catalogue > green business

Metro Lighting was awarded the 2011 Acterra Business Environmental Award for Sustainable Built Environment for our new showroom and manufacturing facility in Berkeley.

WHAT MAKES METRO LIGHTING "GREEN"?

1. Quality, durability.

Our items are designed to last a lifetime. We use quality brass and copper parts and antique style construction. That means that a fixture you buy from Metro might be rewired, repaired or refinished by your grandchild someday. While most other products sold today will end up in a landfill sooner than later, Metro Lighting still builds fixtures "the way they used to."

2. Energy Efficient Products.

We offer a full line of LED and Compact Fluorescent fixtures, using GU24 sockets and bulbs. These two-pin twist-and-lock bulbs comply with California's Title 24 energy code and will fit into most of our fixtures. The LED light bulbs use just 13.5 watts to provide the equivalent light output of a 60 watt incandescent bulb (800 lumens.) They are warm white (2700K,) dimmable, and rated for 50,000 hours of life. The compact fluorescent bulbs come in 13w, 18w and 26w varieties (60/75/100 watt equivalents.) We also offer the same bulbs with a screw-in base to fit our standard incandescent fixtures. For more information on ordering High Efficacy Fixtures (High Efficiency) click here.

3. Energy Use / Solar

Our operations are nearly 100% powered by our 21 kilowatt rooftop solar array! The vast majority of our showroom displays are lit with 5 watt mini spiral bulbs. We serve as a collection center for burned out CFL's so if you have any, bring them in and we will dispose of them properly for you. Remember, despite their energy efficiency, CFL's contain mercury vapor and require responsible recycling!

4. Local Manufacturing

We build our fixtures in Berkeley. Pair these with a shade from our incredibly diverse collection of glass made by California artisans. Our fixtures receive an artist patina here on site, or we send them to a local metal plater whom has won environmental honors.

5. Recycling.

We offer beautiful products made from recycled materials, including recycled glass shades, repurposed glass insulators, traffic lenses, and bottles, and used bicycle parts. We also sell recycled cast aluminum fixtures from Eleek Inc.. Not only do we recycle our paper, cardboard, bottles, and cans, we also recycle our scrap brass, copper, and steel. And of course, we buy recycled office paper, bath tissue and paper towels.

6. Resource efficiency / Waste reduction.

We have changed our production process to cut our rinse water use in half. Our metal plater recycles all rinse water on site in Oakland. Dual flush toilets, automatic faucets and hand dryers, lighting on timers and motion sensors are a few more resource saving features.