IceStone Part II

Okay, even I didn't think I'd ever write two blog postings about countertops, but the IceStone story has some cool parts to it. And believe it or not, there will be a third (but that's another story and a whole lot of fun to look forward to.....you'll see). Most of the countertops were part of a very generous donation by Eric Jenkins, Julia Klein and their company, CHBriggs. They've been some of our biggest supporters during this building process with generous financial, technical and moral support. Their company is the region's leading distributor of interior building materials.

A few years ago, I got to know Bill McDonough through some work he did in educating foundations about green buildings, an area we were already involved in through our Metropolitan Edison Sustainable Energy Fund. We decided to bring Bill here to speak at our annual meeting and any of you who were there remember what a powerful, amazing speech he gave. Bill is clearly one of the leading thinkers in the field of environmentally sustainable design.

Bill arrived early for his speech, so Julia and Eric and I had a chance to chat with him for about an hour. At the time, CHBriggs was beginning to think about getting more heavily into the distribution of environmentally friendly products. Bill was beginning to think about creating a process to certify the environmental friendliness of products. And we were just beginning to think about what our new office space might look like. The ideas flew fast and furious at that brief meeting.

Today, one of Bill's companies, MBDC, has a process to certify products that meet the highest environmental standards. The process is known as "Cradle to Cradle" and IceStone is the first and only durable surface to meet MBDC's rigorous testing standards. Bill and his company have made it possible for end-users like Berks County Community Foundation to make informed judgments about what materials are actually environmentally (and people) friendly. And that helps make it easier to build green.

Likewise, the increased availability of these products through companies like CHBriggs makes it easier to acquire those materials. One of the reasons that green buildings actually did cost more in the past (though they don't now) is that it was hard to get environmentally sustainable products. With regional companies like CHBriggs getting heavily into the distribution of those products, that problem has gone away, along with the additional cost.

So, in many ways, our building was made possible by Bill McDonough and the folks at CHBriggs.