Tyson’s Triple Bottom Line Update

Posted on 10. Aug, 2010 by Kimberly in News

Tyson Foods of Springdale, AR is the second-largest Fortune 500 food production company and represented 20 percent of U.S. chicken production, 22 percent of U.S. beef production, and 18 percent of U.S. pork production in 2009, and recently released their third sustainability report! The Sustainability Report “Rooted in Tradition. Growing Responsibly” focuses on Tyson’s mission to making the company economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable and to be a responsible corporate citizen.

Environmentally Tyson has concentrated on global issues such as water conservation and climate change. Their efforts in these areas have resulted in a reduction of 13.9 percent, from October of 2004 to September of 2009, in the number of gallons of water used per pound of finished product. According to Kevin Igli, Chief Environmental, Health, and Safety Officer, “at the end of 2010, we will evaluate water usage and conservation progress against the 10 percent reduction goal set in 2008. Based upon the results, a new goal will be developed.” A few of Tyson’s climate change efforts focus on reducing Green House Gas emissions, completing and publicly disclosing their comprehensive carbon footprint inventory for domestic operations, and preparing for the EPA’s mandatory GHG reporting rule due in 2011.

To aid in developing their 2009 sustainability report Tyson utilized the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) G3 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, as they did with their two previously released sustainability reports. In addition to the formerly mention water conservation efforts, some of the latest sustainability goals set by Tyson are to: produce up to 75 million gallons of bio-fuel annually within the next four years, continue in donating millions of pound of protein to Feeding America annually, and to encourage the use of non-food sources for renewable energy.

It is great to see such a large Fortune 500 company, located here in NWA, aligning their mission statement and values so closely with their sustainability goals. Igli stated that the “company’s core values are the framework of our sustainability practices, which are focused on people, planet, and profit. In other words, sustainability at Tyson Foods is about doing the right thing in all aspects of our business.” Keep up the great work Tyson!

Kimberly Kreth

LEEDing the Way to the Future of Green Building

Posted on 30. Jul, 2010 by Kimberly in News

With all the “LEEDigation” attention from the first ever LEED challenge at Northland Pines High School, heated discussions and sharing of opinions from anyone and everyone are hard to miss and have led Rob Watson, the executive editor of greenbuildings.com, to join in and share his view on “What LEED is All About”. In his article he shares opinions on whether decertification of a LEED buildings is necessary, and what to do with a LEED building that is subpar to meeting the certification criteria for LEED.

Watson begins by explaining LEED is not a set in stone law or regulation, but a framework to provide guidance in achieving third-party verification as a green building with improved environmental performance across six categories.  He believes the $76 million in Recovery Act funds awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy “will help us improve our degree of precision regarding green buildings.” Hopefully this improved “precision” in green building will help prevent future LEED challenges from arising.

Speaking of LEED challenges, in the spirit of sharing his opinion, as everyone else has, on the Northland Pines challenge Watson states “if the Northland Pines folks were smart, they’d put the whole thing to rest by recertifying the building to EBOM.” Now this could be one solution to the problem, but it seems you have to consider the costs of legal fees and additional hours the project team has already spent defending their project and the added costs it would take to certify the project in LEED-EBOM. With the USGBC standing behind its’ LEED certification of Northland Pines, it will be interesting to see if future challenges arise with this project and what decisions  and solutions USGBC, GBCI, and the project team will determine.

When it comes to decertification of a LEED building and dealing with a LEED building that is subpar to meeting LEED certification, Watson places emphasis on the LEED-EBOM certification as the answer to both giving subpar LEED buildings a “second chance” and as being a tool in determining decertification of an existing LEED certified building. He suggests as part of their “second chance”, subpar buildings be given a determined timeframe in which to achieve LEED-EBOM certification. In already existing LEED certified buildings Watson firmly states “If a LEED building doesn’t recertify under LEED-EBOM after 5 years, I think the certification should be pulled.” Both of these suggestions could be considered valid solutions to achieving and maintaining LEED certification.

Watson wraps up by summarizing some of the current and future green building projects and initiatives that are underway. These future initiatives range from NCAA sports programs adopting green plans and programs, the EPA’s Greening America’s Capitals program, to the FTC’s new lighting facts label. There are many different directions and a broad range of opportunity in the future of green building making this is an exciting and promising time for each of us involved in green building and sustainable practices.

Kimberly

University of Arkansas Included in the Princeton Review and USGBC 286 Green Colleges Listing

Posted on 04. May, 2010 by Kimberly in News

The Princeton Review recently partnered with USGBC to create the first comprehensive guide exclusively concentrated on the sustainability efforts made by colleges and universities across the United States.  “The Princeton Review’s Guide to 286 Green Colleges” is a free guidebook listing 286 colleges that have proven an exceptional commitment to sustainability. This guidebook provides information about each university’s on campus transportation alternatives, Green majors, Green job preparation and placement, and campus activities pertaining to the environment and sustainability.

As a University of Arkansas alumnus, I am happy to announce that the U of A was included as one of the “Green colleges” and we have quite a bit to be proud of!  The University of Arkansas has not only committed to become a zero solid waste establishment, but has also made a public pledge to develop into a carbon neutral institution. In addition, they have just recently concluded a baseline greenhouse gas inventory that will be shared publicly on the University of Arkansas website.  The U of A also has seven buildings on campus that are built to meet the university’s green building policy and the U of A Enterprise Center is on target for LEED certification.

The University of Arkansas has its own formal Sustainability Council as well as a “Students for Environmental Sustainability” group that hosted the University’s Earth Day Celebration and Mullins Creek Cleanup.  One of the U of A’s most notable “Green Highlights” is that they provide 45 sustainability related research programs offered to students and have extensive partnerships with Tropicana, Frito-Lay, and PEPSICO that provide funding to support sustainable products research.

“The Princeton Review’s Guide to 286 Green Colleges” is not meant to rate or rank colleges against each other, but rather to highlight the main sustainability practices and green efforts made by each of these universities committed to incorporating sustainability principles into higher education. This is a great guidebook for families of perspective college students and gives us University of Arkansas alumni another reason to be proud of our Alma Mater!

Planet Reuse: Helping you find your “perfect match” and achieve LEED standards

Posted on 14. Apr, 2010 by Kimberly in News

Planet Reuse is a great online source to pair you with your perfect match of reclaimed materials when you need them. WalletPop recently interviewed the entrepreneurial team that founded this Kansas City, Missouri based company and compared their concept of scavenging recycled materials for green residential and commercial building to that of the popular dating sites match.com and eHarmony. Nathan Benjamin and Tim Bensman, the co-founders, will coordinate all the tedious time consuming details in order for you to smoothly find your needed reclaimed materials and incorporate them into your green building plans.

In their interview with WalletPop, Benjamin stated that “only 6% to 8% of LEED projects in the world have achieved their reused materials credits.”  He also noted that this element of the LEED rating system is often neglected due to all the hang-ups that are encountered when trying to source reclaimed materials. But now, thanks to Planet Reuse, you can be easily navigated through each step of the process in matching reclaimed building materials to your specific needs.

Planet Reuse focuses on reducing landfill waste, saving you time and money on your building projects, and ultimately making the planet a better place. Visit http://www.planetreuse.com/ to see recently listed and recently requested materials in your area!

Kimberly Kreth