EnvironmentLA - The City's official site for information about projects and programs that are making Los Angeles more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power - LADWP offers environmental Green LA programs, including Trees for a Green LA, Energy Efficiency for a Green LA, Solar Energy for a Green LA, Electric Vehicles for a Green LA, Green Power for a Green LA, Recycling for a Green LA and Educational Services for a Green LA.
Green LA Action Plan - The City's official plan to improve energy conservation, transition to renewable power sources, and change the ways citizens commute to work and school.
US Green Building Council-LA - A resource for agencies, municipalities, professionals and companies interested in sustainable, green buildings.
The U.S. Green Building Council, started 16 years ago, has 20,200 members and more than 50,000 LEED registered and certified projects around the world (80 percent are in the US).
And the group plans to get even bigger as it turns its attention to college campuses and enlists the help of students.
The USGBC is helping universities across the country to establish sustainability courses and USGBC student organizations, and of course, to build green. The Washington-based NGO estimates that there will be 4,300 LEED projects registered (underway) and certified (completed) on college campuses at the end of 2009.
While people scurry to devise new green components for homes, Don Blalock is in the enviable position of launching one that he’s been nursing along for the last six years.
His Aeonian brick will build houses that aresignificantly more energy efficient than conventional homes; help them qualify for LEED platinum certification and withstand hurricane force winds up to 240 mph. They’ll also resist heat, mold, mildew and termites, says Blalock whose goal is to build “the most structurally sound house that’s livable that will last for a very long time.”
There’s a shiny green report card out in Warren County, Kentucky this month.
The county’s school district won the Alliance to Save Energy’s 2009 Andromeda Award for its programs, which include $4 million in energy savings over the last five years, a 28 percent energy use reduction, a daily curriculum that focuses on energy efficiency and Energy Star ratings on four buildings. But the star of their show undoubtedly is the new Richardsville Elementary, a Warren County School on target to become the nation’s first net zero energy public school when it opens in fall of 2010 (see photo above).
The Empire State Building is getting a $500 million energy efficiency retrofit that is expected to reduce the iconic skyscraper’s energy consumption by up to 38 percent.
The project, already underway, is intended to become a model for analyzing and retrofitting existing structures for environmental sustainability. The makeover is a collaboration among a group of world-class environmental consulting, non-profit, design and construction partners, including Clinton Climate Initiative, Rocky Mountain Institute, Johnson Controls Inc. and Jones Lang LaSalle.
Building systems work is slated to be completed by the end of 2010, with final completion of tenant spaces by the end of 2013. Work that is scheduled to be completed within 18 months will result in more than 50 percent of the projected energy savings.