Pushing Green Builders to Green Docs

PASADENA, Calif. — Digital solutions provider Bluebeam Software recently launched an initiative to reduce the tons of paper used each year for green building projects, called the “Paperless is Green” campaign.

Company officials said industry rating systems fail to recognize reducing paper usage as a green requirement.

The campaign encourages architecture, engineering and construction professionals to talk about the numerous benefits of paperless workflows and to recognize those who have already taken the initiative toward sustainability.

The company launched the website www.paperlessisgreen.com in November 2010 and solicited success stories from design and construction professionals who use the company’s PDF Revu software for markup an editing to achieve a paperless workflow.

Submitters who turned in written or video accounts of going green won a free Motion Computing Tablet PC and Bluebeam PDF Revu software license.

The winner of the contest was Tim Sorrentino of Wellspring Building and Development in Ballston Spa, N.Y., who used Revu to reduce the paper trail of one of his clients by more than 90 percent.

Sorrentino said the software also “provides organizations a cost-effective solution for manipulating, managing, storing and most importantly, extracting data from documentation that was formerly provided only on printed medium … [and] delivers on the dream of the paperless office proposed over 30 years ago with the advent of desktop computing.”

It takes nearly half a century to grow a tree tall enough to produce a few thousands of paper, according to Sorrentino.

“Bluebeam wants to thank all of the design and building professionals who shared how they eliminated unnecessary paper,” said Bluebeam Software Director of Worldwide Marketing Stephani Haynes. “We hope these stories of success inspire others and promote our goal of encouraging the industry to go green by going paperless.”