Local businesses and residents move closer to a more sustainable environment
By Lynn Wolstenholme
The focus on helping the environment and sustaining global energy sources has moved into the mainstream, with many local businesses and residents jumping on board.
Through global, national, regional and local approaches, Loudoun businessmen and women are trying to do their part by living and working in a sustainable environment, whether it be through building with green materials, reusing products or simply making those around them aware of the effects of processes that are harming the world in which we live.
With Earth Day just around the corner, April 22, we took a look at what some Loudouners are doing to help the environment.
Saving energy
Ashburn resident Fred Maiden, along with five other volunteers, started Stop the Flares in January to bring awareness to the environmental impact of methane, or natural gas, emissions that are released into the atmosphere when oil reserves are drilled – a practice called flaring.
“When carbon monoxide is released into the atmosphere [through flaring], it releases a pollutant and chemical properties that cause acid rain,” Maiden said. “If used properly, [carbon monoxide] could be good because it doesn't cause as many pollutants.”
Maiden said the energy industry allows for flaring mainly because it is more cost-effective to release the methane than to try and save it.
“There is the separate oil and natural gas [in the drilling well] and the oil is in liquid form,” Maiden said. “The problem is the state the gas is in.”
Across the globe, “everyone is flaring,” Maiden said, but the mechanism to move the methane in the gaseous state is extremely expensive.
“If we can change the process, we can increase the value, and [the flaring] would naturally stop on its own because of the economic solution,” he added.
Maiden said there is a potential loss of 60.5 billion gallons of gasoline -- based on estimates from a World Bank study that state 150 billion cubic meters of methane are burned off every year by flaring.
“That would power 35 percent of all cars in the U.S. for one year,” Maiden added.
His nonprofit organization, Stop the Flares, was set up to find ways to prevent this loss of an energy source.
“Our mission is a three-step mission,” Maiden said. “First, we want to bring awareness to the problem. Second, we want to provide a vehicle for research. And third, we want to implement that research and stop the flaring by 2020.”
“We are not just talking,” Maiden added. “We are seeking a real solution to a real problem happening every day.”
Another business in the field of saving energy is CarbonFree Technology in Leesburg.
“Virginia is a terrible place for renewable energy,” said John Koontz, regional manager for the Toronto-based CarbonFree Technology organization, which has an office in Leesburg.
“Virginia doesn't provide incentives to support burgeoning energy because it is heavily reliant on coal,” he explained.
Koontz, who lives in Leesburg, decided to get into renewable energy a couple of years ago and joined up with CarbonFree Technology, an organization that assists businesses and large institutions to develop solar-powered solutions for energy needs.
“Renewable energy is more expensive than the traditional coal and nuclear,” Koontz said, “unless you factor in the effect on the environment.”
Koontz said that while some may look at him and those in his field as tree-huggers, the reality is that moving toward renewable energy is actually more economical.
Koontz explained that CarbonFree mainly focuses on large corporations, people with land and basically “anyone with a roof” to move them toward using solar energy because in the long run, the cost of the solar energy will balance out economically.
Currently, the federal government offers a 30 percent tax credit for investments in solar energy, and some states offer additional incentives. Unfortunately, the Virginia is not one of them.
“Virginia hasn't caught on yet,” Koontz said. “We are the last in the country for energy sustainability.”
But he added that states surrounding Virginia, such as Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey and the District of Columbia, are hot pockets for solar energy use, which is why Koontz is based in the central location of Leesburg.
Building green
The concept of building green is moving into the forefront with builders using green practices when it comes to construction.
“Loudoun County is a progressive county that attracts progressive people,” said Mike Rafferty, one of the four founding partners of High Ridge Custom Homes.
High Ridge Custom Homes is a new home builder in Loudoun with an emphasis on green building. It has teamed up with the U.S. Green Builders Council, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and Energy Star -- federally funded organizations with guidelines on green residential construction -- to meet the growing demand for green homes.
Its first, and current project, is Aldie Hunt, a 10-lot subdivision just off U.S. 15. Lots are three to six wooded acres and starting at a selling point of $265,000.
Rafferty, along with Jay Swigart, Tom Swigart and Tracy Shivley, chose to open in a dicey real estate market because “we are differentiating ourselves from competitors,” said Rafferty. Rafferty asserted that as green building goes mainstream, homes not built green will become obsolete.
“There is more value in green building because it costs less to operate,” he said. “Building a green house offers a significant energy reduction.”
High Ridge's green efforts focus on five areas: energy conservation, resource management, site, water conservation and indoor air quality.
The High Ridge Custom Homes model at Aldie Ridge is scheduled to open next week, in correlation with Earth Day, on April 22.
While builders are constructing homes in the green fashion, Atapco Properties (in joint venture with EQUINOX Investments LLC) is working on building Loudoun's first shopping center certified by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design at the upcoming East Gate Marketplace, to be built at the intersection of Tall Cedars Parkway and U.S. 50.
This 194,000-square-foot shopping center will open in fall 2009, and with the sustainable design elements, tenants can anticipate energy savings of at least 17 percent for retail spaces and at least 15 percent for office spaces.
“We think this it the right thing to do,” said Pat Coggins, vice president of development at Atapco.
“If [a company] does not build a green building today, it will be a Class B building in a few years,” Coggins said.
Conserving wherever possible
While some businesses focus on saving energy and building green, other businesses are doing their part to help save the environment by conserving wherever possible.
Doug Fabbioli of Fabbioli Cellars in Lucketts has launched a new program for customers where they can return Raspberry Merlot bottles for a $1 refund, and Fabbioli can reuse the bottles.
“When I was designing the package I thought, 'Hey, I can use this again,'” Fabbioli said. “I think we can all be a little smarter about what we are doing, and that can help the environment.”
Fabbioli said his winery maintains many other sustainable practices as well.
For instance, he uses an energy-saving geothermal climate control system at the winery and natural compost as fertilizer from his neighbors horses. He also uses sustainable farming practices and doesn't automatically spray anything, only doing so if there is no other option.
“I think about the business practice to help the environment, but I also have to keep the business,” Fabbioli said.
He states on his Web site, www.fabbioliwines.com, that the greater mission is focusing on the three E's: environment, education and economics.
Another local business working toward helping the environment is Lansdowne Resort, which was recently awarded the Virginia Green Lodging Certificate of Environmental Commitment by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
The resort practices conservation through optional linen service for guests; use of eco-friendly laundry chemicals and cleaners; recycling of all paper, cardboard, cooking oil, cans and glasses; use of compact fluorescent lights; as well as holding energy conservation and green conferences.
“We are proud to be a part of Virginia's green initiative as we strive to always be positive corporate citizens and a responsible neighbor to our community,” said Tom Manno, general manager at Lansdowne Resort. “This includes doing our part to conserve our region's natural resources.”
Contact the reporter at lwolstenholme@timespapers.com