Sustainability
The Future is GREEN at O&G
O&G’s commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainable business practices is evidenced by the many initiatives undertaken across our diverse enterprise. This calendar highlights a sampling of our efforts. Such as how we have mitigated our carbon footprint by installing solar arrays at our Southbury and Beacon Falls locations and by replacing all light fixtures across over 40 fixed locations with energy efficient LEDs. It also points out how we are replacing our fleet with more efficient and cleaner operating models. Other initiatives focus on improving the sustainability of the products we sell, such as using pozzolans in our ready mix and CMU offerings derived from glass found in municipal waste streams. All our efforts are based on our commitment to continuously safeguard and improve the health and well-being of our customers and employees, along with the communities in which they live.
Investing In Solar Power
O&G has invested significantly in adding solar power to many of its facilities. Most notable is the 3,762-panel solar farm at O&G’s Southbury Quarry. The five-acre solar farm powers the entire complex. Surplus energy is stored and fed back into the utility’s grid. It’s the first such industrial application of its kind in Connecticut.
Watch this short video to learn more about this installation.
Energy-Efficient Asphalt
and Concrete Plants
To demonstrate our commitment to protecting the environment, O&G has taken the ENERGY STAR Challenge for Industry – to improve energy efficiency at all our asphalt and concrete plants by at least 10% within five years.
Read this case study to learn how O&G worked with Eversource Energy Efficiency Consultants to makes these important improvements and updates.
Greener Asphalt
The Asphalt Industry is committed to net-zero pavements by 2050, and O&G is doing its part.
We are constantly piloting new products to offer our clients more sustainable choices, like fiber reinforced asphalt, which is more durable and 100% recyclable. Click here to see our recent pilot program in Trumbull, CT.
Sustainable Concrete
O&G is a leader in producing high quality, low embodied carbon concrete. Whether we are using aggregate produced entirely by solar power from our Southbury quarry or incorporating post-consumer recycled products into our mixes we are on the cutting edge of sustainability in our industry. We are partnered with Climate Earth to offer EPD generation and carbon analysis of our concrete mixes.
Alternative Transportation for Materials
Materials are transported to and from our shoreline plants via tugboat and barge, which is equivalent to taking 4,000 trucks off the roads each month.
Sustainable Construction
O&G is rated among ENR’s Top 100 Green Contractors. We’ve built over 6 million square feet of LEED-certified or high-performance buildings. Most recently, we built Buckley Elementary School in Manchester, New England’s first verified net-zero elementary school.
Practicing "Pozzotive-ity"
Urban Mining CT is turning glass from local municipal recycling facilities into a substance called Pozzotive, an additive for concrete. It makes very high-performance, sustainable concrete. This creation has solved a municipal recycling problem, cut the energy needed to produce concrete, reduced CO2 emissions for that same process, and created a first-of-its-kind green building product. O&G was the first construction company in Connecticut to form a relationship with Urban Mining, making Pozzotive available to all our clients.
Preserving Mother Earth
When a quarry’s service life is over, we operate by the adage that mining and reclamation go hand in hand. We have replanted former active quarry property, stocked ponds with fish, opened dog parks and in Beacon Falls, donated a former quarry pond and the surrounding land to the town as a recreation area.
Co-Existing with Nature
At our Bridgeport asphalt plant, when an osprey found the crane to be the perfect summer home, our team built a platform out of the danger zone, which the bird decided was a suitable replacement for his nest! At the New Milford quarry, a population of bats has been hibernating in a defunct tunnel. Within ten years, mining will close in on this habitat. To do our part in the conservation of this bat species, a new bat cave was created, well out of harm’s way. This effort was recognized by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection with the GreenCircle Sustainability Award for Innovation.