H2Only Renewable Cleaning Puts Water Tech Into Practice

Sky Pro isn't the only one using water to clean and disinfect. According to this Cleanlink.com article, water can stand in for a closet full of chemicals, when used appropriately. See how others are helping to reduce these chemicals while still maintaing effective cleaning results. 

brendonhatcher, Flickr.com

When cleaning K-12 schools, the aim is to keep occupants safe and healthy, particularly as children are among the most vulnerable of populations.

And the students’ health habits aren’t always up to par. There’s a reason that viral outbreaks tend to occur in school environments: Not only do children have daily close contact, touching the same items, eating lunch together and sharing a restroom, but proper hand washing is not yet ingrained in their young minds. This article looks at two approaches to green cleaning in schools. Both building service contractors profiled share the same goal of reducing illness and therefore, absenteeism.

Ruben Rives’ belief in his cleaning system becomes apparent in the first few minutes of conversation. The owner of H2Only Renewable Cleaning in Doral, Fla., is passionate about his cleaning processes and his clients, including about 20 schools scattered throughout Dade County and Broward County in Florida, as well as several in Atlanta.

Rives uses “renewable cleaning technology,” which is the removal of chemicals and pathogens utilizing water as the key ingredient.

He devised and completed a pilot program with a school in Broward County four years ago, reducing chemical usage and incorporating microfiber cloths, ionized water and a dry steam vapor system in its place.

“For us, it has to do with chemical-free cleaning. It’s basically making sure that you do touch-points on a daily basis, and use as few toxic chemicals as possible,” says Rives

To read more about the extraordinary power of water in this article, click here.

Sky Pro’s Skydrowasher™ High Pressure Window Washing System

For window washers who use boatswain chairs or scaffolding, navigating buildings with irregular window offsets, overhangs, insets, recesses or other architectural challenges can be dangerous and time consuming. Even flat building surfaces require highly trained employees, which makes it more difficult to find qualified professionals.

Since each building is different, window washers must decide the best course of action for each individual descent. Adjusting the boatswain’s chair or scaffolding requires precision, which makes this traditional window washing method a slow, steady process. There is additional downtime when workers have to make adjustments each time they are ready to move on to the next section.

To help manage these challenges, there is a solution that is both safe and effective. Sky Pro’s Skydrowasher™ High Pressure Window Washing System uses high-pressure water to effectively scrub a building surface from a distance up to three feet. It is ideal for cleaning buildings with irregular exterior surfaces where traditional efforts are very difficult or even impossible. They are available in 4-foot and 8-foot cleaning path models to meet a range of needs. Find out more about the Skydrowasher on the Sky Pro website.

USGBC Releases the Top 10 States in Nation for LEED Green Building

According to this article on CleanLink.com, Minnesota has recently been added to the top 10 list of states in the Nation for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Buildings with 1.55 square feet of LEED space per resident. As part of Pure Water Window & Building Cleaning Systems, Sky Pro does its share in helping contribute to this cause. 

Tim Evanson, Flickr.com

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has released the Top 10 States for its LEED green building rating system. The list highlights the regions around the country that are at the forefront of sustainable building design and transformation. Utilizing less energy, LEED-certified spaces save money for families, businesses and taxpayers; reduce carbon emissions; and contribute to a healthier environment for residents, workers and the larger community.

“The list of the Top 10 States for LEED is a continuing indicator of the widespread recognition of our national imperative to create healthier, high-performing buildings that are better for the environment as well as the people who use them every day,” said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chair, USGBC. “As the economy recovers, green buildings continue to provide for jobs at every professional level and skill set from carpenters to architects. I congratulate everyone in these states whose contributions to resources saved, toxins eliminated, greenhouse gases avoided, and human health enhanced help guarantee a prosperous future for our planet and the people who call it home.”

To continue reading, click here.

Major Cities Unite to Cut Building Pollution

Minneapolis isn't the only city "going green". This Buildings article sheds light on what other cities are doing to help the environment.

