Boston, MA – RGB Architects is being honored by the Environmental Business Council of New England (EBC NE) for its work in the development of a groundbreaking biochar facility in Rhode Island. The firm, the Quonset Soil facility, and other project consultants, are to be presented with the Ira W. Leighton, Jr. Outstanding Innovative Technology Award.
Quonset Soil Solutions uses pyrolysis, or the process of breaking down organic material with heat in the absence of oxygen, to generate renewable energy through converting clean wood waste into useful biochar. The EBC explains that “by diverting more than 54,000 tons of underutilized wood waste annually from landfills and incinerators, the facility prevents significant greenhouse gas emissions while creating long term environmental and economic value… As Rhode Island’s first commercial-scale wood pyrolysis facility, Quonset Soil Solutions sets a precedent for sustainable waste management”.
RGB Architects, which provided design services for the facility, has long been a leader in RI sustainable architecture. The firm designed the state’s first Net Zero facility, the Paul W. Crowley East Bay MET Center in Newport and was also a founding member of the Rhode Island chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, which sets the LEED rating standards for green building.
The Business Council will award RGB and their partners in this project at their annual APEX Awards on June 10 in Boston, MA. The awards event promotes “environmental and energy excellence” and the Ira W. Leighton Award specifically goes to an organization or individual(s) for developing or applying innovative technologies to solve problems or advance the state of the art in the areas of environmental management, energy resources and management, and climate change.
RGB congratulates the entire Quonset project team for their work to improve RI’s green future:
-Quonset Soil Solutions
-Green Development LLC
-SAGE Environmental, Inc.
-TURBODEN
-Wilkinson Associates, Inc.
-Building Engineer Resources, Inc. (BER)
-E2 Engineering
-C. A. Pretzer Associates
For more information about the Environmental Business Council’s APEX Awards and their honoring of the Quonset Soil Solutions project, visit Innovative Technology – Environmental Business Council of New England, Inc.