Our annual sustainability report for 2020 is hot off the presses! We know it’s already July 2021. You’ll have to excuse the delay, our green building and sustainability manager was out on maternity leave for several months at the end of 2020 – early 2021. And 2020 was, well…you know.
Amid a year of record wildfires, a global pandemic, political turmoil, and new social reckonings, the imperative for sustainability never ends. In fact, it’s more important than ever.
Highlights:
Manufacturing: We maintained our commitment to sustainable manufacturing, using 100% renewable site electricity in our facility and diverting an average of 80% of our waste from the landfill. As we did in 2018 and 2019, we also offset the carbon associated with shipping our homes to our customers through Appalachian Offsets, a local program which funds renewable and clean energy projects for schools and non profits in our region. In fact, the solar array for Isaac Dickson Elementary School was supported by our offsets and should be coming online soon, check back here for details!
Green Building: We did a new case study of an off-grid 360° Collection model recently completed by our in-house building company. Another recent Ridgeline project earned Zero Energy Ready Home certification from the US Department of Energy. With the contribution of these two net-positive homes, our average HERS Index dropped from a 45 in 2019 to a 43.
Supply Chain: We expanded our pre-installed siding offerings for our 360° Collection with a Cradle to Cradle Certified(R) vertical polyash product from Boral America, which contains a minimum 70% pre-consumer recycled content.
Community: We formed a Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) task force to directly assess our company culture, hiring practices, and supply chain. Our Meals on Wheels volunteers adapted to contactless meal delivery.
Click here to peruse the whole report.
Sustainability is part science, part management, and part telling our story to customers, so that we can earn their support to keep doing it. The story of sustainability gained deeper stakes for me in 2020 with the birth of my son. The connections between how we build homes, the natural world, and the greater resilience of our community, have never felt more apparent, or more important.
-Leigha Dickens, Green Building & Sustainability Manager