Pennsylvania Environmental Council’s “Go Green” Program Includes 32 Companies

Rohm and Haas President and Chief Operating Officer Pierre Brondeau told a gathering of 32 company representatives, including Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, that “the challenge for business is to make sustainability part of its strategic design, not as an add-on, in order to make a greener Philadelphia, a greener Pennsylvania and indeed a greener America and world.” The event served as the kickoff of the Greater Philadelphia Green Business Commitment Program held at Rohm and Haas’ corporate headquarters in Philadelphia today.

The Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC) in partnership with the PENJERDEL Council is launching a new initiative aimed at committing area businesses to making their buildings and offices “greener” and more sustainable by reducing energy, water and waste, minimizing environmental impacts, and reducing their carbon footprint. All signers of the commitment are required to meet seven Mandatory Measures and at least 20 additional Elective Measures within six months of signing and to be renewed every 12 months. These include a checklist of more than 140 guidelines designed to make buildings and offices more sustainable by adopting recycling, more efficient lighting, tankless hot water, buying low or no-VOC paints, encouraging mass transit or employee car pooling, conserving water by plantings, and other sustainable practices. Companies can qualify as Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum based on the percentage of measures they adopt.

Rohm and Haas Corporate Sustainability Director Dr. Catherine Hunt called the program “a necessary and important step in promoting sustainability among Philadelphia businesses in support of the Mayor’s sustainability program and PEC’s desire to encourage its members to evaluate and modify their business practices and behaviors.” Rohm and Haas Facility Manager Lou Velez, P.E., who has reviewed the checklist, said he expects the company would achieve Silver status and would be working toward Gold. Five years ago Velez retrofitted the 400,000-foot office building with low-mercury content fluorescent lights, installing electronic ballasts that improved light quality, extended lamp life, and reduced energy usage by 1.3 million kilowatt-hours, saving $110,000 a year. In addition, Velez said that although the EPA allows newer low-mercury lamps to be disposed as non-toxic waste, Rohm and Haas has taken the additional step of recycling spent lamps so that none go to landfills.