BRATTLEBORO — Brattleboro Climate Protection and the Brattleboro Energy Committee have announced the three recipients of the 2010 Sustainable Business Awards - New Chapter, Inc., The Putney School, and Brattleboro Memorial Hospital.
These awards are given annually to Brattleboro-area businesses and nonprofits that are making extraordinary efforts to reduce energy and water use, lower carbon emissions, use renewable fuels, reduce solid waste, promote local food production, and use recycled materials and other environmentally-friendly products.
The awards will be presented on Tuesday, Oct. 19, at the Brattleboro Selectboard meeting, beginning at 6:15 p.m. in the Municipal Center, 230 Main St.
New Chapter, Inc. is a food supplement manufacturer based in Brattleboro. The company composts, recycles, or reuses 90 percent or more of the waste it produces, has made its headquarters building energy efficient, and uses environmentally-friendly office supplies.
New Chapter works with its supplier partners to uphold a socially responsible and environmentally conscious supply chain. The company has purchased and is reforesting a tract of land connecting two areas of rainforest in Costa Rica, and has created a worldwide network of garden sanctuaries preserving biodiversity and plant knowledge. The company partners with a local organic farm that visits weekly in the summer to sell produce to its employees.
The Putney School, an independent, coeducational boarding and day high school founded in 1935, has two grid-connected windmills on campus, and in 2009, it opened a new, environmentally sustainable field house. The facility is the largest “net-zero” secondary school building in the United States, generating as much energy as it consumes over the course of a year.
The 15,000 square foot structure houses a basketball court, weight room, yoga studio, ski waxing room, equipment storage, locker rooms and a social space designed and finished by the school's current students. The building features a state-of-the-art heat pump powered by sun-tracking solar cells, solar water heater, super insulation, and automatic light controls. It includes composting toilets, rainwater management, and other environmentally friendly construction choices that qualify it for a U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum Rating.
Brattleboro Memorial Hospital's buildings use a highly efficient heating and cooling system, low-flow water fixtures and green cleaning products. The hospital recently installed solar lighting in one of its parking lots, and a permeable concrete sidewalk. It has a recycling program for electronics and other used equipment, and has been a runner-up the last two years in the Way To Go Commuter Challenge, which encourages employees to commute to work by walking, biking, carpooling, and using public transit.
BMH completed a new outpatient building in 2008 that incorporates many green features, including a highly insulated building envelope, energy efficient windows and lighting, dual-flush toilets, daylighting, local materials such as slate flooring and maple wood, and nontoxic paint.
Brattleboro Climate Protection is a nonprofit organization that works closely with the town of Brattleboro to develop effective local solutions to global climate change. The Brattleboro Energy Committee, made up of seven Brattleboro residents, assists Brattleboro residents, businesses and town government in reducing energy consumption and costs through conservation, increased energy efficiency and conversion to renewable energy sources.