County gives green certification to 5 businesses

By COLBY FRAZIER — Nov. 11, 2009

Santa Barbara County’s Green Business Program yesterday added five new businesses to its slate of environmentally friendly companies, bringing the total number of participating businesses to 12.

The new additions include Blackbird Architects, Santa Ynez Chumash Tribal Government Building, Santa Ynez Valley Marriott Hotel, Shoreline Café and Van Atta Landscape Design.

“These enterprises are excellent examples of how to run successful, sustainable businesses while also focusing on a sustainable environment,” said Frances Gilliland, director of the Green Business Program.

In order to become a certified green business, business owners must implement a number of sustainable practices, which are monitored by program officials.

At Blackbird Architects, employees recycle 75 percent of office waste, participate in a rideshare program and run errands on a company bike. The company also accommodates flexible schedules and telecommuting.

Along with planting drought-tolerant, native plants and providing employee courses on water conservation, the Chumash Tribal Government Building will soon install solar panels and a rainwater harvesting system for landscaping needs. The building also features low-flow water fixtures and employees are rewarded for riding the bus or biking to work.

The Santa Ynez Valley Marriott Hotel, in Buellton, is the first hotel to receive the county’s green stamp of approval.

According to a county statement announcing the certifications, chief among the hotel’s environmental improvements have been in the areas of energy efficiency and water conservation. The hotel upgraded lighting throughout the hotel and installed controls on vending and ice machines to reduce energy use.

Around the hotel’s exterior, native plants were installed. Soap dispensers and bulk soap is now the norm in every guest room — a change that greatly reduces plastic bottle waste. Employees who participate in a ride-share program are entered into a raffle.

The Shoreline Café has sought new ways to improve efficiency for years. The statement said the restaurant participates in the city of Santa Barbara’s Clean Creeks program and Steve Marsh, the restaurant’s owner, long ago devised a system to prevent wash water from floor mat cleanings from ending up in storm drains.

The restaurant also participates in the city’s food scrap collection program, and purchases compostable and recyclable products for the kitchen and for take-out containers. The restaurant has set a goal to divert 90 percent of its waste from the trashcan, and bikes were purchased for employees who commute to work.

Van Atta Associates, a landscape and architecture firm, has made a point of planting native plants that conserve water. The company shares a building with Blackbird Architects, which designed the space in 1996.

The roof is made from recycled glass and is designed as a graphic representation of a watershed. Roof water is taken down a spout to a runnel and is recirculated through a fountain stocked with fish and plants, which serve as a biological filter for the runoff.

Parking surfaces are permeable and planted to reduce storm water runoff. Citrus tees are planted throughout the courtyard and arbors block the south-facing windows from fierce summer sunlight, while allowing the winter sun to warm the building, the statement said.

More information about the county’s Green Business Program is available at www.greenbizsbc.org.

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Know what? : 11/12/2009

Give it all up - the planet will never be able to sustain the rate of population growth, especially in the third world where nobody cares about being green they only care about food on the table. Lets stop making America pay the price for all of this green madness, when nobody else gives a rat's a.. and there is insignificant impact. (The planet has been cooling on its own accord with no reduction in carbon since 1998). Environmentalists have successfully shipped out all of our manufacturing, almost all of our oil production all of our pollution and all of our economy to China and the like, while we pay the economic price tag and sacrifice the benefits. Do you think they care about the environment? Net gain to the planet zero, we just relocated the problem. And to please you, Obama wants more with cap and trade etc.

Realist

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