Rohm and Haas Hosts Greater Philadelphia Green Business Program
24 Marzo 2009 - 11:45AM
Business Wire
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. Rohm and Haas put in place a recycling program in 1994
that served as one of the models for the City of Philadelphia�s
recycling efforts.
The headquarters building uses some of Rohm and Haas� own
environmentally-advanced products to become more sustainable,
including Cool Roof, a white, acrylic-based reflective coating that
reduces the amount of heat absorbed by asphalt roofs during the
summer months. The same elastomeric coating was used in a community
outreach program in Bridesburg, where the company�s Philadelphia
plant is located, in cooperation with the Energy Coordinating
Agency of Philadelphia. Velez thinks the savings are appreciable,
but to quantify exactly what they may be involves a number of
changeable variables from one year to the next, such as how hot the
summer is or the number of 90-plus degree days and other factors.
(EPA Energy Star Cool Roof calculators are available for such
estimates at:
http://www.roofcalc.com/RoofCalcBuildingInput.aspx).
Rohm and Haas is also a pioneer in low-VOC acrylic emulsions,
low-VOC adhesives, formaldehyde-free building insulation and
tin-free marine paint, all considered environmentally advanced. The
Company won The Natural Step�s sustainability award for its work in
applying sustainability principles to its PVC supply chain. The
Natural Step is a global non-profit research, education and
advisory organization, founded in Sweden by Dr. Karl-Henrik Robert
in 1987 to help advance sustainability goals. More information on
Rohm and Haas sustainability is available at:
go.rohmhaas.com/sustainability.
The company has also provided a major gift to the University of
Pennsylvania to create a concentration in sustainable development.
It is the first-ever gift from a corporate sponsor to an academic
institution to create a program for working professionals focused
on the study and implementation of sustainability principles across
an organization. The gift will provide funding for three years of
course development and marketing that will create a concentration
within the Master of Philosophy and Master of Science in
Organizational Dynamics degree programs as well as a
sustainable-development graduate certificate program. Details of
the Penn/Rohm and Haas sustainability partnership can be found at:
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/home/news/rohm_haas.html.
More information on the Greater Philadelphia Business �Go Green�
program, including a carbon footprint calculator, is available at:
www.phillygreenbiz.com.
About Rohm and Haas Company
Leading the way since 1909, Rohm and Haas (NYSE:ROH) is a global
pioneer in the creation and development of innovative technologies
and solutions for the specialty materials industry. The company�s
technologies are found in a wide range of industries including:
Building and Construction, Electronics and Electronic Devices,
Household Goods and Personal Care, Packaging and Paper,
Transportation, Pharmaceutical and Medical, Water, Food and Food
Related, and Industrial Process. Innovative Rohm and Haas
technologies and solutions help to improve life every day, around
the world. Based in Philadelphia, Pa., the company generated annual
sales of approximately $9.6 billion in 2008. Visit www.rohmhaas.com
for more information. Imagine the possibilities�
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