• Sustainability--Green Building, Waste Minimization, Recycling
• Global Climate Change--Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Offsets
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Will this generation leave a better world for the generations that follow?  Can healthy buildings be constructed on contaminated sites?  Do recycling and waste minimization programs really work?  Can greenhouse gas emissions be reduced in ways that make sense economically?

The politically-correct answer to each of these questions is "yes."  A more thoughtful answer is probably "it depends." 

What constitutes a better world?  What is the nature of the contamination beneath the building?  Will the recycling or waste minimization program cause more environmental harm than good?  Is it practical for a growing business to reduce its carbon footprint in absolute terms? 

SCS Engineers is one of the few consulting firms that specialized in environmental engineering services before the US Environmental Protection Agency was formed in 1970. SCS professionals understand environmental systems, and have the experience to help clients find a practical approach to attain and maintain a proper balance between their missions and the environmental consequences of their operations.

Our clients provide important services to society, and we are pleased to help them do so while minimizing adverse environmental and economic impacts. For example, many of our clients operate solid waste landfills that produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas.  We design, install, and operate landfill gas collection systems that destroy the equivalent of more than 25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide every year.

As another example, many of our clients are land developers who construct urban infill and other forms of smart growth. We design, construct and operate systems that protect these projects from historical contamination that might be present. Billions of dollars of real estate development in contaminated areas (“Brownfields”) have been made possible by our work.

  Sustainability Services

• Smart Growth and Brownfield Redevelopment site assessment, remediation design, construction, and O&M
• Building Deconstruction and innovative debris recycling and management
• Integrated Solid Waste Management Planning, including recycling, materials recovery, waste minimization, and residuals management
• Green Procurement Procedures, including appropriate recycled content and life-cycle toxicity considerations
• Healthy Indoor Environments, including vapor protection systems and management of mold, asbestos, and lead-based paint issues
• Integrated Landscape Programs, including plant selection, composting, and water re-use
• Energy Conservation Measures, energy management, and renewable energy
• Sustainability Management Systems, including development of policy, goals, procedures, metrics, and audits to address long-term strategic environmental management

SCS's Sustainability Projects

SCS Engineers Recognized as a Climate Action Leader by the California Climate Action Registry

  June 15, 2010:
Environmental Protection Agency -- 40 CFR Parts 86 and 98, Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse Gases, Proposed Rule (PDF)