A Green Certified Organization

Sustainable Silicon Valley (SSV), a non-profit organization, has calculated its carbon footprint to be approximately 40 tons of CO2e per year. One of the core philosophies at SSV is that you can’t manage what you can’t measure, so both of SSV’s home-based offices set out to monitor and measure their environmental impacts, just as they require all SSV partners to do.

Sustainable Silicon Valley was formed to bring together businesses, regulators and environmentalists to find common, mutually beneficial solutions to environmental challenges. SSV’s distinctive contribution is to combine a rigorous commitment to data measurement and goal setting with extensive social support through communities of practice and case studies to help companies, governmental agencies and public benefit organizations become more energy and water efficient and to build superior environmental health, economic vitality and community resiliency.

SSV’s intensive and comprehensive approach to recycling, solid waste diversion, energy reduction, and environmentally friendly purchasing, along with their use of green vendors, sets a standard for both office practices and household actions.

What Actions Did Sustainable Silicon Valley Take to Cut Waste?

SSV’s lives and works by the motto “Recycle Reuse Reduce.” Not a single scrap that can be recycled gets put into the trash. They even rinse out used toothpaste tubes for recycling! For SSV, their home offices know no boundaries. Water conservation measures include rain water collection to provide landscaping irrigation, catching non-soapy water from indoor sinks to provide water to indoor plants, drip irrigation timers, and the use of drought tolerant plants and landscape design to reduce the need for additional irrigation.

How has Sustainable Silicon Valley Promoted Climate Friendly Actions?

SSV maintains their Santa Clara County Green Business certification and continues to be involved in issues that matter to the Silicon Valley.

How Have Sustainable Silicon Valley’s Efforts Been Recognized?

Sustainable Silicon Valley has won the 2007 Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award for its Carbon Dioxide Emissions Reduction Program. SSV was selected for its “innovative and forward thinking approaches that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change on public health and our vast natural resources.” Sustainable Silicon Valley also won the Breathe California Award in 2007 for achieving reductions in greenhouse gases through outcome-based measurable action and partnerships with business, government, and the non-profit sector. In 2009, SSV was a CoolCalifornia.org Organization Excellence Award winner for going above and beyond basic environmentally sustainable business practices for office operations.

“By requiring our partners and ourselves to undertake a 4-step “Environmental Management System” (EMS) system of “plan” “do” “check” “adjust”, SSV has had great success reducing the collective impact of over 110 partner organizations in the Silicon Valley, many of whom are cities and large corporations.”

– Brandy Faulkner, Associate Director, SSV