October 21, 2009

Mechanical firm L.J. Kruse Co. lightens environmental footprint

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

staff writer

As a student at the University of California’s Berkeley campus, David Kruse acquired an early interest in environmental stewardship. “That’s always been a part of who I am,” says Kruse, president of L.J. Kruse Company, a family-owned plumbing, heating and cooling contractor based in Berkeley.

Kruse, who graduated in 1972, is a long-time advocate of green and sustainable construction practices. Several years ago, he and his brother Andy made a commitment to green their company’s business and leave a lighter environmental footprint.

With the support of advocates in key departments, the company set out to develop a green corporate culture, tap into the emerging market for green mechanical services and become certified as a green business.

“Probably, one of the biggest things we did was get our green business certification from Alameda county,” says Kruse, a past president of the Mechanical Contractors Association of America (MCAA).

To gain certification, businesses must first bring their operations into compliance with all environmental regulations. Firms must then meet standards related to water and energy conservation, solid waste reduction and recycling and pollution prevention.

“It was a very interesting process,” Kruze says. “Basically, they come through and audit everything that you do. They check to make sure that you are energy-efficient.

They look at water usage and whether you have a recycling program.

“They actually went through the trash cans at everybody’s desk.”

The company, which has a staff of 100 and serves the greater San Francisco area, received its certification last year. It was one of the first contractors in the county to do so.

“That got everybody excited about what we were doing,” says Kruse, a LEED-accredited professional and co-chair of a green task force set up by the MCAA and the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters.

Going a step further, the company decided to renovate 7,000 square feet of office space with the intent of achieving Platinum under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for Commercial Interiors.

L.J. Kruse installed a highly efficient mechanical system. It also put photovoltaic panels on the roof, to help meet the building’s electricity needs.

Other measures included opening up the structure with windows and a skylight to maximize daylighting and installation of a rainwater harvesting system. Air purifiers were put in as well.

“The air is so clean it’s like being on the top of a mountain in Switzerland.”

L.J. Kruse undertook the renovation with the assistance of a mechanical engineer, an architect and an independent LEED consultant.

‘Even though we have three LEED-accredited professionals on staff (Kruse, his brother Andy and chief estimator Gary Navo), we hired a consultant to help us navigate the LEED process.”

It submitted its application to the green building council in July.

The company moved back into its renovated office last January after eight months of construction.

The office has been certified as carbon-neutral by the local power utility, one of the few such facilities in the region to attain this designation.

“Because we use a bit of natural gas, we had to purchase some carbon offsets to achieve that status,” Kruse says.

Since the renovation was completed, the company has been giving tours of its premises to students, architects, engineers, clients and the general public.

In recognition of his commitment to environmental sustainability, Kruse last month was named green contractor of the year by the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Contractors.

“We’re known as the green guys,” says Kruse, who gave a presentation on the greening of his company at the national conference of the Mechanical Contractors Association of Canada.

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