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Environment BLOG |
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May 2008
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Everywhere you look these days, there's something new about green building in the Inland area. Starting Thursday, the four-day Green Valley Summit begins at the Ontario Convention Center. They'll talk about the future of the Inland Empire as a global center for green technology and environmental sciences. And there will be plenty of talk about designing energy-efficient homes and businesses. And speaking of that, it looks like the Inland region will be adding another "green" building to its portfolio. It's getting hard to keep track of them all. Folks gathered last week at a groundbreaking for a new 14,000-square-foot demonstration facility over in Rancho Cucamonga. Story continues below  The Press-Enterprise/Ramon Mena Owens The recently built Woodcrest Community Library was Riverside County's first certified green (LEED) building. The building is a project by Cucamonga Valley Water District and the Frontier Project Foundation. It is being designed to educate the public, builders and the community on the latest technologies in water, energy and conservation. They'll seek to attain platinum status for the building through the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, better known as LEED, which was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. Other green buildings in the Inland region, which have some level of LEED certification, include Metropolitan's Water District's twin museums on archaeology and water near Hemet; the headquarters of the Inland Empire Utilities Agency in Chino; and Riverside County's recently completed Woodcrest Community Library, pictured here. And in the Coachella Valley, the Shoppes of Rancho Mirage has LEED certification for the retail center's design, which is scheduled to be built this year. 2 CommentsLeave a comment |
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Once again, California leads North America in the area of green building. The Earth Day announcement in Los Angeles is yet another example. Let's get with the program, America, Canada and Mexico! There are greenbacks in green building!
There are good things happening here, but California is hardly a leader. Washington has 172 certified LEED projects earning the title of the City that is the "LEED Leader". Grand Rapids, Michigan, a city about half the size of Riverside, has 63 LEED certified projects making it the city with the most LEED projects per capita. There are tremendous water and energy savings available and great opportunities here in California.