October/November 2008
ED Corner
C O N T E N T S
Chapter News: USGBC Colorado Chapter Celebrates Five Years
ED Corner: Green Building And The Global Economic Crisis
The Business of Green King Soopers and Xcel Energy Collaborate for Savings
Residential Green: Role for LEED AP's in the LEED for Homes System?
LEED EBOM: Colorado State Capitol First in Nation Certifiied Under LEED EBOM
VISION
Promote responsibility for Colorado's environmental legacy.
MISSION
Advance and promote sustainable planning, design, construction and operation of the built environment through education, improving industry guidelines, policy advocacy, and information and resource sharing.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Tom Hootman, President
RNL Design
Dana Kose, Vice Chair
M.A. Mortenson
Megan Christensen, Secretary
Bovis Lend Lease
Jim Bradburn, Treasurer
RMH Group
Mike Lowell, Advocacy Chair
US GSA
Bobby Molinari, Membership Chair Hyatt Select
Josh Radoff, Director At Large
YRG Consultants
Sue McFaddin, Director At Large Seven Generations
Ted Caulkins , Education Chair
Silvertip Integrated Engineering
Daniele Loffreda, Communications Chair
Plateau Enviro Associates
Conor Merrigan, EGB Chair
C2 Sustainable Development Consultants
Deb Kleinman
Executive Director
Colorado Building Green is the official newsletter of the U.S. Green Building Council – Colorado Chapter, and is published bi-monthly. If you are interested in submiting a story, ideas or other information for publication, please contact the editor at dgloffreda@msn.com
Green Building And The Global Financial Crisis
Can green building help the economy?
By Deb Kleinman, Executive Director, USGBC Colorado Chapter
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Like all of you, I’ve been glued to the business page for the past several weeks, learning more than I ever wanted to about the roots of the current global economic crisis. To loosely quote a colleague who works in the financial services industry, the current volatility and deepening of the myriad financial problems is unprecedented in modern history.
There is no doubt that the coming months and years will be challenging for all of us. Many of us are struggling with the fact that we don’t know how much deeper the economic situation will sink before it begins to recover, or how widespread the impacts will be felt.
The green building movement is still confronting misconceptions about the perceived expense and luxurious nature of high performance sustainable buildings, and it is natural for us to wonder what will happen to our progress if we sink into a prolonged recession. In the words of Rick Fedrizzi, CEO, President and Founding Chair of the USGBC, “[t]he greed that led the world economy into crisis will not defeat our commitment to good work.
"We cannot lose sight of our mission. It is within reach" |
Fear will not dominate our agenda. And our commitment to change - even in the face of so great a challenge - will not waver.”
He goes on to say: “We cannot lose sight of our mission. It is within reach. How? It's time for the green building movement to deploy the expertise and capacity we've built in new construction to green what we've already got. Ninety-nine percent of achieving our mission is wrapped up in our existing homes and buildings. It will save money. It will save energy. It will help save our climate. And directly relevant to today's economic environment, it will create good, green, local jobs.”
Some of what we hold as core principles in the green building community is the importance of accountability, transparency, and high standards and regulations. In large part, the current crisis is due to the absence of exactly those things, and while painful I hope that one of the outcomes is the end of an era driven by loose credit and unlimited greed and the beginning of an economic system based on the triple bottom line: economics, environment, and equity.
Green Building in Colorado
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to present Governor Bill Ritter with a plaque for the Capitol building, the first capitol in the country to achieve LEED certification and the first building in the country to be certified under the new LEED-EBOM rating system.
Colorado continues to lead the way in its commitment to combating climate change and a more sustainable built environment. This commitment is more important that ever, and in it lies one strategy for successfully navigating the current economic situation. Rick Fedrizzi estimated in a recent statement that a 100% commitment to green our existing commercial buildings nationwide alone would create more than 1.5 million new job opportunities for out of work Americans.
Encouraging Colorado based businesses that are able to provide goods and services to the burgeoning green building market, and educating the workforce for the new energy economy, will help our state weather the current storm and emerge stronger than ever.