Living Green

CDS Advantage Green Initiatives

Central Distribution System (CDS Advantage) doesn’t just talk about being green, we live green every day!  In addition to helping to provide our distributors with products they can sell to their customers that enhance human health and foster a transition toward sustainability, CDS Advantage is committed to encouraging and sustaining an environmentally-friendly workplace through employee programs, waste reduction, and an environmentally responsible business approach.  We believe that opportunities to use new technologies to achieve greater environmental benefits are just beginning to be realized.  CDS Advantage is proud to be one of the first companies in this industry to make investments in large-scale solar power, renewable energy, hybrid-electric charging facilities, innovative power reduction technology and other emerging environmental efforts.  Our dedication to living green is highly evident through the significant contributions we have made to the environment described below.

LEED-EB Gold Certification

In order to set corporate environmental goals and benchmark our headquarters building's performance; we use a proven industry framework known as the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED® certification program. As a true sign of our dedicated focus on the environment, our headquarters has been awarded the prestigious USGBC's LEED®-EB Gold designation - which comprises our office, warehouse and parking complex located in South San Francisco, California. LEED certification for Existing Buildings was developed and is administered by the USGBC to address whole-building cleaning and maintenance issues (including chemical use), recycling programs, exterior maintenance programs, and building system upgrades.

Low energy-use lighting

In addition to our focus on creating a healthy work environment, we pursue design and operational strategies that reduce energy use. We make every effort to heat, cool and light our offices—and power our computers—with the minimum amount of energy needed, purchase Energy Star rated office equipment, and use sophisticated building control technologies to ensure systems are on only when we need them.

In our office and warehouse, we use special linear fluorescent fixtures in all main work areas throughout the building. We have found these to not only be extremely energy efficient, but they also provide a more even distribution of light where needed. Occupancy light sensors are used in our washrooms, our showroom and throughout our warehouse to avoid having the lights on all the time, minimizing energy consumption. Finally, large windows and skylights provide substantial daylight wherever possible, so that fewer lights have to be used.

 

Solar Electric Power Generation System

Unique to the business of wholesale distribution in California when installed, an advanced 36.74 kW DC solar PV electric generation system sits atop the roof of our worldwide headquarters in South San Francisco, California and generates in excess of 100% of our annual consumption of electricity. The system consists of 162 solar modules on our roof. This upgrade to our headquarters eliminates approximately 40 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually and is the carbon dioxide equivalent of planting over 200 trees each year. In addition, our solar power generation system will avoid producing other pollutants created by conventional energy generation including soot, mercury, NOx and Sox.

 

ChargePoint Networked Charging Station

One day in the future, many of us believe that we might all drive around in Google-guided electric cars and gas pumps will be replaced by clean charging stations. Recognizing this rapidly approaching change in transportation, CDS Advantage installed and activated one of the first networked ChargePoint Charging Stations in the parking lot of our South San Francisco headquarters.

We believe it is important for our company to take the first step to help create an electric vehicle infrastructure within our industry and region. This is another way we hope we might be able to help fulfill our commitment to lead the industry in environmentally friendly practices.

Our charging station was manufactured by Coulomb Technologies, a leader in electric vehicle charging solutions and has stations located worldwide. Our charging station is currently available for the use of our employees and customers, as well as for the use of the visiting public.

Reduced Water Use

At CDS Advantage, our bathrooms use low water use fixtures to reduce water consumption in sinks, toilets and urinals. Our landscaping has also been designed for low-water-use by grouping plants according to their water needs, using native plants together with low-water-use plants from around the world, and by the use of efficient irrigation systems that schedule irrigation wisely.

A Very Green Work Environment

Our work environment is full of things that encourage our employees to be more environmentally-friendly. For instance, we have eliminated all bottled water in our facility and replaced it with a water filtration system. We also recycle everything we can. Some of these items include paper, cardboard, newspaper, plastic, aluminum and even used ink cartridges.

Sustainable Vendors

When considering the products we consume in the course of conducting our business, CDS Advantage strives to use sustainable vendors whenever possible.