Urban Engineers, Inc | Greater Philadelphia Green Business Program

Urban Engineers, Inc

Membership Level: Basic

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Number of Employees: 257
Company Website: http://www.urbanengineers.com
Charter Member

Urban Engineers, Inc. is proud to be a charter member of the Greater Philadelphia Green Business Program. Since our founding in Philadelphia in 1960, Urban has played a key role in developing the infrastructure that makes the Philadelphia area a better place to live and work. Our landmark projects, from the Center City Commuter Rail Connection to the terminals at Philadelphia International Airport, continue to make a positive impact on the region. As we celebrate our 50th year in business, we continue to promote environmental awareness and sustainability both for our clients and in our own offices. In keeping with this goal, more than 25 of our staff have achieved LEED® AP accreditation and more are applying. We are instituting expanded recycling programs, raising the environmental consciousness of our employees, and striving to reduce our carbon footprint. An employee-owned firm, Urban has 475 professionals in 10 offices in the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions. Our planners, engineers, and scientists provide planning, design, construction management, construction inspection, program management, and environmental services for: Aviation, Bridges, Building Systems, Civil/Site Engineering and Material Testing, Highways, Ports and Marine, Railroads and Rail Transit, and Traffic Engineering and Intelligent Transportation Systems.

How green is our business? Below is a list of Green Business Program checklist actions we've taken to reduce our impact on the environment.

Energy » Lighting

Q: Arrange your workspaces to take advantage of areas with natural sunlight, and design for increased natural lighting when remodeling (workspace within 30' of natural light).
Q: Increase natural lighting through installing sidelights or lowering cubicle and nonstructural walls that block lighting to interior workstations.
Q: Install bypass/delay timers for off-hour lighting.
Q: Install occupancy sensors on lights in places of variable occupancy, such as restrooms, private offices, storage, etc.

Energy » General

Q: Conduct an informal internal energy audit of your facilities (assess and implement simple measures to reduce energy consumption).

Energy » Office Equipment

Q: Establish purchasing policy to only purchase Energy Star or energy efficient equipment and appliances.
Q: Install "instant-on" hot water.
Q: Set all office equipment to go to standby mode when not in use (e.g. energy saver buttons on copiers). Turn off equipment when not in use for long periods of time (end of workday).
Q: Set refrigerator temperature between 38

Leadership and Education

Q: Designate a green office advocate or working committee.
Q: Actively encourage employees to adopt sustainable practices outside of work, and provide resources for doing so (such as discounted compact fluorescent (CF) light bulbs).
Q: Appoint management level sustainability officer.
Q: Assess and track your firm's/facility's (ies') Philadelphia region estimated baseline carbon footprint. (Use of the calculator provided by Pennsylvania Environmental Council is strongly encouraged; however, a member may assess its carbon footprint using the protocols identified below (see NOTE).)
Q: Establish and promote individual green pledge for employees.
Q: Host regular green awareness events within the company.
Q: Prepare an internal annual report of progress and distribute to employees/shareholders.
Q: Promote sustainability initiative and forthcoming changes, strategies, and objectives within company on a regular basis to raise consciousness and add transparency of the initiative.

Operations & Procurement » General Practices

Q: Choose vendors who can articulate sustainable practices.
Q: In order to improve indoor air quality, ban smoking from interior spaces and designate exterior smoking areas at least 25 feet from building entries, outdoor air intakes and operable windows, with cigarette butt disposal units.
Q: Use local businesses for products and services whenever possible.

Operations & Procurement » Office

Q: Purchase copy, computer or fax paper, letterhead, envelopes and business cards with at least 35% post consumer recycled ontent.
Q: When purchasing new printers, buy ones with duplex capability.

Transportation » Fleet

Q: Convert company vehicles to lowemission/fuel efficient vehicles (hybrid and/or using natural gas, electricity or alternative fuels).

Transportation » Commuter

Q: Encourage commuter alternatives by informing employees, customers and others who visit your office about various transportation options (post bicycle route maps, transit schedules, commuter ride sign-ups, etc. in a visible area for employees).
Q: Have a bike kit for employees who may have bicycle emergencies or problems.
Q: If space locations are available, enroll your company in a car-sharing program.
Q: Offer secure areas for bicycle storage for both employees and customers.
Q: Provide a commuter van or offer a shuttle service to and from bus, train and/or light rail stops; or be located within walking distance of transit stop.
Q: Sign up for commuter benefits such as TransitChek for employees.

Transportation » Business Travel

Q: Use teleconferencing to cut down on amount of business travel.

Waste Reduction & Recycling » Policies

Q: Donate or exchange unwanted but usable items (furniture, supplies, electronics, scrap materials, computer disks, etc.) to schools, churches, hospitals, libraries, nonprofit organizations, museums, teacher resource organizations, etc.; or enroll in a waste exchange program.
Q: Make it easy for employees to recycle by placing clearly marked collection bins in convenient locations. Post signs and/or train employees regarding recycling policies and procedures in the office.

Waste Reduction & Recycling » Paper

Q: Encourage employees to read, highlight and comment on documents on the computer screen whenever possible.
Q: Institute a policy that switches to electronic forms, eliminate excess forms and make paper forms more efficient.
Q: Keep a stack of previously used paper near printers. Use it for drafts, scratch paper or internal memos or designate a draft tray on printers with multiple trays.
Q: Purge your own mailing lists to eliminate duplication.
Q: Recycle (after full use/reuse) all paper products that your recycling vendor will accept.
Q: Recycle toner cartridges, cell phones and dry cell batteries.
Q: Return labels from duplicate mailings and subscriptions requesting all but one be removed.
Q: Write "refused" on unwanted first class mail and return to sender.
Q: Write to or call senders requesting removal from mailing list to reduce junk mail.

Waste Reduction & Recycling » Food & Beverage

Q: In the lunch/break room, eliminate disposables (plastic utensils, coffee stirrers, paper towels) by using permanent ware (mugs, dishes, utensils, towels/rags, coffee filters, etc.)
Q: Recycle food and beverage containers (all glass, #1 & #2 plastic and aluminum containers).
Q: Supply water through a fountain, cooler or tap; eliminate bottled water.

Water Management » Exterior

Q: If company owns any vehicles, routinely check for leaks and keep a spill kit handy to catch/collect spills from leaking company or employee vehicles.

Water Management » Interior

Q: Post signs in restrooms and kitchen areas encouraging water conservation.
Q: Regularly check for and repair all leaks in your facility (toilet leaks can be detected in tank toilets with leak detecting tablets. Train your staff to monitor and respond immediately to leaking equipment.