Start At The Foundation…

In architecture, if a building’s core foundation isn’t stable then everything built upon it is subsequently shaky and subject to collapse. The same is true in business. Four Seasons, “core foundation” is to provide top quality produce and customer service. We have top quality down pat – Four Seasons works with the finest in the industry. Our mission statement “Growing Ideas and Producing Excellence” has provided a culture of continuous improvement and a driver for our sustainable efforts as, we started implementing green initiatives for the very walls of our own facilities.

Reducing and harnessing our energy use has been of high on our list of priorities for some time. Commercial buildings that earn the ENERGY STAR energy label, like Four Seasons’, use an average of thirty-five percent less energy and carbon dioxide than typical buildings. In terms of our facility, we’re running a multitude of sustainability initiatives focusing on energy, water and resource conservation that further ensure our core foundation of providing truly sustainable service.

Our energy initiatives include a range of projects from energy management and lighting retrofits, to power quality and dock door retrofits. Our young energy management project reduced consumption of electricity by more than half a million kW per year by implementing refrigeration-system software. We also installed a power quality system to improve power quality and lower energy costs. Last, Four Seasons’ lighting retrofit project – which replaced metal halide with T8 fluorescent lamps – yields an annual reduction of over 900,000 kWh, provides a 40% increase in lighting levels and has paid for itself in less than two years … a sustainable return on investment.

Most recently, Four Season’s office was retrofitted with an HVAC controls upgrade, making the building “smart” with CO2 sensors and precise control of ventilation for heating and cooling. Natural gas and electricity savings to date have already placed this project on track to match the payback of the lighting retrofit. So I ask this question: what are you doing to increase the sustainability (if not profitability) of your business?