Law, accounting firms make conservation moves

Local law and accounting firms are slowly changing the mindsets of employees, colleagues and clients by instituting recycling and energy-reduction programs.
KPMG International, a global accounting firm with offices in Providence, has started small by auditing its own office for things such as light bulbs and toilet paper.
Nationally, each office has formed green committees to reduce energy consumption and waste, while at the same time decreasing operating costs and increasing efficiency.
The accounting giant is replacing most of its office supplies, including binders, folders, post-it notes, and copy paper with recycled goods. Along with supplies, KPMG offices are in the process of replacing paper goods with ceramic dishes and mugs, and plastic-ware with silverware.
In March 2006, KPMG in Providence had National Grid audit its electric consumption and learned that old magnetic ballasts found on fluorescent light fixtures throughout the office were using a lot of electricity. KPMG changed over to electronic ballasts, which decreased the number of kilowatts used each month.
“When Terry Santilli, our office administrator, asked National Grid to come in two years ago and they advised us to retrofit the office … we saw a 15-percent reduction in usage and a direct dollar savings,” said Patrick Canning, manager of KPMG Providence.
Since the visit from National Grid, Canning said changes have continued.
For instance, a set of china collecting dust on a shelf in the break-room for a decade is now being used by employees in place of paper plates. Employees are also using mugs instead of paper cups.
To continue the momentum, Canning’s office formed a green program and a green committee, split into subcommittees tasked with efficiency and reduction, community involvement, and education programs.
“The staff has really bought into it,” Canning said. “Once we move through that process from home to the office and clients’ sites it will be become part of their daily routine.”
The waste reduction doesn’t end for employees in their own office. Employees have a process to follow when visiting client offices that do not have a program of its own.
“Whatever paper is not being used they take it back to our office,” Canning said.
“There are so many different ways within our economy, country and lifestyle where industries and market sectors can take a hard look at business practices and find several areas and ways we can improve,” said David Deegan, spokesperson for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The law firm of Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge wanted to be bold and go beyond retrofitting light bulbs and recycling paper.
The firm’s Hartford office is currently working toward Leadership in Environmental Energy and Design (LEED) certification from the United States Green Building Council and is retrofitting an entire office using recycled products from floors to countertops and is using Energy Star appliances and efficient lighting to consume less energy.
Once achieved, it will be one of the first law firms in the nation to hold this certification.
Nixon Peabody LLP was the first U.S. law firm to receive LEED certification in the commercial interior category for its San Francisco office and has plans to seek LEED certifications for newly constructed and remodeled offices.
“We are not doing this for the splash,” said Harry Cion, the Hartford firm’s office administrator. “But, there are not a lot of law firms doing this in the country and we are very proud.”
The new office will include recycled glass panels, waterless urinals, countertops made from recycled concrete and glass and post consumer recycled ceiling tiles, carpet, and fabrics.
“We really needed to think about finding new space or redoing this space and with everything going on the in world we thought it was the right statement to make,” said Chuck Welsh, partner in charge in EAPD.
Such individual efforts are important steps toward preserving the planet, said Jerry Elmer, staff attorney at the Providence office of the Conservation Law Foundation, an advocacy group for the New England environment.
“It is a reflection of the time we are living in and the emergency presented by climate change,” Elmer said. •