The latest environmental initiative at California vintner Jackson Family Wines since launching its formal sustainability program in 2008 is to reduce its carbon footprint at its distribution operations, reports DC Velocity. Previous initiatives included water conservation, soil erosion controls, and eliminating herbicides and insecticides.
In addition, a lighting retrofit at its 11.5 acre Kittyhawk location, a central production and storage facility, last year will save the vineyard $100,000 annually in electricity costs.
The winemaker’s new 650,000-square-foot building (15 acres under one roof) at a 30-acre site in American Canyon, Calif., incorporates several energy-saving features including a highly reflective white membrane roof to reduce heat absorption, motion detectors to shut off lights in unoccupied areas, and T8 efficient fluorescent lighting, according to the article. The building’s roof is also designed to accept a solar array.
The company has received a $200,000 rebate from the local utility company, Pacific Gas and Electric, for those energy-saving features, which will also help the distribution center use 61 percent less energy than a U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-defined baseline model, reports DC Velocity.
The building will also use 40 percent less water than the baseline model and includes 50 percent more open space. The water treatment system uses ultraviolet light and electrical impulses, instead of chemicals, to eliminate bacterial and fungal growth.
During construction, the project used local vendors to minimize transportation-related carbon emission, limited the use of volatile organic compounds, and focused on the ventilation systems to maintain good indoor air quality, according to the article.
The builder also had to make a special effort to reduce construction waste in order to meet LEED requirements. Eighty-three percent of the project’s waste stream was recycled.
Jackson Family Wines expects the new building will earn at least a silver, and maybe gold, certification when USGBC completes the evaluation process, reports DC Velocity.