At CaraCo Group of Companies, we take pride in the positive impact we make on our communities.
Through our environmental initiatives—such as LED lighting and EV projects, ENERGY STAR-certified upgrades, LEED home projects, and community cleanups—we are leading the charge towards a more sustainable future across all our businesses.
Over the years, giving back to our communities has always been a vital part of our mission.
Our Kingston staff participate in the following activities:
- Martha’s Table Food Drives
- Collecting school supplies for local children in need
- Pitch-In Kingston trash clean up in the areas around our office and apartment buildings
- Breast Cancer Action Kingston Golf Tournament
- Sustainable Kingston’s Commuter Challenge
- Canadian Cancer Society Relay for Life
Our Florida Staff participate in:
- ‘Feeding South Florida’ Thanksgiving Food Drive
- The Salvation Army of Broward County Holiday Toy Drive
- ASPCA Pet Toy Drive
- Earth Month Beach Cleanup & Green Expo
When it comes to our staff, we embrace diversity in all its forms and strive to create and maintain a safe and healthy work environment. CaraCo offers competitive compensation and benefits to all our full-time employees, and we conduct an annual engagement survey to identify areas for improvement as an employer.
By utilizing external resources and educational tools, CaraCo continually works to establish policies and decision-making processes in alignment with our corporate values and business principles. Our goal is to maintain the highest levels of personal and professional integrity, using this framework to navigate business operations in ways that best serve our stakeholders’ interests.
We are committed to exploring opportunities to further reduce our carbon footprint where possible, continue educating ourselves on the impact of corporate social responsibility, and refining our governance practices to foster growth and transparency. Our commitment to this has resulted in the establishment of our ESG Committee, who works to weave these initiatives into the fabric of our business.
CaraCo Development Corporation
At CaraCo Development Corporation, we are proud to offer sustainable home upgrades through programs such as ENERGY STAR and LEED. These upgrades are not only better for the environment—a more energy efficient home saves our customers money in the long run. In a further effort to reduce our environmental impact and solid waste on our construction sites, we order materials for each day’s work directly to the project site. We reuse and recycle materials wherever we can and require that all our contracted trades do the same. Moreover, CaraCo Development Corporation is actively increasing the number of trees in our city—our subdivisions currently house more trees than homes. We collaborate closely with planning consultants to preserve the natural environment and seamlessly incorporate trails, green spaces, and connectivity within our neighbourhoods.
CaraCo Property Management (Florida)
CaraCo Property Management is taking steps towards a more sustainable future across all our properties. We source water from a nearby lake to supply our irrigation systems and have implemented individual water metering for each of our units. In doing so, we have increased tenant awareness about water consumption, and ultimately reducing our overall usage. To further our commitment to reducing water and energy consumption, we incorporate low-flow plumbing fixtures, use ENERGY STAR and other energy-efficient appliances, and are in the process of transitioning to LED bulbs throughout our buildings. Additionally, 70% of our units are equipped with programmable thermostats, promoting efficient heating and cooling to reduce energy waste. Where available, CaraCo Property Management properties participate in recycling programs, making it convenient for our tenants and staff to adopt eco-friendly lifestyles. On a corporate level, our offices have gone plastic water bottle-free, and we make a conscious effort to minimize paper usage whenever possible.
CaraCo Property Management
At CaraCo Property Management, it is within our mission to ensure your home supports green and responsible living. All our buildings participate in a comprehensive recycling and organics/Green Bin program to reduce landfill waste. In our ongoing effort to reduce our carbon footprint, we use low flow plumbing fixtures, ENERGY STAR and energy efficient appliances, and are currently transitioning to LED bulbs in all our buildings, which consume 75% less energy. Furthermore, the majority of our elevators feature a regenerative drive, conserving energy for subsequent use and diminishing excess heat, allowing them to operate more efficiently. Our dedicated service team diligently changes filters, and updates and maintains equipment to decrease energy usage and maximize efficiency. We also prioritize using eco-friendly ice melt during winter and, when feasible, low-VOC paint. Complementing our green initiatives, CaraCo Property Management offers bicycle parking and parking spaces equipped with EV charging stations at every property. Taking our commitment a step further, we have proudly transitioned one of our service vehicles to a fully electric van, significantly cutting down on fossil fuel emissions.
CaraCo Storage Solutions
CaraCo Storage Solutions incorporates various energy-saving features in our buildings to minimize energy consumption. The lights within our facilities are equipped with motion-sensor technology, ensuring they provide the exact amount of lighting only when necessary. Our climate-controlled facilities maintain a consistent thermostat setting to optimize the heating and cooling efficiency for both our buildings and individual units. Moreover, our office actively participates in a recycling program to reduce our corporate waste.
Partnerships, Projects, and Awards
In 2012 and 2013, we worked with Union Gas and Building Knowledge Canada to develop the CaraCo Performance Home 2020. This home was a high performance house that was built to exceed standards nearly ten years in the future by reducing energy consumption. Always looking for ways to improve, the CaraCo Group of Companies aims to incorporate these leading-edge technologies into more of our newly constructed homes, bringing healthier, more comfortable, and more energy efficient homes to home buyers.
In May 2013, we were awarded the ESC (Energy Solutions Center) Partnership Award in recognition for our efforts with Union Gas on the Performance Home 2020 project. This award recognizes us for working in partnership with the local utility company to reduce the use of natural gas through innovative energy solutions.
LEED Canada for Homes is an initiative designed to promote the transformation of the mainstream home building industry toward more sustainable practices. LEED® Canada for Homes aims to certify the top 25% of new homes with best practice environmental features.
The CaraCo Group of Companies is proud to have built Kingston’s first LEED® home. We have built many projects to a LEED Standard — LEED Certified, LEED Silver, and LEED Gold — and are proud to offer sustainable upgrades such as LEED to our customers.
ENERGY STAR qualified new homes are approximately 20% more energy efficient than those built to minimum Ontario Building Code standards. The increased efficiency of these homes translates into reduced energy costs for homeowner and more environmentally friendly houses.
The CaraCo Group of Companies is always pleased to offer ENERGY STAR upgrades as well as many standard energy efficient and environmentally friendly features in all of their homes.