials used in products (ongoing)
- sourced new local, reclaimed materials to design new plaques & awards (ongoing)
- reused more packing materials & source greener options
- grew vegetables on our greenroof to reduce “food miles”
- increased inventory levels and decrease orders placed from suppliers to minimize shipping
2010
- disconnected hot water tank and moved to 100% gas on demand
2011
- take ClimateSmart Renewal Course (completed & highly recommended)
- record GHG inventory on a quarterly basis, not annually
- review offset projects and priorities
- planted 200 stawberry plants on our green roof
- start tracking and measuring company water consumption
- add worm composting (vermiculture) to handle office organics on site - worm soil to be used on greenroof
- purchase and replace printer with a new duplex printer to reduce paper footprint
2012
- explore solar heating water system to supplement hot water system
2013
- install roof turbine for local electricity