VALUE STATEMENT OF REMAINS LIGHTING

SAFE AND REWARDING EMPLOYMENT

• United States labor, environmental, worker health and safety laws provide a base-line measure of security that our partners in our supply chain are treated fairly and the environment is not negatively impacted by our actions. When a product is made in an unregulated venue, the real cost of that product does not show up on its price tag. It shows up in the polluted environment, the underage and/or injured worker, and in the loss of jobs in places that do enforce wage, safety and environmental protections. Products are cheaper to manufacture overseas because there are few-and-far-between restraints on companies in those low-regulatory countries to provide a safe workplace, to pay fair wages (or pay at all), to avoid pollution and to eschew child labor. Companies that outsource to unregulated venues profit from this because they only pay a minute fraction of the global costs for which they are responsible. We choose to buy locally wherever possible and make relationships with responsible trading partners.

• We foster a safe workplace environment in which employees are recognized for their contributions and encouraged to take ownership of their responsibilities. We maintain an open dialogue with our staff.

• We invest in our employees, training in new skills and offering out-of-house educational opportunities.

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• Remains Lighting rigorously follows all United States and local municipal environmental protection regulations.

• We run a "closed-loop" plating system with no discharges to municipal water sources. This enables us to certify that we are in line with “best practice” in material efficiency and pollution control.

• Our newest machinery has energy-saving variable speed drives, and older machinery is retrofitted with energy-saving drives wherever possible.

• We promote the efficient use of raw materials to limit the impact of mining, refining and manufacturing metals and chemicals, not only through “best practices”; but also through dedicated recycling of scrap metal and reuse of plastic and cardboard.

• Manufacturing locally minimizes transportation burdens, including fuel consumption and noise and air pollution, saves wear and tear on our roads and bridges, and saves time and money.

• We offer an incentive to our clients to specify re-used cartons and packing material.

• We package our products with cornstarch “peanuts” and 100% recycled kraft and tissue paper with the space-efficient Geami packaging system. This system expands flat rolls of paper into high quality protection for shipping.

• We offer product reclamation for any Remains Lighting fixtures no longer in use.

• We are bicycle-friendly (providing covered bike parking) and encourage our employees to walk, carpool, and take mass transit.

• We have given up bottled water delivery and installed tap water filtration to minimize the external transportation, extraction, and pollution associated with delivery of water and production of plastic bottles.

• We enthusiastically recycle whatever our local municipalities allow and provide composting on site for organic waste.

• Our company-wide cleaning program is environmentally-friendly.

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THE REMAINS FACTORY IS A LEED PROJECT BUILDING
Click here to view our Renewable Energy Certificate

The Remains Lighting factory building in Brooklyn is on track for a gold-star LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification from the US Green Building Council. This green building rating system sets the highest standards for building construction and maintenance.

Green roof and solar panels
(Click to view our daily Solar Energy Production Statistics!)

• We have designed and installed a new factory roof with high-value insulation to cut heating gas consumption. The roof surface is highly reflective in order to reduce the "heat island" effect of dark surfaces on an urban setting.

• We have planted a 1500 square feet garden of cooling and insulating sedums on our roof. This “Green Roof” functions as an urban wildlife habitat, improves storm water management, and acts as a carbon sink, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

• We have installed a 16.5KW solar power array on the roof of our Brooklyn factory to provide up to 30% of our electric power and add to the non-polluting “green” mix of power in the city’s grid.

• We buy 100% wind power for our flagship Manhattan showroom and the balance of all of our power needs in our Brooklyn factory.

• We converted 1100 square feet of car parking spaces into a fruit tree and vegetable garden along with a terrace made of bricks salvaged from the construction phase of our renovation.

• Our storm water retention system captures and stores rainwater in cisterns for use in irrigating the green roof and the side-yard garden.

Parking area replaced with vegetable garden and patio

Our Belvidere Street production facility in Brooklyn

• We have achieved a 40%+ reduction over ASHRE code in our demand for water through the installation of water-saving dual-flush, low-flow toilets and automatic faucets throughout the building.

• The lighting system is designed for maximum efficiency using a combination of daylight harvesting and sophisticated sensors to switch high efficiency fixtures.

• Our cooling system is a system of ceiling fans and retractable awnings on thermostatic sensors that will reduce the heat load of the sun when it is necessary and move air for employee comfort. This system of natural cooling has significantly less environmental impact than a traditional HVAC system and requires far less energy to operate.

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