Successfully Going Green 

On May 21, SACC-Chicago together with its member Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP organized the first SACC-Chicago event focusing on sustainability. 

The focus of the event was sustainable office practices.  Sonnenschein, that has spent the last two years reviewing the environmental impact of the law firm's offices and business shared its experiences with more than 50 SACC members and Sonnenschein clients.  

Alex Tait discussed the challenges of reliably measuring electrical consumption in large office buildings lacking sufficient metering systems and how switching to new technologies and devices can have a signficant impact on energy consumption.  

Bob Messerly talked about the impact of employee commuting patterns and how tenants can have an impact through negotiating "green provisions" in their leases. 

Mike Smoczynski discussed the mutlitude of projects that Sonnenchein has undertaken to limit waste of office and cafeteria products in its offices, the increased use of recycled products and the tremendous savings that the firm has attained by doing so. 

The panel discussion quickly became a very interactive event, with questions about all aspects of sustainable office practices being asked. Panelists and guests stayed long after the panel discussion was over to continue discussing. 

 The event also provided ample opportunity to network with the other guests, as well as to meet with two other SACC members that were exhibiting their green products: PC Mall showed off its green computing products, and Konftel was there to talk about the benefits of telephone and video conferencing.  

Look out for invitiations to future green events from SACC-Chicago!