Happy Earth Day!
We love this global celebration of ecological awareness and action. It’s a day for the whole world to pause and acknowledge our interconnectedness with one another and the natural environment. We love it so much that here at the Green Garage, we celebrate Earth Day every day. We’re a triple-bottom-line business. That means that when we make decisions, we consider their effects not only on our financial wellbeing, but our local community and the Earth. From energy efficiency to waste and water reduction to eco-conscious landscaping, we use a holistic approach to reducing our environmental footprint. We do this so that future generations can have the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of clean air, clean water, and a thriving, biodiverse planet.
But we certainly don’t do it alone. We’ve learned from the best, and we take our responsibility to pass that knowledge onto others seriously. With that in mind, we thought we’d share some of the design and operational principles behind our historic Detroit coworking space. These practices keep us operating at approximately 10% of the waste, water, and energy of a traditional office building. (For a deeper dive, check our wiki, where we extensively documented our building systems, and our Measurement Pages, where we keep track of our waste, water, and energy performance monthly.)
Powered By Renewable Sources
One of the biggest opportunities to reduce your impact on the environment is by reducing your reliance on harmful traditional energy sources like coal, oil, and natural gas. We’ve worked hard to cut our consumption at the Green Garage—so hard that last year, we were certified as a green building by Energy Star! We earned a 100 rating, which means our building is as energy efficient as you can get. Our energy bills have told us this for years, but it’s nice to have the outside validation.
Our energy reduction is achieved through means both large and small. One first step was to use passive design techniques, like super insulation, a white roof, and high efficiency windows to keep the heat inside in the winter and the cool air inside in the summer. Once that was done, we invested in renewable energy. Our building is equipped with 50 solar photovoltaic (PV) panels that generate electricity, as well as 10 thermal solar panels that generate heat in the winter. These systems reduce our carbon footprint by reducing our reliance on conventional energy sources. In the sunny months, we meet well over half of our energy needs through solar. Overall, we use about a tenth of the energy of a traditional office building.
The Green Garage is also the longtime home of Strawberry Solar, a residential solar installer that works throughout Michigan. If you’re thinking about making the switch to solar, we can’t recommend them more highly. They’ve helped us out on several projects and the quality of their work speaks for itself.
Waste & Water Usage Reduction
Sustainability extends beyond energy. It’s also about how we responsibly manage waste and water. When it comes to waste, we first work to reduce the amount of disposable materials we bring into our building. Then we recycle and compost as much of what we do bring in as possible, sending a minimum of waste to local landfills.
One simple way we reduce disposables is by stocking our shared kitchen with real dishes, glasses, cutlery, and cloth napkins. Eliminating single-use items from the kitchen not only has clear waste-saving benefits, it also sends a signal to our members and guests that we take our responsibility to reduce unnecessary waste seriously—and encourages them to do the same. It’s all about diverse groups of people taking small steps in the right direction together.
When it comes to responsibly disposing of the materials brought into the building, we practice both recycling and composting. Many visitors are surprised to learn that Detroit’s Department of Public Works offers a voluntary commercial curbside recycling program. We’re proud to be a part of it. This service includes a dependable weekly curbside pickup of recyclable materials like plastics, glass, metal, and cardboard. It’s offered to businesses, nonprofits, and multi-family homes for less than $1000 annually (assessed through your property taxes). That’s a small price to pay for supporting the City’s sustainability initiatives and keeping harmful materials like single-use plastics out of our local landfills.
We also do our own on-site composting. This is a daily process that turns food scraps, coffee grounds, and tea bags into fertile growing material that we spread throughout our Michigan native gardens. We have both a compost pile and a tumbler that we keep in our back yard. Since we’re in an urban environment, we stick to fruit and veggie scraps—no meat or dairy—so as not to attract critters.)
Together, these practices mean that we end up sending far less to the landfill than a traditional office building. Data from New York City Mayor’s Office of Environmental Coordination suggests that the average office worker there throws away 13 pounds of waste per week. By contrast, the average Green Garager throws away one pound per week—just 8% of that figure.
Our water conservation efforts are equally robust, but they start simply, too: all our sinks and toilets are low-flow, engineered to maintain high pressure while using less water. We also harvest rainwater on our roof and underground, using it as a first resort when we need to water our gardens or indoor plants. As a result, we average 41 gallons of water per person per month—compared with the industry standard of 400 gallons per person per month.
Embracing Green Infrastructure
Our commitment to Earth-friendly design extends beyond the walls of our building, into the Cass Corridor neighborhood we’re proud to call home. Back in 2009, we worked with Motor City Brewing Works and Midtown Detroit, Inc. to create Detroit’s first green alley, a lush pedestrian pathway adjacent to our building. It’s also an active demonstration center for green infrastructure that reduces harmful runoff from entering the Detroit River.
During heavy rainfall, Detroit’s combined sewer system tends to fail. Storm water mixes with grey water from sanitary sewers and ends up in the river—causing a range of public health concerns. The green alley shows that another way is possible. Its convex surface is bordered by permeable pavement and lined with Michigan native plants. This design diverts rainwater from the sewer system and back to the water table, where it can support the health of our native ecosystem as nature intended.
A Team Effort
Thanks to all the practices and decisions outlined above—plus a whole lot more!—Green Garage operates at approximately 10% of the waste, water, and energy usage of a traditional office building. Meeting this goal wouldn’t be possible without the daily participation of everyone who calls our sustainable Detroit coworking space home. We view sustainability not as an individual act, but as a team effort. And there’s room for everyone on our team.
Over the years, Green Garage has drawn dozens of talented sustainability professionals—including green building consultants, environmental attorneys and journalists, and leaders in water quality engineering. We’re proud they’ve found in the Green Garage both a sustainable base of operations and a welcoming community. But we’re equally proud of the impression we’ve made on members from other backgrounds—technology, design, food, the arts, and more—who tell us that they want to make a difference too, not once a year but every single day.
It reminds us of a saying we have at the Green Garage: “Every business is a triple bottom line business—some know it, and some don’t.” No matter what we do every day, we all have the opportunity to do it better, in a way that prioritizes the wellbeing of our one and only Earth.
What Can You Do?
The Green Garage is an experiment in green living. We realize that for most, this sort of deep dive will be impossible. But there are simple things we all can do. You may noticed, for instance, that incandescent light bulbs are no longer available, and so moving to more enery efficient LED bulbs is a naturally easy step. Things like Baggu Bags are easy to tuck away into a purse or backpack, and come in handy as a replacement for plastic or paper bags at the store. Recycling has become the norm in most communities, and perhaps yours allows for composting. Can you replace a small part of your lawn with a garden filled with Michigan native plants? There are so many ways to be green, but these are a good start.