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RCMA Green
RCMA is
dedicated to going green in both our designs and our daily activities. Are you doing your part?
Green Design
Practices - What is Sustainability ?
Sustainability can be summarized very generally in the ability to
meet the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their needs. In regards
to human activities especially development, sustainability has been
morphed into a term describing the degree to which we
affect the environment's ability to sustain us. Popular terms such
as Sustainability &
Green are becoming widely known and used in a plethora of
applications ranging from inventive forms of recycling to zero energy
structures that consume no energy in daily operations.
In the civil engineering world sustainability refers to an awareness of
environmental
concerns and the use of land, construction materials and the finished
structures to
minimize negative environmental impacts. We are aware of the factors
that contribute to a rational, responsible, and sustainable development
and diligently incorporate them into our designs.
Municipal Ordinances
Local Municipalities have ordinances
or laws that restrict the development of land to some degree.
These ordinances are becoming ever more stringent in relation to the
removal of natural resources and the replacement and addition of green
cover. We work closely with the municipalities engineers to
create green developments with minimized impact.
County Conservation District
& DEP
The Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP) is constantly revising and changing the requirements
placed on project designs. This process has led to the development
and implementation of Best Management Practices (BMPs), which are
designed to reduce the effect development of land has on storm water.
Sediment laden runoff, increase in volume, increase in flow intensity,
and thermally impacted storm water are some of the major environmental
concerns that BMPs are designed to mitigate. Popular BMP's include
rain gardens, detention basins, constructed wetlands and ponds, porous
pavement, and rain barrels. We also work closely with the
County Conservation District, an extension of DEP's regulatory process, in
facilitating both sustainable and cost effective designs with the use of BMPs on nearly all of its designs.
Green Operating
Practices - Helpful Ideas for Any Office
Recycle E - Waste
E - waste or electronic waste
consists of any electronic hardware that is in the process of disposal.
This includes computers, monitors, copiers, keyboards, etc . . .
If not properly disposed of these items either end up in landfills
contaminating the ground water with the toxic chemicals used to produce
them such as mercury, or they are shipped to developing countries where
they are dismantled in unsafe conditions and scoured for valuable metals
using additional toxic chemicals.
Many organizations such as
www.ezpcrecycling.com
and
www.eleminc.com
have been established in the Philadelphia area to prevent the careless
disposal of perpetually increasing e - waste. RCMA uses EzPc
Recycling to dispose its outdated computer hardware safely. Did we
mention this is a free service? For more information click the link
above.
Recycle Office Waste
The majority of operating waste
generated by RCMA is paper from project plans, reports, and
administrative correspondence, which is currently all recycled. Plastics and glass are also
recycled by the same service.
In addition to recycling virtually all of its office waste RCMA offers
the same recycling service to all of the businesses operating in The
Village at Lederach.
Fluorescent Low
Energy Lighting
RCMA's newly designed office uses
low energy fluorescent lighting, as opposed to energy wasting
incandescent lighting. This practice not only saves energy but
lowers the utility cost.
Car Pool Incentives
RCMA offers car pool incentives to
employees as an effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Conversion to Digital
With email becoming the standard
form of written communication, it is now possible to attach
correspondence without printing a single sheet of paper. RCMA
currently sends, receives, and stores the majority of its files
digitally, and with the help of clients and agencies we correspond with,
we are in the process of making the transition entirely to digital.
Climate Control Flux for
Energy Efficiency
It is nothing new to turn off the
heat or the ac when you are not going to occupy a space for a period of
time, or to keep the temperature a few degrees cooler in the winter and
warmer in the summer to save on utility costs. This practice also
helps the environment by requiring less power from the grid and less
carbon dioxide release
overall. RCMA's climate control system is pre programmed to adjust
the temperature with the cycles of operating hours, and is adjusted each
season for energy efficiency. Even if your climate controls are
not programmable, you can manually adjust the temperature of your
office environment according to office hours and different times of the
year.
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