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January 22, 2009
Furlong wants a green life and a green 2010 Winter Games
John Furlong – the public face for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games – is modest about his efforts to go green.
But prompt him a little, and he’ll admit that he gets up early and rides his bicycle to work.
“I would never have imagined in my lifetime that I would be getting up in the morning at 5 o’clock and cycling to work two or three days a week,” says the recognizable, Ireland-born Vancouver Organizing Committee CEO. “And I have three bicycles. I used to not have one,” he adds.
His devotion to the cause made him a natural member for Team Power Smart, a role that he keenly embraced.
'I don't like to be a bad example'
Although Power Smart hasn’t done an energy audit of Furlong’s house, he’s confident enough about his energy conservation know-how to say that it would receive a decent grade.
“I would not say I would have an ‘A’ but I would have done fairly well,” he says.
“I am paying attention. It’s on my mind. I don’t mindlessly walk out of the door in the morning. I think the other thing is I’m in a reasonably high profile position and I recognize what comes with that is a bit of responsibility. I don’t like to be a bad example.
“I see it in two ways. One, there’s the responsibility we all have today to be just smart, more economical, and to recognize that we are in the 21st century and we are in different times than we used to be. And under Power Smart, you are spending less money. It’s just good business.”
Furlong drives a hybrid vehicle. He does not leave lights on at his Richmond home. He uses CFL bulbs in his six-year-old, roughly 2000 sq. ft. home and does not get fussy over the type of light they emit.
“I have those everywhere,” he says. “I don’t care what light they look like. I think the fact that they’re so effective in that they do what they do makes them look good to me.”
Spreading the word
He says his efforts have caught on with his family, comprised of five children and six grandchildren.
“I have a big family and it’s fairly grown up. I would say for the most part, my kids who have families of their own are all believers. And they pay attention and are doing moreso as they get older.”
The VANOC building is LEED gold certified (a third-party program called Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), and Furlong says his staff works in a green-sensitive culture. You might say it’s in their face.
“It’s an energy efficient building that meets the standards – a building that an organization like ours should be in.”
Richmond Oval sets high standard
“There is a real awareness of a need to be a 21st century building company,” adds Furlong. “There’s nowhere in our building that you can go where you are not reminded of irresponsibility,” he adds. “For example, you will get on the elevator and see a sign that says ‘If you took the stairs, you would have saved the energy that it took to drive this elevator.’ So we’re constantly talking to our people.”
It’s a cost-saving measure too, of course. But Furlong has a mission to hold the world’s greenest Olympics Games ever, and he’s entered into partnerships with organizations such as BC Hydro and municipalities that share the same goal.
“We have partners who believe this and see this as a key part of planning for the future,” he says. “And the athletes villages are spectacularly well designed with energy conservation in mind. I would say as far as the Winter Olympics is concerned, we are No. 1.
“Across the Olympic theatre, we have worked with a lot of partners who have tried to reduce the size of the footprint of the venues to build venues that are responsible. The Richmond Oval is in its class probably the most energy efficient building in the world. It is a LEED gold certified building and far and away the best speed skating facility in the world, and it has features in it that I can’t even list for you… the latest technologies, water recovery, power, design, everything.
“The water that comes off the roof is reclaimed and it goes back into the building to flush toilets and so on. It’s a very thoughtful building and a real example of what you can do if you decide to get serious about building and efficiency.
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“And over time, the cost to build in these features will be recovered, but the building will forever be an example to everyone else who will build a facility like this. And millions will see it on television.”
So why didn’t previous organizing committees push for a similarly green purpose?
“The difficulty for organizing committees in the past is they have an enormous project to build and venues to spread out over hundreds of square miles. They build them over a period of time, they get challenged by budgets and cost and they start to trim the things that are easy to trim.
“In the past, it would have been easy for organizations to say, ‘We can’t do that, it costs too much. We’ll do it in future.’ It never gets done.”
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Source: BC Hydro