Doug Kerr, Flickr.com 

The mayors from 10 major U.S. cities announced they will undertake a united effort to significantly boost energy efficiency in their buildings.

The mayors will be participating in the new City Energy Project (CEP), an initiative from the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Institute for Market. The following 10 cities will be CEP’s first participants: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Orlando, Philadelphia, and Salt Lake City.

HOW IT WORKS
Through this new project, the cities will develop their own locally tailored plans to advance energy efficiency and reduce waste in their large buildings, which can represent roughly 50% of their citywide square footage. These plans, which will include multiple integrated strategies, can make more progress in each city than any one program or policy could alone.

The CEP will offer energy expertise to help guide the cities through the planning, designing, and implementing processes. The energy efficiency solutions that CEP will help the cities develop are flexible to each city’s unique situation, supporting the following goals:

To read the full article, click here.

Testing Chemical-Free Cleaning Efficacy

According to this article on cleanlink.com, some studies show that the effectiveness of sanitizing technologies produce differing results when tested in working environments vs lab tests. 

soapylovedeb, Flickr.com 

Vince Elliott, president and CEO of The Chemical Free Cleaning Network, Baltimore, Md., and author of “Extreme Green Cleaning,” is no stranger to water-activated cleaning solutions; he’s been studying their efficacy for some time.

Recently, Elliott connected with a custodial cleaning executive overseeing a high-traffic facility to examine the following questions:
• Do the various water-activated sanitizing technologies actually reduce Reflective Light Unit (RLU) levels as measured by an ATP meter?
• How do the differing technologies compare to each other? Does one perform better or worse, or are they all basically the same?
• What differences in efficacy are there between plain tap water and water-activated technologies?

While Elliott’s research is ongoing, he has tested 760 surfaces in the facility so far and has learned a thing or two about the sanitizing products being used.

Click here to read more. 

One World Trade Center Officially U.S.’s Tallest Building

The One World Trade Center in New York will be the 3rd tallest building in the world upon completion. Look at what else this buildings.com article has to say about the new construction. 

Chicago’s Willis Tower can no longer lay claim to being the tallest building in the U.S.

Shannon, Flickr.com 

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat convened its Height Committee to rule on the official height of One World Trade Center (1WTC) in New York. The committee reached a consensus that the New York building’s height to its architectural top is 1,776 feet.

The two issues regarding the true height of the building were:

The nature of the mast structure on top of the tower.
The datum line (bottom point) from which the height to architectural top was determined.

Due to design changes that resulted in the removal of the architectural cladding around the mast at the top of the structure, it became unclear whether the structure was in fact a “spire” – a vertical element that completes the architectural expression of the building and is intended as permanent, or whether it was an antenna – a piece of functional-technical equipment that was subject to change.

To read more from this article, click here.

What You Need to Know About the FDA-Proposed Rule on Antibacterial Soap

From an article posted on issa.com, the FDA is reevaluating "active ingredients" in antibacterial soap due to its widespread use and pressing concerns from certain health care groups. 

Soap Bubbles, The Italian Voice 

After more than 20 years in the making, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sought to bring closure on its rulemaking regarding antibacterial hand and body soaps by issuing a proposed rule in the December 17, 2013, edition of the Federal Register, the official journal of the federal government of the United States.

The FDA’s proposed rule would require manufacturers of antibacterial hand and/or body washes to demonstrate that their products are safe for long-term daily use and are more effective than plain soap and water in preventing illness and the spread of certain infections. Under the proposal, if companies do not demonstrate such safety and effectiveness, these products would need to be reformulated or relabeled to remain on the market.

The scope of the proposed rule is limited to antibacterial hand and/or body washes that are intended to be used with water. Hand sanitizers not intended to be rinsed off with water, antibacterial wipes, and antibacterial products used in health care settings will be the subject of future FDA rulemakings.

Click here to read the full article on issa.com