5-27-08 Earth Friendly Practices at Bronze CraftThe casting alloys we use here at Bronze Craft are all manufactured to the Copper Development Association specifications. Bronze Craft recycles all metals used in our process. The raw materials used by our smelters to produce these alloys are from the secondary or scrap copper market, which recycles copper and nickel bearing components from many diverse sources. Bronze Craft recycles all of the sand used in our foundry process. Sand no longer suitable for use in our process is provided to primary metal smelters as an effective substitute for silica used to clean or flux molten copper. The primary copper smelting process which uses our sand, melts it, changing it from sand to glass slag. The slag is then processed and sized for reuse by roof shingle manufacturers and ore mining operations. To reduce our hazardous waste streams and provide lower prices on American made products to our customers, we have offered hardware finishes such as US25DX, which better match BHMA, finish specifications and reduce polishing belt disposal volume and cost. We have installed HEPA filtered fans at all air discharge points in our production process in addition to our bag houses in order to ensure that our plant does not in any way pollute the air in our community. In order to conserve energy in our plant we have replaced all lighting fixtures with modern energy efficient lighting, which not only conserves energy, but also improves work lighting for our employees. We have formulated a custom water based lacquer, which performs, equally as well as our traditional lacquer. In addition, we have installed water based lacquer spray equipment to reduce, by one half, the release of volatile organic compounds to the atmosphere. Environmental or earth friendly strategies are very important to our business in and outside of America. We have seen many of our traditional window hardware products copied by our competitors and subsequently made in developing countries such as China. In order to remain competitive we have developed manufacturing partnerships with Chinese foundries. The lack of environmental and worker safety enforcement in China is widespread but will not last. Environmental impacts brought on by the expansion of China's manufacturing base will force increased rule making and enforcement by the Chinese government. This in turn will create higher costs and prices for Chinese made products. To support our Chinese manufacturing partners we provide technical guidance on environmental and worker safety controls to reduce their R&D costs and remain competitive. Green Products We have seen an increased interest in "green" building products in the last few years. This is particularly true in the American west coast architectural community. Green building concepts generally focus on energy conservation. Some products we distribute for Ultra Flex Control Systems (UCS) allow building HVAC systems to interface with electric motors to operate windows thereby saving energy costs for heating and cooling. European countries have been focused on green or energy efficient technologies for several decades. We have established distribution agreements with European manufacturers of building ventilation products. These products, when used within the context of a green building design allow significant energy savings in some climates. The "green architecture" movement is too important to be considered a fad, but probably will not get the wide spread attention it deserves in the US until America's energy costs rise to equal or exceed those seen in Europe.
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7/7/08 
