A California senior dwelling neighborhood lately added an electrical automobile, in addition to 4 charging stations, for resident transportation wants.
The resident environmental committee at Tamalpais Marin in Greenbrae, CA, a Sequoia Living persevering with care retirement / life plan neighborhood, launched the initiative in an effort to make its neighborhood as energy-neutral as attainable.
Tamalpais Marin has a Tesla Model 3 sedan and is within the course of of shopping for an EV STAR PLUS, a 24-passenger electrical bus. The electrical automobiles shall be pushed by insured Tamalpais Marin drivers and can be capable of be utilized by residents to get to medical appointments, actions and excursions.
The neighborhood additionally added 4 charging stations for the brand new automobiles and to accommodate the rising variety of residents shopping for electrical automobiles. An organization spokeswoman advised McKnight’s Senior Living that six residents personal electrical automobiles, and extra are planning to purchase them.
Sequoia Director of Environmental Services Steward Dalie researched choices and put in the charging stations in response to residents’ wants, however company, workers and repair suppliers are also welcome to make use of them.
The electrical automobiles emit fewer greenhouse gasses and air pollution and contribute positively to native air high quality. They additionally cut back noise air pollution and are low-maintenance, in keeping with the Sequoia Living spokeswoman.
The automobile purchases are the latest of a number of environmental initiatives the neighborhood started in 2018. The neighborhood additionally presents composting, recycling and meals waste administration applications to divert waste and pollution from landfills. Tamalpais is among the largest senior dwelling communities in Marin County to adjust to California’s new invoice requiring recycling and composting, in keeping with the corporate.
The senior dwelling neighborhood additionally brings in rescued goats to graze on its grounds to assist create buffer area to mitigate fireplace hazard. The firm stated that the goats cut back using equipment, noise air pollution and invasive or poisonous weeds, and so they additionally cut back gasoline and insurance coverage prices. And a herd of goats eats 50,000 ft of grass per day, lowering panorama upkeep prices, in keeping with the spokeswoman.
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Sequoia Living launched a Climate Change advisory committee this 12 months that features workers, residents and different stakeholders, together with older grownup volunteers and donors. The committee’s function is to supervise the corporate’s Legacy Talks and provide concepts and steerage on subjects, audio system and communication strategies to have interaction older adults within the larger Bay space.
The Legacy Talks webinar collection is designed to tell, educate and advocate for more healthy dwelling. A Sequoia Living spokeswoman stated the corporate is devoted to sustainability via initiatives that have an effect on air pollution and water use, cut back meals waste and alleviate dependency on the utility grid.
Other Sequoia Living communities in California are also adopting environmental initiatives. At the Sequoias Portola Valley, 2,600 photo voltaic panels shall be put in and can produce 1.5 megawatts of energy, producing 105% of {the electrical} wants of the neighborhood. The plan is to take the neighborhood fully off the electrical energy grid.
Co-generation — involving the era of electrical energy and different vitality collectively, particularly using the steam left over from electrical energy era to provide warmth — is in place at the Tamalpais, Portola Valley and Sequoia San Francisco places.
Sequoia Living’s Viamonte at Walnut Creek, the operator’s latest CCRC, is a platinum LEED-certified neighborhood.
Other companywide environmental initiatives embody the conversion of fifty% of constructing lighting to LED lights, with plans to proceed upgrading lighting for vitality effectivity.
“We’ve taken action by creating our own electricity to reduce the dependency on the grid, we work with our partners on food waste and emission reduction, and now we are installing solar panels on one of our communities to improve its efficiency,” Ray Boudewyn, vice chairman of amenities and procurement, stated throughout a Legacy Talk.