Walgreens, the largest drugstore chain in the nation, is going green in Southern California. The retail chain celebrated the grand opening on Wednesday of a new store in Mira Mesa outside of San Diego, that is expected to be the first drugstore in the US to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, a certification given by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

The store features several green adaptations:

• Skylights and solar tubes allow the sun to naturally light 75 percent of the building.

• LED lights in the coolers and freezers reduce energy use. Exterior signs also were installed with LED lights, instead of fluorescent, which consumes more wattage.

• Outside, the new location offers bike racks and reserved hybrid parking spots for its eco-minded patrons.

• Landscaping uses native and adaptive plant species to reduce water usage.

“We want people to feel good about shopping here and maybe even be inspired to live greener lives,” said Matt Sesto, Walgreen Market Vice President.

Walgreens is making many environmental advances at their current locations as well, installing solar panals and high efficiency lights to reduce energy usage and recycling cardboard and shrink wrap to help reduce the amount waste in landfills. The stores also are lowering emissions by using environmentally friendly company cars.

The Mira Mesa location has been registered with the USGBC under the LEED Green Building Rating System. After review, a specific level of certification will be given in approximately six months.

The next thing on Walgreens to-do list is the opening of its second LEED store in Chicago this fall.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

It can be a challenge to update an historic building, let alone transform it into a model of green modernity. Rattling pipes crowd walls that need new duct work; old fixtures adhere stubbornly to aging walls and facades retain character, but heating and cooling – not so much.

Still, the historic Heathman Hotel in downtown Portland has recently undergone two green upgrades, and is determined to become a model of sustainability, while sacrificing none of its landmark historic elegance.

The 81-year-old Heathman, like most vintage urban hotels, has been through many nips and tucks over the decades. It got its first green redo about three years ago with the renovation of the guest bedrooms and living areas and the addition of a new heating and cooling system. The project, which won financial incentives from the Energy Trust of Oregon, and included switching to CFL light bulbs, proved enlightening: The changes trimmed energy usage by 20 to 30 percent at the 150-room hotel.

“My return on investment, we realized that in less than two years; a year and half for the HVAC investment,” said hotel general manager Chris Erickson. “It was a wise idea and now as we move into the future, it’s all straight to the bottom line.”

Green redo Number Two, is currently underway as the Heathman overhauls its guest bathrooms, all 155 of them, which will save thousands of gallons of water every day. New low-flow shower heads and water-wise commodes (which use 1.5 gallons per flush instead of 3 gallons) are expected to cut bathroom water use in half, without guests even noticing.

Having witnessed during his career how most hotel renovations send tons of refuse to the dump, Erickson decided to turn this latest bathroom project into a study of converting to a more sustainable operation, sustainably.

He contracted with Ankrom Moisan Associated Architects to design the new look of the bathrooms, and also with the non-profit ReBuilding Center of Portland, to whisk away the outgoing material.

The Center sent “deconstruction” experts to assess how everything coming out of the bathrooms could be reclaimed, thus giving the used sinks, fixtures and doors a second life through the center’s resale program, and also reducing the impact on the landfill.

The program they came up with has produced a nearly waste-free, or 99 percent landfill-free, remodel that diverted an estimated 15 tons of debris. Only the mirrors that were accidentally broken while being removed had to be discarded.

The  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recognized 25 U.S. cities for having the most Energy Star buildings in 2008.

The top 10 are Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Washington, D.C., Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Atlanta and Seattle.

Los Angeles ranked first with 262 buildings earning the Energy Star rating, which can be applied to rehabbed and new properties. San Francisco had 194 buildings; Houston, 145; Washington D.C., 136 and Dallas, 126.

Energy Star, the EPA’s label for high efficiency, sets standards for everthing from light bulbs and appliances to buildings.

“An Energy Star building,” says Energy Star spokesperson Maura Beard, “uses 35 percent less energy and emits 35 percent less greenhouse gases than average buildings.”

Looking at the list, it might surprise some to see cities such as Los Angeles, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston — known more for their air quality challenges than for green building — at the top of the rankings.

Ms. Beard explains that the list reflects improvements in buildings, which will be reflected in air quality gains later on.

