Cloquet company to 'dim the lights'

The Boldt Company offices across the country will turn off all non-essential lighting for Earth Hour at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, March 27. Local offices on Tall Pine Lane in Cloquet will participate and the company is also taking pledges from employees to do the same in their homes.
Last year approximately one-third of the employees nationwide pledged to dim their own lights in support and Boldts goal is to meet and exceed that again this year. The firm will turn off parking lot lights, illuminated signs and other non-essential systems in the building. Boldt is one of the leading sustainable contractors in the United States and has an active team dedicated to implementing green activities throughout the company.
Our intent is to engage a significant number of our employees to continually find ways to improve our environmental footprint, said Boldt CEO Tom Boldt. Our customers trust us to create green buildings so applying our knowledge about sustainability to our own work environments is a corporate goal.
Increasingly sustainable and green practices are not just good for the environment, but theyre good for business, said Ron Hanson, executive vice president/general manager for Boldts Minnesota operations. This is just one way we can raise awareness of sustainable issues for our local community.
The Boldt Company is Wisconsins first general contractor to become a participant of the Department of Natural Resources Green Tier program where companies set voluntary environmental performance standards. Nationwide, the firm has completed 25 projects built according to LEED guidelines including three recent Minnesota projects: the UMD Labovitz School of Business in Duluth and the Lake Country Power Service Center in Mt. Iron both receiving Gold Certifications and the St. Olaf Regents Hall Science Building receiving a Platinum Certification. The LEED system is a voluntary ranking system that determines how "green" a building is according to the U.S. Green Building Council
Earth Hour, which takes place Saturday, March 27, at 8:30 p.m. central time, is an event in which millions of Americans will turn out their lights for one hour in support of action on climate change. The event is done to symbolically conserve energy, limit light pollution and increase awareness of creating a cleaner, safer and more secure world. This is the third year of the event, which attracted more than 80 million participants in the U.S. last year. World-wide, nearly a billion people participated as lights dimmed on global icons such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Sydneys Opera House, the Great Pyramids of Gaza and New Yorks Empire State Building.