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A variety of environmental businesses are leasing space at the Phillips Eco-Enterprise Center in Minneapolis, MN., which is in the process of being built. The 64,000 square foot office and manufacturing center is located on a former brownfield, and is a project of The Green Institute. The center will be a model green building with 100 percent daylighting, ground source heat pumps, a wind and solar energy system, and a 4800 square foot rooftop garden. At least 10 percent of the materials come from salvaged sources. The Green Institute mission is to create self-sufficient models of economic development with a focus on the emerging green business sector. Green Institute: 612-874-1148
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Thanks to a $14 million renovation, the Sheraton Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia will be at the forefront of environmental design in the hospitality market. Set to open by the end of this year, the 192-room hotel will occupy part of the 72-year old, 17-story mixed use Rittenhouse Regency building. The hotel is making indoor air quality (IAQ) one of its hallmarks. Its ventilation system will provide filtered outside air to occupied rooms 24 hours a day. Smoking will be prohibited throughout the hotel. Materials were selected with IAQ in mind, including paint and carpeting. Furniture is made from certified wood and only water-based glues are used. The bed sheets and curtains are made from organic cotton. At the center of the six-story atrium will be 60-foot bamboo trees. Bamboo was chosen because they take in carbon dioxide and produce oxygen at a 35 percent higher rate than most other plants. “When a person is having breakfast in the atrium, the high amount of oxygen makes it feel like a ski mountain,” says Barry Dimson, president of EcoSmart Properties, one of developers. Lobby flooring is also made from bamboo. Dimson says because they were able to market these features, the hotel […]
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Managed care and reduced costs are encouraging a return to reprocessing surgical instruments instead of throwing them away. Health care facilities cleaned and sterilized most instruments in-house until the 1970s, when manufacturers started producing single-use medical devices. This eliminated labor costs involved in internal reprocessing. Now, HMOs are changing the routine. Healthcare facilities are looking for ways to reduce costs associated with providing services. One way is to use reprocessed medical instruments. Surgical nurses separate the instruments, grossly decontaminate them, and ship them to a decontamination plant. They are sold back to the hospital at a significant discount. Brown-Ferris Industries (BFI) and Alliance Medical Corp. have entered into an agreement to serve hospitals nationwide. Alliance decontamination facilities will be located at or near BFI treatment and transfer locations. Recycling is slated to begin near Orlando, Florida. With the addition of this service, BFI can offer hospitals the full spectrum of recycling services.
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Profiles Inc., a certified wood products brokerage firm, and Upstream Associates, a contracting company, based in Westport, are collaborating to build the first three houses entirely with certified forest products. The houses, which total over 52,000 square feet, incorporate certified framing lumber, exterior and interior trim, siding, roofing, windows, doors, flooring and architectural millwork. The project has taken over two years of research and development. When a project specified wooden roofing shingles, aromatic cedar, or engineered products such as glue laminates – none of which were available certified – Profiles Inc. would have to find a certified producer of the raw product and a manufacturer willing to process the material, and broker a deal between the two. As part of the brokering process, the company often paid for the costs of a manufacturer to get chain-of-custody certified. “If they’re willing to work with us, we’ll take care of the costs,” remarked Harry Page of Profiles Inc. The companies’ aggressiveness in pursuing and developing a full range of certified forest products is paying off. “Our phones are ringing off the wall,” says Page. “We’re getting calls from contractors, suppliers, architects, individual home builders. People are realizing this can be done.” None […]
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For the first time, the environment was prominent on the agenda of the Caribbean Hotel Industry Conference. It was standing room only at the Environmental Seminars in Nassau, Bahamas. There were workshops on waste management, energy efficiency, and green management. Technologies such as wind and solar power, recycling machinery and energy efficient lighting were featured at the trade show. FROM The Green Hotelier
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Keep America Beautiful Inc. presented Ford with the 1998 Vision for America award which honors achievements in recycling and use of recycled-content materials and for innovative reuse of cast-off and scrap materials. Recycling initiatives established by Ford include a “Carpet to Car Parts” project, where recovered carpeting is screened, pelletized, and combined with virgin resin to make engine air cleaner housings for nearly 3 million vehicles annually. The company also uses 50 million recycled soda bottles each year to make grille reinforcements, door padding, and roof liners. Ford cars and trucks made in the U.S. and Europe are, on average, 75 percent recyclable. And Ford recycles its own tires, using them to manufacture ergonomic floor mats. FROM Waste Age’s Recycling Times
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How environmentally conscious are the nation’s top 50 business schools? Almost nine in 10 have one elective course in environmental management – but only 16 percent have integrated the topic into core requirements. Only 21 percent offer a degree in environmental management (as a dual degree with natural resources or forestry). Those are the findings of a study by the Management Institute for Environment and Business (MEB), a program of the World Resources Institute. The study ranked eight schools as offering the best environmental focus: George Washington University New York University (Stern) Northwestern University (Kellogg) University of Michigan University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler) University of Tennessee/Knoxville University of Virginia (Darden) University of Washington To order the report, Grey Pinstripes With Green Ties: [sorry this link is no longer available] To see the survey results: [sorry this link is no longer available] FROM Business Ethics
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Keep America Beautiful Inc. presented Ford with the 1998 Vision for America award which honors achievements in recycling and use of recycled-content materials and for innovative reuse of cast-off and scrap materials. Recycling initiatives established by Ford include a “Carpet to Car Parts” project, where recovered carpeting is screened, pelletized, and combined with virgin resin to make engine air cleaner housings for nearly 3 million vehicles annually. The company also uses 50 million recycled soda bottles each year to make grille reinforcements, door padding, and roof liners. Ford cars and trucks made in the U.S. and Europe are, on average, 75 percent recyclable. And Ford recycles its own tires, using them to manufacture ergonomic floor mats. FROM Waste Age’s Recycling Times
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Over 400 of Habitat for Humanitys 1500 affiliates have signed up for the Green Team, a new program that provides education on energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and sustainable building design. How a house is built is largely up to the particular affiliate. Were trying to provide information that is volunteer-friendly, affordable, and that enables them to conserve energy without hatcheting up costs, explains Graham Davis, Green Team director. The plan is to build all Habitat homes to EPA Energy Star standards. At a recent five-day blitz-build in Houston, all 100 homes were built to the standards. After affiliates are up-to-speed on energy efficiency the Green Team will expand to alternative building materials such as strawbale. They also promote job site recycling; at a recent blitz build they recycled or reused sheet rock, scrap lumber, aluminum and vinyl. Source: Environmental Design & Construction
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