Dishwashers for Machine Shops
Visit any vehicle repair shop and you’ll find solvent-based parts washers. Most ski areas pay through the nose—as much as $600 per barrel—to properly dispose of the solvent, a hazardous waste, from these washers. The more hazardous waste a company creates, the more government regulation and labor expenses (from record keeping and monitoring) are involved. It also leaves businesses open to inspections and fines.
Aspen Skiing Company recently replaced all its solvent washers with water-based models—basically heavy-duty dishwashers. The new machines produce a much smaller amount of hazardous waste and eliminate solvent-disposal costs. And since mechanics can slap greasy parts in the washer and walk away, they’re free to do other work, saving valuable shop time. Aspen calculates return on investment at 65 percent, amounting to a year-and-a-half payback.
Post-Consumerism
Not all environmental actions are as lucrative, so it takes creativity to pull them off. A good example is recycled paper. It’s more expensive, but quality is not sacrificed. Aspen produced a brochure on chlorine-free, 50 percent post-consumer, 100 percent recycled paper printed with vegetable-based ink. There was no difference in quality when it was compared to an older one that was printed on 10 percent recycled paper. Aspen also switched trail maps to the same recycled stock—and no, they weren’t brittle and hard to handle like some designers feared.
Aspen afforded the move by cutting the total print run, cutting down substantially on the number of leftover maps and brochures. Then, instead of printing four different maps, the resort printed one map picturing four mountains. And instead of many brochures, Aspen produced three, shortened them and referenced the area’s Website for further information. The savings brought the printing in under budget. As they say on “The Sopranos,” “Badda Bing!”
A Five-Star Garage
Well-managed businesses like the Little Nell Hotel in Aspen know that a dollar saved is as good as a dollar earned—in fact, it’s better, because savings are pure profit. That’s why this spring, beneath the wine cellar, electricians replaced more than 100 inefficient incandescent light fixtures in the Nell’s Kafkaesque two-level basement garage. Since the lights are on all the time, the savings are astronomical: $10,600 annually from reduced energy and lamp replacement costs (the new fluorescent bulbs use two-thirds less energy and last twice as long) on a $19,000 investment. And the lighting improved significantly, increasing security and reducing the risk of accidents. After a $5,000 grant from a local nonprofit called the Community Office for Resource Efficiency, the project offered a better than 75 percent return on investment. One more important result: The retrofit will prevent the annual emission of 300,000 pounds of electricity-producing pollutants, forever.
Building Smart from the Start
While it’s sometimes easy being green, sometimes it takes a little bit of forethought before spending any money.
The planning stage for building a new structure is a good example. A quick survey of modern construction, architect William McDonough notes, shows that most designers don’t know where the sun is. In new construction, you’ll often notice big windows facing everywhere but south, and other design features—like lighting—don’t remotely consider the sun. That’s unfortunate, because just orienting a building to within 15 degrees of true south and adjusting its shape can cut energy use by more than 30 percent while improving lighting.
Other examples abound. Specifying efficient T-8 fluorescent bulbs instead of inefficient, but commonly-used, T-12s costs less, saves energy and reduces pollution. And ensuring that contractors use low-toxicity paints, glues and sealants is just a question of specification. Using recycled decking material made from plastic bags and wood scraps, like Aspen Skiing Company did at the Sundeck restaurant, is more expensive but lasts longer and you don’t have to treat wood on a regular basis, which means reduced labor and reduced hazardous waste from stains and solvents.
On the broadest scale, an integrated design approach—where architects, engineers, contractors and landscapers regularly meet to talk efficiency and coordinate efforts—can increase building performance enough to allow for downsized mechanical systems, actually saving money right from the start.
Taking a Stand
A business that greens its own operations hasn’t tapped all the opportunities—there’s still the rest of the world! In response to declining fisheries, many resort restaurants have cut swordfish from the menu. A political statement doesn’t cost anything, yet builds support for laws, earns good marks with guests and lends credibility to the efforts of nonprofit groups. In August of 2000, thanks in part to lobbying by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the U.S. seasonally closed 132,670 square miles of ocean to long-line fishermen. The action should cut juvenile swordfish death to between 31 and 42 percent annually.
It is easy to see how a business can be green at a profit without significantly changing the way it operates. None of the above actions will occur, however, without a company mandate to do the right thing. And doing the right thing at ski areas, which depend on the natural world for their success, can benefit everyone involved.
