GREEN INITIATIVES

The building that is now the home of Oregon Wine Services and Storage once housed a Pillsbury production facility, which produced frozen pies and pastries in well insulated rooms. The realization of this abundance of insulation, and its ability to cool such a large building and hold that temperature, was the genesis of OWS.

Over the past 5 years, OWS has installed several night air systems to utilize cool summer night air to efficiently chill our facility. Our new addition is being designed with the same concept. Three large air handlers will expel the warmest air that gathers at the ceiling and intake cool night air at the floor.

OWS is also in the process of purchasing and installing a 200kw solar panel system on our rooftop. This system will produce enough energy to reduce our outside consumption of power by 20%. At this time it is the largest solar panel system in Yamhill County.

Solar panels currently under construction on top of the Oregon Wine Services building will greatly improve our environmental impact.

OWS is replacing all of our existing lighting and installing T-5 lighting on motion sensors throughout the existing facility, as well as in our new addition. T-5 lighting is a full spectrum light that requires significantly less energy than traditional lighting. This simple upgrade will reduce our energy needs by 15%.

At OWS we pride ourselves on being as flexible as possible and giving our clients green alternatives where available. For instance, our fulfillment department encourages our client wineries to use recycled pulp trays in the direct shipment of wines to consumers throughout the United States. Pulp packaging has consistently been shown in tests to be every bit as protective as the traditional foam packaging used by many wineries. In addition, tests have shown that the insulation benefits of foam over pulp packaging are limited.