10 CONNECTICUT GREEN GUIDE • FALL 2016 www.CTGreenGuide.com
Berlin HQ a leader in
Comcast's energy efforts
I
n recent years, cable, telephone and Internet pro-
vider Comcast has made an increasing commitment
to going green.
Early last year at its Western New England Region head-
quarters in Berlin, Comcast installed a 400-kilowatt Bloom
Energy fuel cell plant, which was a first for the company in
the United States. Today, the plant is providing 98 percent
of the 80,000-square-foot facility's power load.
Since Jan. 2015, the fuel cell has generated more
than 3.6 million kilowatt hours of power and reduced
Comcast's carbon emissions by more than 2.2 million
pounds — the equivalent of removing 200 vehicles from
the road for a year.
The fuel cell isn't Comcast's only green investment
in Connecticut.
The company carefully monitors its technicians' vehicles
for excessive idling. That effort resulted in a carbon-dioxide
reduction of more than 310,000 pounds over a six month
period that began in 2015.
Comcast's New England region has also recycled nearly
2.4 million pounds of modems, cable boxes, remotes and
coaxial cable since 2011, including 760,000 pounds last year.
The Berlin homebase gathers the used gear from 21
Comcast sites across the region. The company hires a spe-
cialty recycler from Western Massachusetts, Environmen-
tal Integrity Inc., to pick up and recycle the equipment.
More recently, Comcast completed a project at its
Bristol data center that will optimize the use of outdoor
air in the winter to cool servers.
The company has also installed motion-sensing LED
interior lighting at an Enfield facility. Comcast's of-
fices are painted with low VOC paints, while restrooms
feature paper products certified by the independent
nonprofit Green Seal.
Comcast
PROJECT ELEMENTS: Facility-wide; energy and climate
change; material management
START DATE: Jan. 2015 and earlier
ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: Ongoing
Comcast officials
ceremoniously
flipped the switch
last year on the
company's Berlin
fuel cell.
PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED
GreenCircle Sustainability Awards 2016
CATEGORY: Business
