Buildings and Operations
PG&E is committed to reducing waste and using resources in the most efficient way, from improving the energy efficiency of our buildings and other facilities to recycling materials and reducing water consumption. For PG&E, environmental leadership also means being accountable by taking responsibility for our historic environmental impacts.
Greening Our Own Buildings
PG&E received the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED™) Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for our 245 Market Street facility in San Francisco. This important third-party designation is for maximizing operational efficiency while minimizing environmental impacts.
Some of the areas that helped us achieve this include:
- Access to alternative transportation
- Water conservation
- Efficient heating, ventilation and cooling systems
- Recycling, composting and utilization of recycled materials
- Energy-efficient lighting
- Use of green cleaning practices
At our headquarters, we also achieved a 71% diversion rate in 2007 and have implemented food waste composting efforts in our office space, the first commercial building in San Francisco to provide this innovative process. We continue to evaluate ways to integrate sustainable products, technologies, processes and partnerships into our building management and building projects, including our Resource Management Centers in Concord and Fresno.
Minimizing Waste
In 2006, PG&E partnered with Omega Waste Management to pilot a new approach to boost recycling and waste-reduction efforts at 50 PG&E facilities, spanning 19 counties. By successfully consolidating 44 different recycling and waste management contracts into one, Omega was able to improve recycling procedures and more than doubled the amount PG&E recycled at these sites.
We also recycled or reused:
- 33,951,630 pounds of scrap iron, aluminum, and copper from conductors, meters and miscellaneous infrastructure
- More than 100,000 pounds of plastic piping, as well as used hard hats
- Our "e-waste," including approximately 3,660 CPUs, 6,530 monitors, 1,220 printers and 90 servers.
Taking Responsibility
At PG&E, we are accountable for all our own actions, including protecting the environment. We have taken responsibility for cleaning up historic or "legacy" contamination from past operations. We use a combination of policies, management systems, review processes and programs to ensure that our operations meet all applicable environmental requirements. We then seek to elevate our performance above and beyond the legal and regulatory requirements. Learn more about how we are taking responsibility.
Water Management Practices
PG&E manages a storm-water best-management practices program for our service centers, with a goal of reducing and eliminating pollutants (sediments, oil, grease and trash) from entering storm drains, culverts and waterways. To help raise awareness about the program, PG&E provided training for fleet, construction and operations staff. In parallel, we launched a storm-drain stenciling campaign — where storm-drains at the company’s 172 service centers were stenciled to provide a visible reminder for employees. We are also implementing sustainable landscaping, low use irrigation techniques and low use plumbing at our facilities.
As one of the first utilities to implement "portable" bridges for our timber management program, PG&E is reducing the amount of sediment going into the watercourses and protecting water quality and fisheries habitat. These portable bridges allow trucks and equipment to cross rivers and streams without using culverts or earthen fill.
Closing the Loop with Biomass
PG&E’s 52,000 acres of company-owned watershed lands are helping to achieve our renewable energy goals. Through timber harvesting, thinning and forest restoration projects, PG&E generates significant quantities of biomass — tree tops, limbs, cull logs, and brush, which cannot be made into lumber. In response, we are closing the loop by sending this biomass to co-generation plants that generate renewable power for the state's electricity grid. Two of PG&E's 2006 timber harvests in the Pit River area produced enough biomass to meet the electricity needs of more than 4,000 average-sized homes for a month. Removing the biomass also reduces the risk of wildfires and helps create a flourishing and healthy forest.
Latest News
2008
