Making Green Count- NBC Universal Showcases “Green Week” 2009
As sustainability and going ‘green’ become less trendy and more of a way of life for more people, signs that the movement is here to stay are revealed by NBC Universal’s “Green is Universal” initiative. This autumn the networks of NBC Universal have partnered with viewers for Green Week 2009 [which ran Nov. 15 – 22). The networks highlighted environmental issues during episodes of 30 Rock, Community, The Office, on the NBC Nightly News as well as several other programs.
NBC Universal developed a dedicated Web site designed to educate viewers about the advantages of going green along with tips and useful products for remaining environmentally friendly. The homepage has space dedicated to users who want to post their respective pledges to practice sustainability. Some pledged to carpool and use programmable thermostats, while others simply pledged to use less energy by turning off lights when not in use.
In addition to their online presence, NBC Universal has recruited volunteers across the country to demonstrate their dedication to the green effort through community activities. In Los Angeles, for example, NBCU volunteers planted 50 trees in Griffith Park. In Miami, volunteers cleaned up John U. Lloyd Beach State Park in Dania Beach, Fla.
It’s exciting to see MilliCare’s commitment and practices embraced and showcased by a major national media company.
Be sure to check out http://www.greenisuniversal.com/ to for tips on how you can be green in your own home. There is an engaging interactive page to view what others are doing and to calculate your own carbon footprint. And be sure to try out our Environmental Impact Calculator as well.
The Benefits of Building Green
It's easy to think of a green building as being environmentally friendly in its construction, but there is a lot more to creating a sustainable facility than just that. From the first phases of planning to the ongoing maintenance a facility requires, there are a number of ways to "go green" in throughout the process.
The Indianapolis Star recently took a deeper look at the impact of green building in the full context of the construction market -- from the supply chain of product manufacturers and material suppliers, to the design professionals, contractors and installers, to maintenance personnel, to employees who remove from the downstream flow materials that otherwise would go to landfills. Click here to take a look at the article.
As the Star mentions, the U.S. Green Building Council has devised the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Rating System to determine building performance in five categories of sustainability: sites, materials and resources, energy and atmosphere, water efficiency, and the overall indoor environmental quality. MilliCare is proud to be involved in this process for many of our customers.
Allergy and Asthma Awareness Month
The warm weather May brings can also signal a peak time of year for allergies and asthma. This makes May the perfect time of year for National Allergy and Asthma Awareness Month, when we focus on these issues and the best ways to prevent common problems and promote healthy breathing. With this in mind, the Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) has issued a reminder that carpet, when properly maintained, can actually improve the air we breathe. By ensuring high indoor air quality (IAQ) with a well-maintained carpeted environment, it's possible to decrease asthma and allergy symptoms.
Find it hard to believe that the comfort and style your floor covering provides can also help you breathe better? It may be surprising, but the CRI reinforces that carpet does reduce the inhalation of dust, pollen, pet and insect dander - and these factors are improved even more significantly when proper maintenance and CRI-certified techniques are used regularly.
How does it work? Fibers in carpet capture potentially bothersome particles, preventing them from further circulating through the air. Proper cleaning effectively eliminates dust and allergens from the carpet, thus keeping them out of the air you breathe.
Quantifying the Savings of Sustainability
In the first in-depth study of its kind, CFOs and other senior finance executives overwhelmingly report that environmental sustainability is an increasingly important issue for their companies, and that a range of significant financial benefits are achievable for companies that can implement strategies that truly reduce their impact on the environment. The study surveyed 175 corporate CFOs and senior finance executives, finding that more than half believed that one of the greatest barriers to incorporating sustainability into their business included the inability to document the effects on their financial performance. To read more, click here.
To help our customers put a number to the savings of sustainability, MilliCare has developed a Resource Calculator that quantifies the savings of using MilliCare’s dry carpet cleaning method instead of traditional hot water extraction. For more information on this calculator, contact your local MilliCare franchise.
Controlling Soil in Your Office Environment
The cleaning industry estimates that 85% of the soils and particles we work so arduously to remove from buildings are tracked in through entryways. Some studies estimate the cost of removing just one pound of dirt at over $500.00.
With this in mind, it is clear that maintaining an efficient entryway is one of the keys to guaranteeing the control of soils entering and leaving. If soils can be captured before they are tracked throughout the lobby and into office areas, it can make a major impact on the life of the building’s flooring systems.
The cornerstone of good carpet care is cleanliness, removing soil and spots, and keeping a regular maintenance program to extend the life of the carpet.
To Improve Indoor Air Quality, Look No Further than Your Feet
The premiere issue of Sustainable Facility recently featured an article explaining how a work environment’s carpet is the key to internal air quality.
It may surprise many to know that, instead of checking the air ducts, we should be looking beneath our feet when we think about maintaining internal air quality. Proactive maintenance of a facility's carpet and textiles is essential to achieve the highest quality indoor air.
With a proactive maintenance system, allergens trapped in the carpet and textile fibers are removed before they can be reintroduced in the air. Facility managers who use an environmentally preferable maintenance program, a green cleaning regime, take an additional step towards sustainability.
Denver Retail Going Green
In a recent article in The Denver Post, staff writer Elizabeth Aguilera writes about the advancements of Colorado retail stores going green. Big company names such as REI, Toyota, Wal-Mart, Staples and J.C. Penney are turning over a new 'green' leaf.
Initially building a green building is more expensive than building a regular building. However, the benefits can outweigh the cost. For example Burt Automotive Group, which builds Toyotas in Boulder, is in the finishing stages of building an eco-friendly dealership. The project will cost an estimated $20 million which is 10 percent more than a regular building, but the energy savings will pay it back within a decade.
It's great to see so many companies are becoming environmentally conscious across many sectors, in this case with retail stores and the materials that will be in them. Each of these companies has different ways to make their building green, but all agree that saving energy in their green buildings has benefited them economically.