CS_Environment
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Our Commitment is not only to create products that will contribute to lowering the environmental impact of the buildings they become part of, but also to conduct business in a manner that endeavors to have no negative impact on our environment. We will strive to get closer to these goals every day. Our strategy consists of four fundamental parts. We will: Coexist with the world around us by fostering nature at all of our locations to keep the fragile ecosystems we function in balanced and healthy for our stakeholders and all living things in the communities we are a part of. We are...

Leaving only our footprints Anyone who enjoys being out in nature has probably heard the hiker’s adage, “leave only your footprints.” We embrace that same idea at C/S and apply it to our business. As the size and scope of our business grows, we endeavor to lower, not raise, the impact we have on the world around us. For our two newest plants, we renovated older facilities that had fallen into disrepair. We invested in turning them into state-of-theart facilities, rather than green fielding new facilities.

—Margaret Mead C O E X I S T W I T H T H E W O R L D A R O U N D U S “We won’t have a society if we destroy the environment.” In his first speech to Congress, Roosevelt reversed the historic notion that the nation’s resources should be exploited in the name of progress and nation building. “We are prone to think of the resources of our country as inexhaustible, this is not so.” He later proclaimed that “The nation’s resources should be protected for future generations.” —Theodore Roosevelt E C O F A C T Humanity is pumping 15,000,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every day. Global warming...

Munc y Plant Reforestation Project C/S has one of its large manufacturing facilities in rural Muncy, Pennsylvania. In an effort to reduce the impact of this existing facility, the company has embarked on a carbon sequestration program that involves reforesting 17 of the 34 acres of land. The benefits are many. In addition to the plants converting CO2 to ox ygen, it has decreased erosion and safeguarded surface and ground water. A nd, we have created a self-suppor ting wildlife habitat that ’s wonderful for our employees and visitors to enjoy.

M I N I M I Z E O U R I M P A C T O N T H E P L A N E T In whose neighborhood is your waste going to be processed? ack in 1995, when a hazardous incinerator was to be sited near one of our plants, C/S began looking inward and asked, “Where is our waste being processed and should we be doing something differently?” That question has become the cornerstone of C/S’ environmental stewardship. The logical first step in that process was to recycle glass, plastic, paper and the waste from our manufacturing processes. Next, we lessened the amount of waste, by purchasing the exact amount of raw...

Reducing our impact In both our Canadian and Mexican operations, C/S made a significant capital investment to convert the finishing of C/S Louvers, Grilles, Sun Controls, Explovent® and all of our aluminum components from fluorocarbon finishes to powder-coat finishes. Powder coating eliminates not only VOCs, but the hazardous air filters associated with traditional petro-based architectural finishes.

P R O D U C T S & P R O C E S S E S T H A T P R E S E R V E We are profoundly committed to creating products that lower the environmental impact on the buildings of which they become a part. Our Muncy operation is now ISO14001 Certified. Ron Dadd, President and CEO of Construction Specialties, has directed all operations to become ISO14001 Certified by 2014. E C O F A C T The consensus opinion of the world’s experts is that we will run out of oil in the next 35-70 years. At C/S, our goal is to get 50% of our energy from renewable resources by 2012. 8 major part of C/S’ environmental journey...

Products that save energy C/S has a long history of creating products that save energy. We pioneered the development of sunshades in the 1950s. Today they not only create a dramatic visual statement and increase occupant comfort, but also save millions of kilowatt hours across the globe. Our leading edge louvers allow maximum airflow with virtually no risk of water penetration. That optimizes the functionality of many major buildings’ HVAC systems creating huge energy savings.

P A R T N E R I N G W I T H O T H E R L E A D E R S T ogether with others dedicated to the same goals, we can accomplish so much more. Sidwell Friends School is one of Washington, DC’s finest prep schools. It is also one of the nation’s most environmentally-friendly schools. The design for their new middle school uses daylight to minimize energy use. According to Michael Saxenian, Assistant Head of the School and Chief Financial Officer, “C/S Sun Controls and Lightshelves helped us reduce our projected energy consumption by 60%.” The project achieved LEED® Platinum certification....

The Department of Energy’s 2009 Sustainable Design Competition included 20 university teams from around the world. For the competition, C/S worked closely with the Penn State University team and supplied them with solar-tracking, photovoltaic sunshades for their Natural Fusion house. Mounted on the southern façade of the house, the sunshades were programmed to track the sun from east to west, to minimize solar heat gain and to maximize the sun’s exposure to the PV cells.

C / S P R O D U C T E N V I R O N M E N T A L S P E C I F I C A T I O N S LEED® Credit Contributions MR Credit 4, Recycled content: C/S sources materials with the highest possible recycled content for all interior wall protection products. Contact us for the most up-to-date recycled content percentages. MR Credit 6, Rapidly Renewable Materials: C/S offers a line of hard-wearing bamboo wall protection products. MR Credit 7, FSC-Certified Wood (SW-COC-000972): FSC-Certified wood can be specified for all wood wall protection products. EQ Credit 4.1, Low-Emitting Materials (Adhesives): Where...