Sierra Designs in-house “Green Team” pushes ahead on a daily basis to find new innovations that will lessen the company’s impact on the environment. These efforts have led to many new and improved products under the Green Effects moniker that are garnering attention from consumers, industry watchers and businesses. However, Sierra Designs’ efforts do not stop here, the company culture is becoming strongly aligned with sustainable business practices at every level. 

Adding to its track record for new innovation in environmentally friendly product design, the company’s in house “Green Team” is working to further reduce the size of the footprint of the company’s operations with an important news announcement.

This month, Sierra Designs will be moving into a newly expanded facility. The newly remodeled space in Boulder was designed with priorities placed on reducing the company’s carbon footprint. 

“We had a great opportunity to design a sustainable space that we could be proud of, and that reflects our team’s passion and ethos,” says Paul Gagner, president of Sierra Designs. 

Sierra Designs worked with Henry Mueller Design, Inc. to create a more sustainable space on an economical budget. The company looked at the basic guidelines of sustainable design and kept the “Three R’s” in mind at all times – Reduce, Re-use and Recycle. 

To reduce energy and water consumption, low flow plumbing fixtures were used throughout the remodeled facility. The newly remodeled building also replaced all existing ceiling fluorescent light fixtures, with energy efficient T-8 fixtures utilizing electronic ballasts. This step was the largest contribution to reducing the carbon footprint of the building. According to Henry Mueller Design, efficient lighting not only reduces the lighting energy costs but the cooling costs as well. This principal was also applied to the showroom where the standard flood lighting was replaced with compact fluorescent units. Further lighting energy was saved by utilizing sun tracking skylights in their main open work areas. 

Eco-friendly finish materials were utilized in paint, carpeting, floor tile and ceiling tile. Paint with minimal amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) was used to reduce air pollution and prevent health risks to people working in the facility.