GREENING

Welcome to Whiterock's blog on sustainability!

With this interactive site we hope to start a meaningful dialogue on greening and sustainability initiatives. We will be sharing our sustainability stories and look forward to hearing about yours.

 On The Move: Projects at Whiterock 

As a result of Whiterock's ongoing commitment to the environment we have completed our HVAC and lighting scheduling optimizations, several high efficiency boiler and chiller plant retrofits and several parking lighting retrofit projects within our GTA portfolio. These projects have resulted in a projected reduction of 4.1 million kilowatts hours, reduced our carbon impact by 1,284 tons and has saved 4,102 trees. The better news is that we are just getting started!

The next series of projects will include some office tower lighting retrofits and the establishment of a standardized electronics recycling program for the GTA area. These projects will be commencing shortly with an anticipated completion date of mid to late November. More details to come...

Sustainability: What Is It? 

In preparation of this interactive webpage I’ve spent a great deal of time reviewing sustainability and the current trends in the commercial real estate market.  This had led to several interesting questions:

• Is sustainability an effective marketing tool in which we examine our historic environmental performance offset by the gains and benefits of our actions today? If so, how can we better utilize this marketing concept to further advance the frontiers of greening?
• Are we greening today because of the added cost benefits that improve our bottom line or are we starting to realize that we need to make change if we have any hope of sustaining the human race on this planet?
• Does governmental funding drive the greening process or is it the result of enlightened thinking and maturing technology?

From my view point sustainability and greening is about the journey and not the destination. I'm elated to see that the journey has commenced and we are moving forward in a positive direction.

Is there anything else we can collectively do to accelerate the greening process?

Thoughts For Discussion 

I believe it is possible to produce an office environment acceptable to our client needs that does not utilize the current drop ceiling infrastructure that is so common place today in commercial real estate industry. Can a loft type concept save our tenants money on build out costs and provide the important added benefit of reducing the consumption of non-renewable resources?  Can single stream waste collection and recycling increase our current levels of divergence because of the added ease and convenience?  I think we can all agree that mulch in the gardens is a great natural way to control weeds, reduce labor and watering costs. Does the addition of coloring make the product more effective by appealing to a broader consumer base?

Commercial real estate consumes 75% of the total electrical consumption, generates 60% of the total solid waste produced and absorbs 35% of our lives from a time utilization stand point.  

I look forward to hearing your response or additions for future thoughts for discussion.  Our goal is to assist in expanding the knowledge base of the commercial real estate market so that we can collectively adapt to an ever changing world for the betterment of our physical environment and ultimately the benefit of ourselves.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact Mike Ytsma at sustainability@whiterockreit.ca.