The Buzz: Our Honeybee Haven Is a Hive of Health and Sustainability
When we set out to transform our global headquarters into the green, health-conscious workplace of the future, we researched every possible opportunity to contribute to a positive environmental impact. One of the most buzzworthy innovations we chose to implement was our on-site “honeybee haven.”
Our Honeybee Haven
To establish our honeybee haven, we partnered with Best Bees—an organization dedicated to installing and maintaining honeybee hives on commercial and residential properties across the US. Each hive contributes great value to the environment and our community, including:
Contributing data for critical scientific research
Cultivating environmental stewardship
Helping protect pollinator health and biodiversity
Bringing joy to our employees and guests
Through the addition of honeybee hives, we strive to educate and raise awareness about the critical role these pollinators play in our environment. We host “Meet the Beekeeper” events to allow people to learn more about the bees while sampling the delicious honey produced on site. The custom hive homes echo the sleek profile of our hand dryer covers, tying a visual thread through our eco-conscious efforts through clever, eye-pleasing design.
Buzzing into Summer
Spring into summer is a very busy time for beekeepers—and for the bees! Springtime means establishing new colonies and tending to the bees that have been overwintering in the hives. In late spring to early summer, beekeepers need to do what they can to prevent swarming, which is when colony populations naturally drop as bees migrate and new queens are established. This is when we will often split the colonies, separating a single colony into two, with one half containing the queen and the other left with one or more queen cells.
After the swarming season, bees begin to collect and store honey to get them through the coming fall and winter months. This is typically the season that our beekeepers will harvest honey while also monitoring for mites to prevent damage to the colony. As summer wanes into August and September, colonies begin to rear winter bees, which are genetically built to withstand colder months.
As fall sets in, there is often another nectar flow to ensure survival of the colony. Sometimes another honey harvest is also available during “fall flow.” Beekeepers will typically start monitoring the health of the colonies in the fall, feeding and/or combining the weaker ones to ensure their survival while overwintering.
By winter, the summer bees have died off and the remaining winter bees will “cluster” into spherical groups spanning multiple frames. The colder, outer layers vibrate their flight muscles, powered by honey to create heat energy. The cluster typically migrates along the frame over the course of the winter to access all the honey stores.
Excel Dryer’s Focus on Sustainability
Our honeybee haven—and indeed, the entire office renovation project—is a natural extension of the commitment to sustainability at the core of the Excel Dryer mission. We have been blazing the trail for energy-efficient, low-carbon-impact hand drying solutions for years now, with a complete line of hand dryers that realize up to 94% less global warming impact than even 100%-recycled-content paper towels.
One key innovation available across the line is the electrostatic HEPA (eHEPA®) filtration system. Like traditional HEPA hand dryer technology, eHEPA removes 99.999% of viruses and 99.97% of potentially present bacteria at 0.3 microns from the airstream. However, thanks to its advanced filtering technology, eHEPA uses considerably less energy while doing so. The “supercharged” filter media actively attracts particles as they move through the dryer rather than forcing air through a dense microfiber mesh filter. As a result, eHEPA maintains low-pressure drop, meaning it requires less energy to push air through the media versus other types of filtration. That results in increased airflow and greater energy efficiency—which makes us and our customers very happy.
