Sustainability and Longfellow
As a pioneer in several sustainable business practices, Longfellow has made the following changes:
- Installed a co-generation unit that heats the swimming pool and showers with the heat generated by burning natural gas and creates additional electricity at the Longfellow Health Club
- Installed waterless urinals that have eliminated more than 80% of all flushes in the men’s rooms and have saved more than 45,000 gallons of water per urinal, per year
- Replaced all 3.5-4 gallons per minute shower heads with 2 gallons per minute shower heads, saving hundreds of thousands of gallons of water every year
- Replaced tube florescent lights with energy-efficient T-8 lights
- Replaced 1000 watt metal halite halide lights on the tennis courts with 500 – 700 watt induction fluorescent bulbs that increase the quality and brightness of the light and reduces the wattage by 40%
- Installed a state-of-the-art salt water purification system in our swimming pools to provide a safer and more pleasant swimming experience
- Instituted a comprehensive recycling system throughout all of the Longfellow Health Clubs
- Replaced harsh chemical cleaners with non-toxic natural soaps and disinfectants
- Installed Accelerator hand dryers that save energy and reduce our use of paper hand towels
- Replaced most of the HVAC units at Wayland with state-of-the-art energy-efficient units, and purchased an energy monitoring system
Sustainable Business Network
Longfellow has developed a justifiable reputation as the greenest health club in the United States. Longfellow founder, Laury Hammel, also founded the Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts (SBN) in 1988 (SBNMass.org).
The mission of SBN is to build a strong economy that is local, green, and fair. SBN offers a wide variety of programs that are ably explained on its web site SBNMass.org.
SBN manages the Sustainable Business Leader Program (SBLP) that supports local businesses in becoming more environmentally sustainable and reducing their carbon footprint. Longfellow was the first graduate of the SBLP that has grown to include over 100 certified local businesses.
