Designtex has cemented its commitment to operate as a carbon-neutral company, announcing that it has reduced the greenhouse gas footprint of its operations to net zero.
"I am pleased to say that we have reduced or offset 100% of the CO2 emissions from all of our facilities. In addition, we are offsetting all of Designtex's business travel, employee commuting, and all product shipments into and out of our warehouse," said Tom Hamilton, President and CEO of Designtex.
In 2009, Designtex enlisted Vermont-based NativeEnergy, a recognized leader in carbon reduction and offset services, to assess its footprint and offer guidance in making onsite reductions and providing verified offsets. NativeEnergy helps finance the construction of high quality Native American, family farm, and community-based renewable energy and carbon reduction projects.
The company’s Environmental Strategy department has spent the intervening years implementing internal waste reduction and energy efficiency measures, while researching and analyzing its carbon footprint and potential carbon offset partners.
Designtex’s 2010 footprint of 3336 tons of CO2 will be directly reduced by an onsite LED lighting retrofit at its headquarters, which will save 71% of the energy used by traditional lighting. Besides their energy efficiency, LEDs last up to 80,000 hours and have higher luminous efficiency. The company's 2010 footprint has been further balanced with Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) and two carbon offset projects. The RECs, which offset 1,533,000 kWh of energy, are from US-based wind power and are Green-e certified.
The first offset project, the Clinton County Landfill Gas-to-Energy plant in Morrisonville, NY, captures the potent greenhouse gas methane from the landfill and converts it to clean power. The second offset project consists of a 10-turbine wind farm that was built in Greensburg, Kansas, a town devastated by one of the worst tornadoes in US history in 2007.
The citizens of Greensburg decided to rebuild as the “greenest town in America.” Designtex and other Native Energy customers helped finance the Greensburg Wind Farm, which generates enough energy to power the town, and bring additional renewable energy to the grid.
