20 | City of Atlanta
Many companies have taken advantage of
free audits offered through the Atlanta Bet-
ter Buildings Challenge to better understand
where retrofits are needed to make them
more energy efficient. Industry stakeholder
highlights include:
• Ted’s Montana Grill, a restaurant
founded by environment pioneer Ted Turn-
er, the company actually created a massive
solar array which is helping decrease depen-
dence on electricity from the utility company
by as much as 20 percent. Ted’s also installed
a special overlay material to its parking lot
which cools surface by ten to twenty degrees
over that of typical asphalt, further assisting
in mitigating urban heat island factors.
• The Home Depot has installed rain-
water harvesting systems for maintaining
their gardening inventory in five Metro At-
lanta area stores saving a collective 500,000
gallons of water annually.
• Coca-Cola furthered its commitment
to local sustainability by donating 4,000 rain
barrels to various organizations as well as
individuals around Atlanta to capture and
re-use rain water. Additionally, Coca-Cola’s
North Avenue employee tower is a part of
the Atlanta Better Buildings Challenge.
• Atlanta-based Novelis, a national lead-
er in the production of aluminum products,
is currently manufacturing goods utilizing
