In honor of Earth Day, employees worked with SOLV to pick up garbage around Beaverton Creek. Vernier Software & Technology donated $1,500 to SOLV for use in their Green Team Program. SOLV’s Green Team Program is a hands-on, student-directed watershed restoration service-learning program. In 2011-12, Green Team will work with 1,000 students in 40 classes in 8 schools in the Portland Metropolitan Area.

In addition, we held an Empty the Parking Lot Challenge to encourage employees to walk, bike, or take public transit in an effort to clear out our parking lot for the day. A T-Shirt/Book/DVD exchange was held, and employees were encouraged to suggest new work-related conservation ideas.

This award was given to Vernier for its 128 solar panels, recycling practices, providing transit passes to all employees, LEED-EB Gold building, and other sustainability practices.

For Earth Day 2010, we continued our annual tradition of cleaning up trash around our building area, recycling tennis shoes, encouraging public transportation, and swapped used DVDs, CDs, and clothing.

New this year, we had an indoor scavenger hunt for employees to learn about all the environmental features at Vernier, such as vermicomposting, recycling, and solar energy.

Learn more about Vernier’s environmental commitment »

We were honored to be presented with the “Business Partner Conservation Leadership Award” by The Nature Conservancy at a ceremony held on October 29, 2009 in Portland, Oregon. In presenting the award, it was said about Vernier Software & Technology:

“In a state renowned for green business, this software company raises the bar not only by making products that connect teachers and students with nature, but also by practicing a conservation ethic that includes sustainably designed facilities, green commuting, employee volunteerism for the environment, and nearly 15 years of supporting the work of The Nature Conservancy.”

Read the full press release at Nature Conservancy News »

This award was given to Vernier for its 128 solar panels, recycling practices, providing transit passes to all employees, LEED-EB Gold building, and other sustainability practices.

In celebration of Earth Day, we held our annual “Swap It,” where employees swapped used books, shirts, and videos with each other. A recycling bin was provided for old tennis shoes, and everyone brought healthy snacks for the afternoon.

We also worked with SOLV to pick up trash and debris around Beaverton Creek. Dave Vernier and Jim McBride took a LabQuest with the Vernier GPS sensor to collect the location of the trees Vernier planted in Beaverton Creek a few years ago.

Did you celebrate Earth Day with Vernier technology? Let us know at info@vernier.com.

Learn more about Vernier and the Environment »

We have added 60, 60-watt Kaneka amorphous silicon solar photovoltaic panels to our roof. This brings our total rated output to 17,744 watts. Our existing solar panel system produced over 15,000 kWh of electrical energy last year, but with our new front panels, we hope to produce 18,000 kWh in 2008!

Check out our energy production on our solar power dashboard »

Best of all, you can download solar and weather data for Logger Pro for your own solar experiments and investigations!

Vernier Software & Technology is committed to providing an exceptional workplace for our employees, so when we began recent renovations on our current facility, the pursuit of a LEED-EB Gold certification was natural progression to quantify our accomplishments, learn how to further enhance our building’s operations and maintenance, and inspire others to adopt sustainable practices.

Learn more about our LEED certification

It was a physically exhausting job, but we had a good time and it will be very interesting to watch the trees grow over the next few years.