|
Corporate Social Responsibility
News
5.08.2008 - 10:00am ET
|
CSR News from:
|
|
|
News Categories: |
| | |
eBay Inc. Opens New "Green" Building and Unveils Largest Commercial Solar Installation in San Jose
(CSRwire) San Jose, CA - MAY 8, 2008 - eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) today announced
the opening of an environmentally friendly building on its North Campus in
San Jose. It is the first building in San Jose to be built to LEED
(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold standards for new
construction, which is the second-highest LEED rating a building can
receive. The building sits on a campus with the largest commercial solar
installation in the city.
"eBay empowers people around the world to recycle and reuse, so
constructing an environmentally friendly building from the ground up
reflects our business values and our commitment to reducing our corporate
footprint -- in the Bay Area and at all of our facilities worldwide," said
John Donahoe, President and CEO of eBay Inc. "Going green is a great way to
work."
The campus has 3,248 solar panels covering 60,000 square feet - more than
a football field - of roof supplying 18 percent of the campus’s power
with a 650 kW system. With the largest commercial solar installation that
is operational in San Jose, and because of its proximity to public
transportation, eBay’s new building and campus reflect the close
collaboration between the city and eBay to reduce its environmental
footprint. City staff was instrumental in facilitating eBay’s move to
this campus and ensuring flexibility to expand as the needs for the
building and campus evolved.
"Since its founding in 1995, eBay has transformed internet commerce and
created new ways for people to build community online. I am proud that
eBay was created in and is headquartered in San Jose," said Mayor Chuck
Reed. "Congratulations on the opening of the new eBay building, which
through its innovative design and green architecture is a flagship in
North San Jose's center of innovation on North First Street."
Built from the ground up, the new building meets LEED specifications. LEED
is the industry standard, third party rating system which certifies that a
building has met the high standards for constructing an environmentally
responsible and healthy place to work. In the new building, workstation
lighting uses a dimming system that automatically dims based on the amount
of sunlight entering the building, saving 39 percent of the energy normally
used in the building for lighting. Low-flow showerheads and low-flow
faucets have been installed to help reduce the amount of water used by 30
percent. Eco-friendly irrigation systems are also being installed and will
reduce water use by approximately 30 percent. Lastly, more than 75 percent
of the waste from the construction site was recycled, reused or otherwise
diverted from landfill.
In addition, the features in the new green building offer a high-quality
workplace environment for employees. Amenities include a state of the art
fitness center and a light, airy, pan-Asian café complete with tandoori
oven, wok station, noodle bar and fresh-made dim sum. Workstations and
furniture throughout the building are "Greenguard" certified, meaning they
emit a low number of particles to keep air cleaner.
eBay’s investment in its new "green" building is a reflection of its
commitment to offer more ways for employees to incorporate green practices
into their daily lives. SolarCity, which provided the solar panels for the
new building, has offered employees a discount for installing solar panels
in their homes and more than 500 employees have attended workshops about
residential solar installations.
In addition, eBay Inc. offers employees a carbon offsetting program
through TerraPass, which allows employees to measure their carbon
footprint and purchase offsets to balance their impact. Further, eBay Inc.
runs shuttles from its San Jose campuses to San Francisco in order to
improve employee quality of life and get more cars off the road.
Being green is in eBay’s DNA. The marketplace was built to be an
incredible engine for the reuse of goods and every day buyers and sellers
are using eBay to make a difference on behalf of the environment. Over the
last decade, this has translated into an estimated $100 billion in goods
each year that were reused, as opposed to being thrown into landfills or
producing and buying new items.
About eBay Inc.
Founded in 1995, eBay Inc. connects hundreds of millions of people around
the world every day, empowering them to explore new opportunities and
innovate together. eBay Inc. does this by providing the Internet platforms
of choice for global commerce, payments and communications. Since its
inception, eBay Inc. has expanded to include some of the strongest brands
in the world, including eBay, PayPal, Skype, StubHub, Shopping.com and
others. eBay Inc. is headquartered in San Jose, California.
|
|