San Mateo company nets “green” award with creative solar project

Powered by solar panels, firm earns honor for its sustainability

By Kyveli Diener
San Mateo County Times

The maple floors of BarkerBlue Digital Imaging are covered in black scuff marks, an homage to the roller skaters who frequented the floorboards during the 52 years that the building stood as the popular Rolladium skating rink.

The hill-like roof, however, is a testament to modernity, covered almost completely by powerful solar panels, which helped the company win its first sustainability award earlier this month.

BarkerBlue was presented with the San Mateo Area Chamber of Commerce Green Business Award on Jan. 15. A week later, the company was certified as a green business by the Bay Area Green Business Program.

This recognition reflects a success in the company’s business goals, which focus on adapting the printing business to suit today’s technological abilities and environmental needs.

“We’re a printing company that cannibalizes our product,” said Gene Klein, BarkerBlue’s chief executive since 1990. “We’re helping our clients print less. We feel that paper is just one form of communication, and not always the best one. Everything about our business model is to print less and make the information more relevant.”

The steps taken by the company to attain that model include printing exclusively on recycled paper and hosting an online digital planning room where drawings for construction projects can be scanned into the site and accessed from anywhere, resulting in 25 percent to 50 percent less physical printing for each job, Klein said.

Other sustainable moves include banning paper plates and cups from the kitchen in favor of permanent flatware, low-flow toilets, fluorescent lighting, and of course, the 654 solar panels coating the roof. The idea to go solar was presented to Klein two years ago by his general manager, John Roach, a vegan who has led the sustainability charge in the BarkerBlue family.

“John is very much an environmentalist, and I’ve learned from him,” Klein said. “He’s inspired me.”

Roach worked closely with a team from Sunlight Electric, the San Francisco-based solar design and retail company that installed BarkerBlue’s $1.1 million system. Rob Erlichman, the chief executive of the 6-year-old solar company, said Klein presented the “desire to make smart business decisions and an open-mindedness to looking for creative solutions” that Sunlight Electric looks for in a client. The 1949 building didn’t hurt, either.

“The historic building presented both challenges and opportunities,” Erlichman said. “The opportunity is to take full advantage of the barrel-shaped roof. The average tilt on the southern side is 14 degrees, which is close to ideal for solar production.”

The challenge, however, was introducing 21st-century technology to a 20th-century structure. Sunlight Electric met this obstacle by installing nearly half a mile of structural reinforcement wood to make sure the equipment wouldn’t pull out of the roof, Erlichman said.

The resulting 155-kilowatt solar power system, which was completed in November and began generating power by mid-December, meets approximately 75 percent to 80 percent of the company’s power needs, saving them “easily” $55,000 annually in operating costs, Roach said.

The panels create enough energy to power 22 homes, and they keep 270,000 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the air each year, according to the company, which displays live feeds of the system’s energy production 24 hours a day on its Web site, BarkerGreen.com.

And when the building uses less power on holidays and weekends, the excess energy generated by the solar panels is fed back into the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. grid, supplying clean energy to the surrounding neighborhood. Roach said he hopes BarkerBlue’s highly visible solar efforts will inspire similar actions in others.

“We really try to set an example for our customers and everyone else that it can be done,” Roach said. “I think solar should be put on every house that’s built, because it’s free power.”

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