State of the art renovations announced for Golden Gate Wholesale Produce Market

September 21, 2015

Golden Gate Wholesale Produce Market has released an exciting renovation plan to improve their facility. The renovation plan was developed through extensive research and collecting feedback from customers and businesses. The Golden Gate Wholesale Produce Market is just a short drive from any location in the San Francisco Bay area and offers the widest selection of fresh fruits, vegetables and organics in Northern California.

The renovation will benefit San Francisco residents by offering new jobs, green utility improvements, and enhance the customer’s shopping experience. The market plays an important role in San Francisco’s economy and the $8 million dollar proposal is exciting for all parties involved.

“The state-of-the-art enhancements to be made over the next year include new solar/energy efficiency upgrades, cold chain food storage management and worker safety systems, as well as smoother traffic flow within the facility, which is a mile from San Francisco International Airport on Highway 101,” said Peter Carcione, President of the Golden Gate Produce Market.

The market serves approximately 15 million residents. To best serve their growing community of diverse customers, they have an array of ethnic and specialty produce. The Market itself strives to promote healthy lifestyles and habits through their consistent commitment to food safety and fresh produce consumption.

Renovations planned include: Solar panel installations, additional parking, improved cold goods storage, and rehab of the buildings exterior and signage.

In the Market’s 53 years of operation, this is the largest renovation they have planned. This will be influential to the economy of Northern California, as it is currently the largest produce terminal within that area. The Golden Gate Produce Market employs 475 people and has twenty-three independent and family-owned businesses that also operate within the market. In order to create a better working environment for the employees, the renovation plan has multiple upgrades that will increase the workers safety with additions such as adding better lighting and developing loading dock safeguards.

Decreasing the Market’s carbon footprint is also a large part of the renovation plan by implementing new systems to help with decreasing energy consumption and waste. The Market is already “green” as they use recyclable materials and encourage others to recycle outside of the Market. The Market is now partnering with South San Francisco Scavenger to increase the efficiency and ease of recycling and composting. To make the Market even more “green” the main goal of these energy renovations is to drastically reduce the Market’s energy intake from the power grid by the end of 2016. This will be accomplished partly through the planned solar panel additions that are expected to generate more than 2,015,648 kilowatt-hours of electricity every year according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

For more information about the renovation visit their site Golden Gate Produce Terminal and stay tuned for these exciting changes!

Home Matters® announces the three winners of its “Re-defining Home Challenge”

September 16, 2015

Affordable housing is a growing concern for the San Francisco area and the nation as a whole. Home Matters®, wants to make Home a reality for all, and today announced three winners of its Re-defining Home: A Design Challenge contest. This contest is the first US-wide competition that aims to address affordable and sustainable housing. The competition, supported by the Wells Fargo Housing Foundation, the Autodesk Foundation and in partnership with San Francisco Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIASF), challenged architects and designers to re-imagine the Home of the future and curb our nation’s housing crisis.

“The 1st Place winner did an exceptional job of designing a project called “HomeWork” which pairs home with work, providing both housing units and space for small businesses for individuals and families that need support to start or run their own business. This live work model is combined with shared amenity spaces to encourage community building, and that truly grabbed all the judges’ attention,” said Home Matters’ CEO Dave Brown.

The program’s core movement hopes to spark a powerful public dialogue about making better homes and communities for all. Research studies have shown that having an affordable, stable home and community can greatly affect one’s life – from better health and educational outcomes to improved public safety, economic indicators and personal success. The program hopes to inspire practical solutions that change the way that society thinks about shelter and community by introducing this bold new approach. The three winners were selected because their designs went beyond housing and animated the connections between housing and other important social factors of community life.

An entire community of partners across the country made this contest a reality including: AIASF to AIA Atlanta, AIA Austin, AIA California Council, AIA Chicago, AIA Denver, AIA Dallas, AIA Los Angeles, AIA New Orleans, AIA Northern Virginia, American Architecture Foundation, Autodesk Foundation, Boston Society of Architects/AIA, Enterprise Community Partners, Public Architecture, SPUR and the Urban Land Institute.

Winners:

1st Place Winner: Geoff DeOld & Emily Andersen of DeOld Andersen Architecture, LLC with their project entitled “HomeWork”. They received $10,000 in prize money. “HomeWork” brought out fundamental ideas of the Home Matters message: that wherever you call Home in this country, it should be a safe and nurturing place to live – Geoff and his team really captured that with their design.”

2nd Place Winner: Jerry Kler, A.I.A of Jerry Kler Architects with their project entitled, “Cross Pollination”. He received $5,000 in prize money.

3rd Place Winner: Ben Tillman, an Architectural Designer with his project entitled “New Leaf”. He received $3,000 in prize money.

Emily Andersen of DeOld Andersen Architecture, LLC, on receiving the 1st place award, commented, “We entered this competition because we care about urbanism, and good housing is a key component of a good city, and affordable housing is a huge issue in many cities. Creating good urbanism means creating a mixture of uses that can eventually reinforce communities. We used this competition to test these ideas.”

The Home Matters® movement was launched in 2013 by a group of visionary housing professionals and leaders that identified a gap in public discourse. Fundamental social challenges in our nation – from health to education, to public safety, the economy and individual success – all have a common denominator: their connection to Home. With a high-level, holistic approach to housing, Home Matters underlines the link between Home and these core societal issues such as health, education, safety, individual success and the economy.

San Francisco bay area selected for Google’s Project Sunroof program launch

September 10, 2015

Ready to make the jump to solar power, but not sure how to get started? Google launched Project Sunroof in August and San Francisco bay area homeowners are now just a few clicks away from discovering if solar energy is a practical option for their home.

The program will tell the homeowner how much sunlight hits their rooftop throughout the year while factoring in roof orientation, shade from trees and nearby buildings, and local weather patterns. Google has created a simple formula to take the guesswork out of solar panel installation. Google has partnered with Vivint Solar, a leading distributor in solar energy systems to offer affordable solutions for interested homeowners.

“It’s simple. It’s affordable. And together with Google, we’re able to let customers all over the country know that solar power is a lot simpler and more affordable than they might have thought.” Dwain Kinghorn, Chief Strategy and Innovations Officer at Vivint Solar

San Francisco homeowners can visit Project Sunroof and simply enter their address for an initial estimate. A homeowner can also enter their typical electric bill cost for more customized results. The tool will combine the information to estimate the amount a homeowner could potentially save with solar panels, and it can help connect them with local solar providers, like Vivint Solar.

“Vivint Solar teaming up with Google is giving homeowners across the country immediate insight, information and access to rooftop solar power—that’s good for everyone,” said Greg Butterfield, CEO of Vivint Solar.

The new online tool is being tested in San Francisco Bay Area, Fresno, and greater Boston. Roof condition and sun exposure are important factors to consider when exploring solar energy options. For further details check out the FAQ section on the site.

Sources:

Project Sunroof

Vivint Solar

PR Newswire