Getting Greener in the Workplace: One Year Later

Last year, Freese and Nichols’ in-house sustainability initiative aimed to reduce paper consumption through double-sided printing, electronic PDF files, black and white defaults on copiers, and “bring your own handouts” for meetings.

As a result of instituting these practices in October 2010, we’ve reduced our paper consumption from copiers by 32 percent. This equates to 134 pieces of paper per month per employee or approximately 94 trees per year. In addition, we switched to recycled paper that contains 30 percent recycled content.

Further, our Accounting Group uses electronic routing for invoices. Use of electronic files for contracts and billing has reduced the number of hardcopy contracts by one-half and hardcopy client invoices by more than one-third. Our Construction Services Group uses electronic bidding saving time and money for our company, clients and contractors.

Freese and Nichols’ sustainability practices also extend to our projects. As part of our program management of DFW Airport’s $2-billion Terminal Renewal Improvement Program, we implemented an electronic plan review process that has reduced printing requirements by over 90 percent. We also utilize electronic practices during the construction process via use of iPads to access and update electronic data in the field.

We believe the changes we make today will impact future generations, and we will continue on our journey to become more sustainable in the workplace.

Aiming for 100 Percent Water Reclamation

The Colorado River Municipal Water District (CRMWD) will launch its first water reclamation plant in 2012 with the goal to “reclaim 100 percent of the water, 100 percent of the time.” Freese and Nichols is lead consultant on this $13.6 million project that includes design and construction of the plant and transmission facilities.

Challenged by lower water supply and extended periods of low rainfall, the Permian Basin of West Texas has faced a long-term drought since 1996. CRMWD has practiced water reuse for three decades and is increasing its reclamation practices through new concepts on this project.

The water reclamation program is the first of its kind in North America and includes: intercepting up to 2.5 million gallons per day of filtered secondary effluent, transferring effluent to an adjacent treatment site, and using membrane filtration, reverse osmosis and advanced oxidation to treat water prior to blending with raw surface water.

• Three separate water reclamation projects, the first to go live in 2012, will yield a potential net average of 13 million gallons of water per day. Reclaimed water from this project will provide up to 15 percent of blended raw water in pipelines and will be distributed to a service area population of approximately 350,000 throughout cities such as Big Spring, Snyder, Odessa and Midland.

 

Envisioning the Future of Sustainability

Conservation of resources is a priority at Freese and Nichols, and we support the development and implementation of sustainable practices to enhance our environmental commitment on projects. We implemented the U.S. Green Building Council’s guidelines for facility design and construction standards, and our staff includes 19 LEED®-accredited professionals and three LEED_® Green Associates. Today’s sustainability practices are expanding to include sustainable land design through the SITES^TM Initiative and sustainable civil engineering projects as part of the Envision^TM Program.

The American Society of Civil Engineers, American Public Works Association and American Council of Engineering Companies have joined forces to develop a rating system named Envision^TM for civil infrastructure projects. The Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) is the organization that will implement and oversee Envision^TM. Applicable to a wide range of civil engineering projects, the program extends sustainability to the vast engineering fields in which we work on a daily basis – water/wastewater systems, roadways, and dams and levees, to name a few.

As we work toward continued project sustainability for our clients, we find this program a valuable asset to the engineering field. Freese and Nichols is an active participant in Envision^TM as a charter member of ISI with five employees providing leadership and feedback on the Board of Directors Advisory Council.