Activities
Sustain Evanston
GBA was a member of the inaugural class of business recognized in 2019 by Sustain Evanston, a program that incentivizes Evanston, IL, businesses to voluntarily reduce their environmental impact and create a healthier community. The firm was graded in 20 sustainability categories, reflecting the city's effort to achieve goals in carbon neutrality, renewable electricity, and zero waste. The firm will continue to participate in futher cycles of the program.
Chicago Green Office Challenge Participant
GBA has periodically been a proud participant in the annual Chicago Green Office Challenge (CGOC). Through the CGOC, companies earn points by making their office environments more sustainable. The CGOC encourages friendly competition among commercial offices and buildings. Goals of participation include:
- Reducing energy, water, and waste
- Creating innovative sustainability solutions in the office environment
- Challenging other companies to increase their sustainability efforts
- Demonstrating environmental leadership
- Gaining recognition, earning rewards, and having fun while promoting and implementing sustainability practices
GBA’s Earth Day Celebration
GBA annually celebrates Earth Day with a series of fun events.
- A potluck luncheon – green themed, with a presentation by a local or regional sustainability expert
- A sustainability-themed poetry contest
- A split-the-pot raffle benefiting a local sustainability oriented charity
- A sustainable Happy Hour featuring locally and/or sustainability produced libations and snacks
Bicycle Friendly Business
GBA has been a League of American Bicyclists Silver-level Bicycle Friendly Business since 2017, in recognition of the firm's activities in cycling-related encouragement, engineering (including equipment accommodations), education, and evaluation and planning. The firm regularly fields a team in the annual Chicagoland Bike Challenge, staged by the Active Transportation Alliance.
Individual Sustainability Activities
GBA Chairman (Illinois) Dan Doyle is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL), successor to the federal Laboratories for the 21st Century (Labs21) program. In his work with I2SL, Dan has periodically taught the introductory workshop on sustainable lab design. Some of the concepts incorporated in this presentation were developed as part of another assignment through I2SL: Dan and I2SL were asked to develop a tenant design guide for tenants moving into Singapore's Clean Tech Park, billed as the greenest and most sustainable R&D park on Earth.
GBA's founder, Dave Grumman, and engineers Joel Freeman and Eric Rosenberg are longtime particpants on the City of Evanston's Utilities Commission. Dave and Joel have each served as Chairman of the Commission. The Commission addresses issues related to electrical and natural systems reliability; energy benchmarking policy for the city; energy procurement for city buildings and municipal power aggregation; renewable energy considerations; water consumption and conservation in city buildings; policies for stormwater management; and capital improvements for the city's water and sewer infrastructure.