Baker Marble and Granite

is 100% solar powered!

June 2008

We have completed our work on the Margarido House, click the link to see this exciting new,

truly Green, private residence. 

July 2008: Completion of our work on the Helmut Schmidt Residence in the Sunset District

of San Francisco.  Another truly amazing ALL Green residence.

 August 2008:As of Monday August 4th, we are in Contract with

 for installation of our new 51.3 KW solar system.

We will be up and operating by October 2008.  Our new system will yield

approximately 80%, or more, of our current and future power needs.

October 2008: Installation of our entire solar array is now almost complete!!

We anticipate being "on-line" on the first of November!

AND our shop will be converting to T-8 high efficiency lighting fixtures within the next

two months.  These fixture use less than 1/2 of the power of Quartz metal halide lights.

December 2008: Installation of the entire solar system was completed,

and on the 24th of December the switch was thrown to take us "off of the PG+E grid"

and onto full solar power!  We even received our certificate from the State making

us an official Power Generation Facility!! 

At Baker Marble + Granite we 

follow these Green policies:

All new fleet vehicles must meet higher gas mileage standards: Trucks must

get a minimum of 17 MPG to qualify, all other vehicles must get twice that MPG.

So far we have (3) trucks that maintain this standard, and we currently have

(2) Hybrid Vehicles in our fleet.      

-  2008 Ford Escape Hybrid

- 2007 Toyota Prius

Ford Motor Company may soon release their small super clean diesel engine for

use in the US.  This engine actually has been proven to release less particulate air

than it takes in! When this engine is released, we will begin to replace our older,

less fuel efficient vheicles. 

ALL paper products at Baker Marble + Granite are recycled. And all fax

and copy paper used are 100% recycled.  All printer paper used has at least

a 50% recycled post consumer waste paper content.

ANY error sheets of fax, copy or printer paper are reused as office scrap

paper, and then recycled.

ALL files older than (5) years are shredded at a local recycler.

COFFEE

To cut back on employee gas use we have provided a professional espresso

machine, and free-trade beans in our office (which are roasted less than a mile

from our shop at, Mr. Espresso, and purchased in bulk), so that they don’t

have to drive to the nearest coffee shop (a mile away). 

WATER

Our shop water systems clean and recycle water whenever possible. 

A recent audit by East Bay MUD found that we were exceeding the standard for

clean water release and recycled water usage. The tested PH of the water released back into

the sewer system was identical to that of the water coming in.

ELECTRICITY

Our office maintains a daytime constant winter temperature of 67 degrees,

with no air conditioning used in the summer. Offices not used have a

"lights-out" policy.

Our shop was engineered in the early 1950’s with enormous windows,

during the Summer months we can safely operate the shop floor without the use

of our soon to be replaced quartz metal halide lights. In the Summer months power

is at a premium in California, by not using these lights we are staying off of the grid

when the electricity is most needed.

Want more information about green products

and policies, check out: http://www.usgbc.org/