Commitment to Community
ERG strives to improve the local and global community—not only through the work we do, but through our own actions. The following are some of the partnerships and programs in which we participate.
Partnerships
Best Workplaces for Commuters
ERG's Arlington and Boston offices have been recognized as two of the Best Workplaces for CommutersSM, a program ERG helped develop. To qualify for this distinction, ERG offers superior commuter benefits to employees, including a transit subsidy, telework options, and flexible schedules.
www.bestworkplaces.org
Green Power Partnership Program
ERG offsets the environmental impacts of our electric power use from nonrenewable sources by purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). RECs represent the environmental attributes of electricity generated from renewable sources. In 2007, ERG purchased more than 1.5 million kilowatt-hours of RECs for the next two years, covering 100 percent of our corporate electricity use at our 13 offices. ERG is also a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Green Power Leadership Club and 100 Percent Purchasers List.
www.epa.gov/grnpower/
WasteWise
As part of our commitment to EPA’s WasteWise program, which we helped implement for more than a decade, we became a partner in 1995. Over the years, we have dramatically decreased the amount of waste we generate, greatly expanded the number of materials we collect for recycling, and educated employees on reusing packaging materials, office supplies, and paper. We also expanded our purchase of environmentally preferable office supplies.
www.epa.gov/wastewise/
JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Series
In 2008, ERG became the official environmental consulting advisor for the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Series. The Corporate Challenge is a road race that educates participants about best environmental practices, while also striving to be the “greenest” road race in the world. ERG calculates the final environmental savings of sustainable race day supplies, proper recycling and trash removal, waste prevention, and other efforts.
Greening ERG
A Better City’s Challenge for Sustainability
ERG’s Boston and Lexington offices joined approximately 50 participants, including tenants, building owners, institutions, restaurants, retail stores, and hotels in the Boston area, as members of the 2011 Challenge for Sustainability. As part of the challenge, ERG used data and practices from 2010 to develop a sustainability baseline, and has developed an action plan to increase our sustainability score in the areas of energy efficiency, water efficiency, transportation, waste reduction & management, cleaning & toxics, program implementation & policies, purchasing, and renewable energy.
Green Buildings
In 2007, our Arlington (VA) office relocated to a newly constructed “green” building, certified by the U.S. Green Building Council through its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program at the “silver” level. In a recent renovation, our Chantilly (VA) office followed the criteria for many of the LEED credits to “green” the space.
The Green Team
Since 1995, a "Green Team" of ERG-Arlington employees has ensured that we reduce solid waste, recycle, and buy recycled products for the office. The Green Team also implements environmental programs, such as offering a composting worm bin for food scraps, and conducts employee education activities such as brownbag lunches or tips on being green in the home or office. In our Lexington (MA) and Nashua (NH) offices, volunteers take recyclables to a recycling center.
Environmental Management System
After assisting EPA with its agencywide Environmental Management System (EMS), we began developing our own EMS. Our team has investigated electricity use, water use, paper consumption, material recycling, and chemical use. Progress to date includes:
- Reducing paper use by 31 percent company wide, exceeding our initial goal of 20 percent in the first six months.
- Successfully encouraging employees to activate computer monitor sleep settings to save nearly 90,000 kilowatt-hours of energy and 136,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
Community Service
We believe in giving back to the communities in which we work in various ways, such as the activities described below:
- American Red Cross blood drives
- Secret Santa program for Arlington County, VA
- Our Daily Bread food pantry, Washington, DC
- Food bank, Chantilly, VA
- The Carpenter Shelter, Alexandria, VA
- Corporate Challenge, a national program that sponsors a race to benefit local charities, MA
- Back to School, a program that donates backpacks of supplies to needy schools, MA
- Coat drives for shelters and the Veterans Hospital, Bedford, MA
- Adopt-a-Stream cleanups at Hare Snipe Creek, NC
- Toy drives
Memberships
Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT)
ERG is an active member of ACT, a nationwide organization for professionals that seeks to create commuter options and foster more workable transportation systems throughout North America.
Society of American Military Engineers (SAME)
ERG has been a corporate sustaining member of SAME since 1999. SAME promotes and facilitates engineering support for national security by building relationships among, and competencies of, engineering professionals in the uniformed services and private industry.
Businesses for the Bay
ERG joins other businesses located within the Chesapeake Bay watershed to improve the bay's water quality by implementing pollution prevention measures in our daily operations.
Maryland Recyclers Coalition
U.S. Green Building Council