Granite Source, Inc., a leading countertop and tile company in Northern Virginia, announces the latest of more than a dozen measures to lessen its negative imprint on our environment. In fact, company founder and president Nicholas Draper intends "to lessen our footprint by ten percent a year for the next 20 years."



The most recent measure is the debut in mid-September of power inverters in trucks. Such power inverters eliminate the need for using polluting, noisy generators in the field.



"This will really be a great help on builder and commercial work," claims Operations Manager Mike Kostello. "The power inverter takes 12-volt power from the truck's battery and converts it to 120 volt power that we can use with our tools. And if only running them for short periods of time, we do not need to run the trucks," he explains.



Other eco-friendly initiatives in place at the company are:



Fabrication:

· Roughly 20 tons of granite scrap a week is recycled for road paving materials.

· An average of 180,000 gallons of water a week is recycled for fabrication.

· The company currently repairs 72% of its hand tools and small machinery instead of just replacing it.

· Granite Source employees currently cut 98% of project work wet, eliminating dust emissions.

Field

· Granite Source now uses laser templating for 100% of jobs, eliminating the use of older PVC templating sheets.

· New Yaris vehicles are used, which average 35-40 mpg, when taking measurements in the field.

· The new scheduling system has allowed the company to be more efficient, eliminating roughly 1400 miles a week in unnecessary travel and 70 gallons of gas.



Office:

· All office lights are now on motion sensors reducing light usage by 40%. All lights are also turned off during the day when not needed.

· All exit lights have been replaced with units that last 90% longer and use LED's.

· Plastic and styrofoam have been eliminated in the breakroom in exchange for mugs.

· All paper, cans and bottles are being recycled in separate containers.

· Bottled water and five-gallon water coolers have been replaced with filtered tap water, minimizing deliveries.



Materials:

· Eco-friendly countertops are now available in a variety of materials, including bamboo, recycled glass and paper.

· To lessen delivery emissions, Granite Source endeavors to refer to the closest vendor geographically.