From Colorado’s cleantech industry to building the second-most green buildings in the U.S., being green seems to be in this state’s DNA. So it’s no surprise that it’s in the business community’s DNA, too.
Since completing its interior and exterior renovations, the Chamber has been named an Energy Star-rated building, achieved LEED Silver certification, joined the Denver City Energy Project and been named a Certifiably Green Denver building.
A number of the steps we undertook to reach these green goals were simple changes. Here are three things we—and our Green Team, a group of our staff who help guide how we make less of an environmental impact at work—learned along the way:
1. Know where you stand. Before you can make changes, you’ve got to know your baseline. Work with your facilities team and vendors that handle your recycling and waste so that you know how efficient (or not) your heating and cooling systems are or how much waste you’re sending to the landfill. Plus, these folks can help put you on the path for making gains. When the Chamber looked at its efficiency before making updates to its building, it had a score of 45. Once improvements were made to the building’s heating and cooling systems, temperature controls and lighting, the building’s efficiency improved to a score of 80.
2. Start simple. Using recycled copy paper; recycling office supplies like batteries, light bulbs and electronics; and taking the stairs instead of the elevator all add up. Once you make those changes, which require little to no money to implement, consider bigger upgrades. Just by switching to more efficient water fixtures means we’re saving 43,000 gallons of water a year. Watch more ways our space has made us greener (and more collaborative, healthy and innovative) in this video:
3. Think about your commute. How you get to work plays an important role in being green. Providing options like flexible schedules and encouraging employees to take public transit, bike, car share or car pool makes an impact—and covering some or all of the cost of commuter pass is a great incentive to employees.
Bonus: Once you’ve started making these changes, tell your team and your customers or stakeholders. It not only creates accountability but pride for your organization.
Get Involved: Tour our building with the U.S. Green Building Council Colorado Metropolitan Branch from noon to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 16, and learn more about the improvements we’ve made to be more green. Click here to sign up.
Sara Crocker is the communications manager for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.
[Photo by Maggie McEntee]