Germany Sustainability Trip - Day Six - Last Day in Germany...

By: Janna

Saturday 6/15/13:

As the last day of the trip, I thought I’d take this opportunity to talk about everything, in general, we have seen that has shown the sustainable practices those who live in Germany deal with every day. From toilets to hotel rooms to trash cans, sustainability is everywhere. In our hotel room, the key card is used to activate the electricity used in the room. If we leave, we have to take the key card with us, and when we pull it out of its little resting slot, all the electricity turns off with it. When we return, we plug or little card back in the slot, and the lights turn right back on! Energy savings, that’s important in terms of sustainability.

In saving energy, there’s also the no central air conditioning thing (and no ice!). The hotel rooms didn’t have units, not even window units. All we had was open windows to cool the room down. Americans, especially Texans, tend to take central air conditioning for granted, ad electricity in general. From a previous study abroad, I know electricity is expensive, but it’s so readily available here in the States, it just doesn’t register in our minds. Especially in Texas, where we have our very own grid just to ourselves (check out this cool little map to see what I mean http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=110997398 -Eastern, Western… and Texas).

Then there’s the toilets. Whether in our hotels or any of the other places we’ve gone, water conservative toilets are there. With those little buttons (though none of us really know which button serves which purpose), the appropriate amount of water can be selected. And quite a few places were automatic- automatic flush, automatic water to wash our hands, automatic towel dispenser, and one place an automatic dryer, all of which can be argued to be for sustainable purposes, since if it’s automatic, it means you can be limited in how much you use.

Transportation is a big one. In the States, we all drive. In Germany, however, there’s public transportation, proper bike lanes, and lots and lots of walking. We were also informed of a tax on old cars, as they pollute more, all of which adds up to a better way of keeping the world a less toxic place to live, easing up on global warming and all of that.

So Sunday is back to the States, back to central air, cars, and cold drinks. Oh well, good and bad.

Germany Sustainability Trip - Day Five

By: Janna

Friday 6/14/13:

The last official day of company visits, and we headed to Strasbourg, France for a visit to Koehler Papermill. Yet another interesting day, we heard about the papermaking process and got to see the machines as the paper got made as well as the large rolls of finished paper. With paper being extremely sustainable, it is made from trees after all, Koehler uses trees that are easily replenishable, the eucalyptus. These trees have a seven year growth cycle, and the bigger trees are left in the forest in order to better sustain the forest. The company, however, deals mainly with the after pulp process, and has multiple types of paper which it produces. There weren’t many employees, but it all seemed to be an efficient process with several large machines and lots of robotic equipment.

On an after-note, not having much to do with sustainability but very much worth the mention, the cathedral is beautiful!!

Germany Sustainability Trip - Day Four

By: Janna

Thursday 6/13/2013:

Another full day, today consisting of a visit to Audi and a brewery. One part at a time then.

First off, Audi in the morning. There was so much to see, and so much interesting information to process. Everyone was impressed with all the sustainable methods Audi employs. Social sustainability is prevalent, as the tour guide was explaining, as Audi really seems to value its employees. Fitness centers where employees can work out the kinks in their bodies, three shifts to choose from, better than average bonus, yearly health assessments and more I’ve likely forgotten. As to the cars themselves, Audi recycles all “trash” metal left behind after the processing, uses water from the river and returns it cleaned to the river, and uses a per order inventory style, where a part isn’t ordered from a vendor until the car has been ordered. This keeps the stocking of unnecessary parts from occurring, and that can be a sustainable practice, too.

After lunch we headed on to the brewery, where we heard more about the brewery process and sampled some beer (a lot of us seemed to like that part). The brewer uses organic ingredients and purified water, and purchases previously used hops from other brewers to make his beer. The water is gotten from the monks of the nearby monastery, and in return the brewery supplies beer, creating a symbiosis between the two that is mutually beneficial (and sustainable).

Germany Sustainability Trip - Day Three

By: Janna

Wednesday 6/12/13:

Pretty much all of the sustainable parts in this visit had to do with the growing of the grapes. The obvious in any place that is organic: no pesticides. Instead, a solution of baking soda and something else are used to keep bugs off of the grape vines. The vineyard is also allowed to have natural growth; the previous year’s harvest, fallen leaves and such are left where they fall to naturally decompose and provide fertilizer for the new vines, better to maintain the minerals needed for the new harvest. In addition to that, the rows of vines alternate, so there is a row of old, decomposing vines between two flourishing rows of vines. After all the growing part is done, it was also mentioned that the wooden barrels used to store the wine are reused for eight to ten years.

Germany Sustainability Trip - Day Two

By: Janna

Tuesday 6/11/13:

Today was a visit with the Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, Germany. On the topic of sustainability, the representative explained all that had been done with the refurbishing of the main buildings. She went into detail about the “Green Building” the bank is now housed in, about the windows that automatically open at a certain time every day to let in the cool air (necessitating the need for a clean desk policy), about the copper piping in the ceiling that acts as the cooling/heating system, sending cold water throughout the building to cool it, and hot water to warm it up. She told us about the water recycling system, where sink water from hand washing goes back into tanks in the building and becomes the toilet water, how the amount of water used in flushes is less than the average, and those tanks also collect rainwater from the roof. There was also mention of lights that turn on and off automatically, depending on the amount of sun- lots and it goes off- or on the amount of time since movement was detecting-after 15 minutes of no movement, it turns off. Turning their building into a Green Building was definitely costly, but it also had its benefits. Namely, in the two awards it has received in recognition of its sustainable methods.

Germany Sustainability Trip - Day One

By: Janna

Monday 6/10/13:

Our first business trip in Germany!

Among what we learned at Siemens, one of the most memorable was the shoe cleaner- none of us were expecting that. As soon as we walked into the production building, we stepped on a moving piece of floor that served the purpose of cleaning shoes- better for maintaining sanitary working conditions. Speaking of working conditions, most of Siemens sustainable practices were in the form of social sustainability. The company has within the facilities a day care, in which a certain number of spots are reserved for the children of Siemens employees, as well as a sports center where employees can work off stress. Within the production building were smoking stations and plants as well as a great many windows, all of which contribute to creating a more pleasant and enjoyable working atmosphere. While I can’t say I consider the smoking area a good idea, it can be argued to be accommodating of employees who are going to smoke anyway. Another, more company-wide, practice is the film used in the making of components, of which the excess goes to recycling. Considering how many components they make, that’s a lot of film that gets recycled.