Starbucks Corporation: A study in Sustainable Design - Essay Example

This report stresses that the company recognises that a good part of its greenhouse gas emissions may be attributed to its construction practices and by-products. Because of this, it also set out to incorporate sustainable building standards into all its new building construction. The case study also takes note of certain public image problems that Starbucks encountered recently, especially the dipper wells issue in the United Kingdom. It closes with a description of the prototypical green store – the first ever – that Starbucks built in Oregon, which serves as a good precedent for new-build construction.

 This essay reports on the findings of the literature review, which covered monographs, academic journals, government documents and Web sites. It provides an overview of the concept of sustainable design and various environmental efficiency issues affecting the retail-foodservice sector. The section also details the policy environment in the United Kingdom, especially the Strategy for Sustainable Construction, and discusses a model for addressing the carbon footprint issue in the construction industry.

 Sustainable design is "a design philosophy that seeks to maximise the quality of the built environment, while minimising or eliminating negative impact to the natural environment". Its practitioners seek to "redefine how buildings are designed, built and operated to be more responsible to the environment and responsive to people".