Environmental Stewardship — LEED
Load King is and has been a steward of the environment, a trait shared by our customers. Increasingly, construction projects are confirming their environmental leadership by applying for certification under the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program developed by the United States Green Building Council. With growing frequency Load King is being asked for information regarding LEED and our products.
Because Load King modular store installations are generally a small part of the overall facility where they are located, there is only a limited impact we can have on any particular site. This fact is further exaggerated by the scoring for LEED certified facilities, which heavily weighs factors such as building HVAC, lighting and plumbing that are outside of the scope of Load King.
Where Load King is able to impact sustainability we do. The marine grade plywood used for cabinet substrates is chain of custody certified against FSC Standard: Acd. Mn. 3.6 - FSC-POL-40-001. Our fixtures also are designed with low emitting materials and finishes and may contribute to indoor environmental air quality scoring under a variety of the section 4 credits. All equipment that Load King specifies is Energy Star rated and low energy lighting is used.
In terms of our manufacturing, Load King uses sophisticated tools to minimize material waste, recycles what waste there is and conforms to all state, city and federal environmental regulations. Our offices have a program for recycling as well.
Building Council
Local Stewardship
There is another element of sustainability and environmental stewardship that Load King practices which is poorly recognized by some of the popular measures, but is important nonetheless. As mentioned in the background section, Load King is housed in a building built in 1919 in downtown Jacksonville. Not only has the company restored a once derelict building to use, but we employ many individuals from the adjoining neighborhood. The building is located in a “high distress” census tract, with a poverty rate at 35.3%, unemployment of 1.8x the state average and Area Median Income at 50% of the state AMI.