Taking the lead

Local green powerhouses help keep Solano County's environment eco-friendly

In the midst of a worldwide movement to conserve energy and become more “green,” it’s nice to see people making positive changes in their daily activities, and even nicer to see major organizations doing the same. Solano County companies Kaiser Permanente, the Westfield Group and ALZA Corporation have all recently implemented some impressive innovations that are benefiting the region’s habitat.

Westfield Solano, Fairfield
The Westfield Group, based in Australia, is a worldwide organization with 121 shopping centers in four countries. One of those malls, Westfield Solano, is on Travis Boulevard in Fairfield.
    After replacing 220 common-area incandescent bulbs with energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps in November 2006, Westfield Solano is conserving more than 86,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, enough to light the city of Los Angeles for about 104 seconds.
    In early 2007, 311 of the 408 standard fluorescent tubes in the service corridors were replaced with energy-efficient fluorescent tubes; the remaining 97 were eliminated. At the same time, the exit signs were retrofitted with LED lights. This second effort saved an additional 120,697 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, enough to provide 258 homes with electricity for a whole month.
    In September 2007, Westfield Solano installed a WeatherTRAK system to control the irrigation of all its outdoor landscaping. Communicating with satellite weather data, WeatherTRAK counterbalances current weather conditions by automatically turning off when it rains and then back on when it’s needed. Thanks to WeatherTRAK, Westfield Solano has already seen a 42 percent reduction in its water usage that is expected to save about 5 million gallons annually. Furthering this water conservation effort, Westfield Solano has installed four waterless urinals in its men’s restrooms, saving an additional 160,000 gallons of water each year.
    Future changes are always in store as Westfield Solano continues to look for new and improved ways to enhance its existing recycling plan. “Westfield feels it is grossly important to be a responsible member of the community, and being proactive in our efforts to be ‘green’ is one way we can do that,” says Marketing Director Courtney CaJacob.

Don’t miss the interactive Earth Day event, Go Green with Westfield Solano on Saturday, April 12, from 12 p.m.-3 p.m. 1350 Travis Blvd., Fairfield, (707) 425-1164; westfield.com/solano.

ALZA Corporation, Vacaville
A member of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies, ALZA Corporation currently serves as one of Johnson & Johnson’s West Coast Pharmaceutical Research and Development sites. ALZA’s 40 years of scientific innovation in drug delivery technologies have been incorporated with 30 commercialized products worldwide.
    ALZA’s Vacaville manufacturing facility recently implemented a new environmental innovation with its 1-megawatt photovoltaic solar energy system, unveiled in December 2007.
    Dubbed SPF-1000, this solar panel field is one of the largest privately owned commercial solar energy systems of its kind in California. With 5,740 panels rated at 1,192.9 direct current kilowatt-hours power, the system uses a single-axis tracking array to follow the track of the sun and generate the most power possible per acre of land.
    Built by SPG Solar, Inc., of San Rafael, this panel system generates an equivalent of electricity for enough energy needed to power 250 homes. Offsetting nearly 1.4 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions annually, this solar panel array operates 24 hours per day. The Vacaville plant will itself use all the energy generated by SPF-1000, thus decreasing demands on the public utility grid and reducing the risk of rolling power brownouts in the local community.

Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Vacaville
As a historically integral proponent of innovative health care in the United States, Kaiser Permanente is caring for the health of the environment as well. They have implemented some “green” construction plans that are under way as they expand the current facility in Vacaville.
     One of Kaiser’s universal advancements is the transition from vinyl to rubber flooring. “While rubber is not a totally green product in its manufacturing process, it is head and shoulders above vinyl and its toxicity to the environment,” says project director Hollis Harris. Another advantage is the maintenance. Rubber flooring simply requires buffing to keep it nice, while vinyl requires an ongoing stripping and reapplication of wax to keep it in good condition. The majority of Kaiser Vacaville’s flooring will be rubber.
    As for literal energy conservation, Kaiser Vacaville’s mechanical units will function with a co-generation system. Heat that is generated by mechanical units, such as boilers, chillers and pumps, will be captured and utilized—either converted into electricity or sold back to the utility company.
    Kaiser Permanente has nationally pushed for organic and locally grown food to be served in their cafeterias, as well as to their patients in the hospitals. Kaiser Vacaville has taken that first step, as its existing medical office building currently receives locally grown fresh produce every Wednesday. This is, according to Harris, “a precursor to a weekly farmers market we will have once the [other] buildings are up and running.” The Specialty Service building is scheduled to open in November of this year, and full hospital operations are to begin in April 2009.

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