In 2006, we actively began our Resource Management Program with the goal of becoming a premier "green" construction company. In recent months, we have improved our resource management efforts by more than 50 percent and we are committed to these efforts as an integral and ongoing part of our future. Currently, more than 90% of our projects incorporate one or more aspects of our Resource Management Program.
As opposed to the typical "construction by destruction" methodology, our philosophy is to continually seek new ways for removing and disposing material; reusing existing material in lieu of new natural (hard rock) or manufactured material (asphalt or concrete) and managing site resources (avoiding the excessive use of trucks and roads). In addition, our on-site construction efforts focus on a "green" approach. We practice extreme care on our sites by not introducing silt into existing streams; properly managing any water resources we find on-site and carefully managing and protecting any other existing natural resources.
The preparation of many construction sites within the Sonoma, Napa, Northern Marin and Solano county areas often involves extensive removal of trees. Rather than just cutting down and hauling these trees away or burning them, we maintain equipment that enables us to grind up the trees on site. The resulting material can then be used on site as ground cover and/or landscape material or hauled offsite and be utilized as biofuel.
A major concern for North Bay construction projects is the limited availability of virgin hard rock material. We are highly aware of this concern and we proactively address it through our on-site use of existing asphalt and concrete. Old concrete and asphalt existing on site does not need to be removed and disposed. Instead, we grind up this material and then use it as a sub-grade material in lieu of virgin rock or new asphalt or concrete. This equates to considerable environmental savings in terms of reducing the amount of material that is hauled into and out of a site; limiting the use of equipment required for this effort; decreasing the amount of traffic going into and out of a site and reducing the environment pressure on non-renewable natural resources. In addition, through these efforts, our clients receive a cost savings for new site construction. With material reuse, money is saved in terms of material removal, hauling and dump fees. And, the reuse of old material for new construction efforts results in cost savings of new resourcesnew rock, asphalt or concrete.
There are increasingly stricter guidelines regarding fuel usage and heavy equipment power plants. Our focus is to not only meet but be ahead of meeting these mandates. To that end, we are constantly upgrading our equipment fleet to meet the different tiers of air quality standards. This involves the use of newer engines as well as other technologies that are more fuel efficient and also have fewer emissions and replacing traditional gas-powered vehicles with hybrid vehicles. We are also exploring the use of alternate fuel sources and will continue our efforts in this area as more resources become available.