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An ABsolutely Green Fitness Studio
Written by Sustainable Lafayette based on an interview with Louise McMenamin (Louisejohns@mac.com) who is one of the owners.

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The ABsolute Center is a popular yoga and Pilates studio in Lafayette, across the street from Trader Joes. The Center was started by three women who had worked together at Oakwood Athletic Club—Katie Santos, Louise McMenamin, and Claudia Moose. One of their initial goals, like any new business, was to reach profitability as quickly as possible, hopefully within 12 months. In order to do this they needed to be cost-conscious and keep their expenses at an absolute minimum, especially energy costs.

Initially they did very simple and free things to conserve energy like leaving some of the overhead lights off and reminding everyone to turn off the lights when they left the bathroom. “We’re Nazis about lights” said Louise jokingly. To maker her job a little easier, they recently installed occupancy sensors in the bathroom which turns the lights off automatically. They also realized that all the exercise machines were drawing electricity even when they weren’t being used, so they began turning them off whenever they were idle. Heating is another major cost, especially in the winter and they made sure to set the thermostat as low as they could. Fortunately, the studio benefits from large south-facing windows, which allows them to take advantage of passive solar heating. Basically, when it’s sunny they open all the blinds to allow the sun to warm the studio and then close the blinds at night to help keep the heat in. The large windows also allow natural light in, which reduces the need for artificial lighting.

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About a year ago a new and unexpected challenge arrived. Louise was diagnosed with a rare condition called Aplastic Anemia, a bone marrow disease that can be fatal if left untreated. After intense chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, Louise finally returned to work in the Fall of 2007, but was “immune compromised” and not supposed to be exposed to chemicals or anything toxic. This posed quite a challenge since they were embarking on an expansion and remodel of their studio, which can stir up a lot of dust and fumes.

Working with LMK interiors, they decided to use Benjamin Moore’s “eco-friendly paint” on all of the walls, which has no toxic ingredients. Another common source of chemicals is cleaning products, so they switched to eco-friendly cleaning products.

The remodel was also an opportunity for the owners to apply their cost-conscious approach. They tried to re-use anything in the studio that was still in good condition, such as the padding under the carpets. And instead of ripping out their old wood floor and having to dispose of the wood, they simply laid a new wood floor right over it.

Louise, Katie, and Claudia started out conserving energy for business reasons and using eco-friendly materials and products for health reasons, but now have adopted green practices whenever and wherever possible. Their latest brochure is printed on recycled paper and they reuse all folders (by turning them inside out), paper (for scratch paper), and boxes.



Benefits & Payback
Louise joked that their hard work trying to save money must have worked because they exceeded their expectations and reached profitability after only six months of operations. And Louise is doing great since her return to work. She added, “Using paint and products without toxic chemicals was a necessity for me, but it’s good for our customers too who really care about their health.”


Informational Links

Absolute Center Web Site
Benjamin Moore’s Eco-Friendly Paints
Green Office - Green Cleaning Supplies


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