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 by aleida, on April 28th, 2010  Image courtesy of BrightTALK webinar The BrightTALK programming continued with Randy Knox’s presentation titled Adobe – LEED & Beyond. Knox is the Head of Environmental Programs at Adobe, and oversees their global real estate facilities and physical security operations. His was a very short presentation – it lasted only 28 minutes – but it was nevertheless a very informative look at Adobe’s internal sustainability initiatives.
In the United States, Adobe has already earned four LEED-EB Platinum certifications: three for their headquarters in San Jose, CA, and one for their offices in San Francisco, CA, which also happens to be the oldest building in the world with that level of certification. The shift at headquarters began during the energy crisis of 2001 with a concerted effort to reduce their electrical use. With just a few small and simple projects (like turning off lights and de-lamping certain areas of their building), they reduced their use by about 10%. This compelled them to commit to an additional 10% reduction, and installed real-time electrical meters to measure their progress.
Meters in place, they replaced incandescent bulbs with CFLs in some areas, installed watt stopper power strips in all of their 2,500 employee offices (which also allowed them to run other electrical devices via motion sensors), reduced the run time of their garage fans (without endangering human safety), and reduced the length of time that their outside lights were on at night. The projects cost $118,000 to implement. They received $79,000 in rebates from PG&E, their local utility, for a total out-of-pocket expense of $39,000. Knox reports that they are currently saving about $212,000 per year thanks to these changes.
But they didn’t stop there. Continuing with lighting, they replaced all of their garage high-pressure sodium lamps with CFLs. Currently, they are experimenting with LEDs, which are already installed in elevator lobbies and exit signage. They are working on transitioning their garages’ first floor to LEDs. So far, they have spent $400,000 on these lighting efforts, have received $70,000 in rebates from PG&E, and are saving $306,215 per year.
Read more event review: BrightTALK GBS3 session 5 
by aleida, on April 27th, 2010  Image courtesy of BrightTALK webinar Right at noon on April 22, 2010, BrightTALK presented the roundtable discussion Ghirardelli Goes Green. Moderated by Deanna Meredith, the Senior Marketing Manager for Willdan Energy Solutions, the panelists were Jane Echlin, the General Manager of Ghirardelli Square and the Developer Representative for Fairmont Heritage Place located in Ghirardelli Square, Darren Nix, the LodgingSavers Program Manager with Ecology Action, and Dr. Densen Cao, CEO of the CAO Group. The discussion was specifically centered on the transition of the historic Ghirardelli sign that sits atop Fairmont Heritage Place to an LED system.
“Ghirardelli Goes Green started last year with a focus on our trash and recycling program, but has morphed into us reviewing other areas here at the property … where we and our tenants can make an impact,” says Echlin. They have tracked gas and electricity use for each tenant through the ENERGY Star website. An assessment of the carbon monoxide emissions in their parking garage concluded they could turn off some fans. And then they organize an actual event – that coincides with Earth Day – attended by various participants who showcase ways that the public can reduce energy use.
Last year, Echlin and her team actively started looking at alternative, lower wattage lighting systems. The property had historically had problems with maintenance with the old type of bulb, which would be affected by the salty air and often go out. But when they started looking at the options “we were confused by the amount of product out on the market and knowing which were reliable products, which were going to last, etc.,” says Echlin. For professional advice, she reached out to Willdan Energy Solutions and PG&E.
Read more event review: BrightTALK GBS3 session 4
by aleida, on February 2nd, 2010 Image from BrightTALK web site
The 2010 BrightTALK Green Building Summit on Thursday, January 28 was incredibly informative – hopefully the webcasts attracted a sufficiently large listenership. I joined all seven webinars and arrived at the end of the day with over a dozen pages of notes. While I will not post even a [...]
by kevin, on July 26th, 2009  For the second time this week, I was in Mar Vista (a neighborhood in the Los Angeles metro area near Venice) to attend a community event focusing on environmental issues. Earlier in the week I presented at the Wise Water Use Expo, and last night I presented at the GoSolar Mar Vista Launch Party and Neighborhood Mixer. This community really seems to know what they want and are working hard to help their neighbors share information and knowledge through a group called Open Mar Vista. With a turnout between 85 and 100, the event was surprisingly well attended for a Saturday evening.
Read more GoSolar Mar Vista launch event
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