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Any company looking to reduce costs and lessen its impact on the environment can live the Melink Corporate Lifestyle. Our company is proof that not only does it work but it can be both profitable and beneficial for your HR and PR. It has worked for us and it can work for you.
What we want people to know is achieving the Melink Corporate Lifestyle is a reachable goal. It does take hard work and a concerted effort, but we've found if you include everyone in the process, you will be amazed at the ideas your colleagues have to reduce their impact on their environment while helping the bottom line.
Conserving our resources, being energy efficient and using renewable energy has become a corporate way of life for us. Steve Melink has consistently set goals for himself and Melink employees – how can we become better and more efficient with our operations? Each time our team rose to the task, from LEED Gold NC and a 97 Energy Star rating a few years ago to LEED Platinum EB and a 99 Energy Star rating. As of 2011, we are a net-zero energy building, meaning we are putting as much energy back on the grid as we are using.
Read our Green Features to learn about everything we've done, but here are some examples of how we've changed our behavior to help reduce our operating costs:
Energy Conservation - Heating Set Point Lowered
Knowing that HVAC is the largest consumer of electricity in a commercial building, we lowered our heating set point from 72 degrees to 68 degrees and in exchange, each employee received a top-of-the-line wool sweater to wear. The payback on this investment was less than one year.
Energy Efficiency - Lighting
Our building has an abundant amount of natural lighting due to our extensive use of windows and skylights, but there are times when we need to use electric lighting. Although each area of the building has overhead lighting, during times of low natural lighting employees normally use the task lighting with a 13W CFL bulb at their desks.
Renewable Energy - Solar Thermal
Our solar thermal system provides 100% of our hot water needs, however hot water is only utilized in the kitchen, our Green Learning Center restrooms and in the shower facilities located near our company gym. At all other sinks, the water does not have a hot water option.
But the HR and PR benefits are also considerable. We have become a destination employer where people specifically seek out careers at our company because they are passionate about what we are doing and want to be a part of it. As a result, we get top candidates applying to our company. In addtion, Melink also receives many awards for our energy efficiency, renewable energy systems and creating green jobs. We provide tours of our facilities to hundreds of people each year.
In addition, Melink is known far and wide as a company that is willing to share its knowledge with others. We provide tours for anyone interested in learning more about what we are doing here – from children to adults, college students to business leaders. We have won numerous awards for creation of green jobs, fastest growth and for the innovation of our building. The PR we have received through awards and word-of-mouth is more than we could have hoped for. Sometimes doing the right thing pays off in more ways than one!