“In terms of this list, we looked specifically at [a building’s] reductions in greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. This is a big concern in states like California and Texas where there is a lot of demand on their infrastructure,” she says.

There were some standout buildings in each of these three cities, she says. She praised a retrofit of a JC Penney store that was built in 1969 in Downey Calif., in Los Angeles County. “They did a beautiful job improving the building’s energy efficiency, starting with its operating characteristics,” says Beard. (Also this week, JC Penney, an early adopter of the Energy Star program with 52 stores that have earned the label, won the first Energy Star Award for Sustained Excellence in Energy Management.)

In Houston, the Green Valley Elementary School involved the student body in its transformation. “Here the kids formed patrol teams making sure lights weren’t left on in the cafeteria and elsewhere when not in use,” says Beard. And in Dallas, the Hines real estate firm, won the Energy Star rating for its Galleria North Tower office building.

The Galleria office building is attached to a spacious, upscale, air-conditioned mall, which raises the question: What about the energy efficiency of malls in general?

“Shopping malls are difficult [structures] to measure efficiency in,” says Beard. “For Energy Star, we collect data from the Department of Energy, then build a model. There are 12 different types of buildings included in the Energy Star ratings. For example, you can’t compare a hospital to a small store. Your have to compare peers, apples to apples.

“For now, we can just measure the efficiency of the anchor stores at a mall. It’s difficult to measure each of the many small stores. We are working with the Simon group, who manages many of the country’s malls, to improve this.”

The EPA reports that in 2008, more than 3,300 commercial buildings and manufacturing plants earned the Energy Star rating. This translates into a savings of more than $1 billion in utility bills and more than 7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. The structures range from schools and hospitals to office buildings and assembly plants.

More than 6,200 U.S. buildings have qualified for the Energy Star rating in total, says EPA spokesperson Enesta Jones. This represents an annual savings in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to taking 2 million cars off the road.

Depending on the climate and location, buildings, homes and offices and workplaces, are estimated to be responsible for about 40 percent of the world’s GHG gases.

The Energy Star rating system for buildings is similar to the green certification system devised by the U.S. Green Building Council known as LEED or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Efficiency and Design. But Energy Star is more focused on onsite power savings, while LEED looks at how building materials are sourced and considers broader environmental issues like how close a building is to mass transit opportunities.

“LEED certification tends to be more for new buildings and includes everything, green roofs, supplies and materials, recycling, even the commute,” says Beard. “Energy Star is purely about energy efficiency.”

“It works best if the two [certification systems] are used hand in hand,” she says. “Energy Star is more rigorous in terms of energy efficiency. With LEED, you can get a bunch of points for many different attributes. If a building doesn’t score highly on energy efficiency, it could still earn LEED certification because it might score well on other levels.” (Though LEED standards are currently being tightened and it would be difficult for a building to earn the highest level ratings without being energy efficient.)

EPA’s new chief Lisa P. Jackson is pleased with the results of the Energy Star cities. In a statement released yesterday, she said, “EPA commends all of these cities…[that] are now using more energy efficient appliances and dwellings. They are saving energy, saving money and protecting our environment.”

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

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They said it couldn’t be done: A LEED platinum house for $100 per square foot in hard construction costs.

Builders, architects, real estate developers, among others, have expressed skepticism that green building could be done inexpensively. One persistent notion is that sustainable home building is expensive because of higher upfront costs for cutting edge technology and design. Its become conventional wisdom, in some corners, that green building carries a 10 percent upcharge, at least.

And some believe that aiming for the highest certifications, like the U.S. Green Building Council’s platinum LEED rating, requires even higher costs.

Chad and Courtney Ludeman, and Nic Darling, the owners of Postgreen, set out to prove these assumptions wrong.

The 100K House Project began in 2007, has produced two adjoining row houses. The first one is nearing completion and is on track to become the first LEED platinum-rated residential home in Pennsylvania. The Ludemans will be living there. The second house (nicknamed the 120K house for its slightly higher costs) is under contract. Since breaking ground, the team has received an award from the American Institute of Architects Philadelphia Chapter and is among the finalists for the Pennsylvania Environmental Council’s 2009 Philadelphia Sustainability Award

Chad Ludeman has a background in manufacturing engineering and worked as an efficiency expert for several years; his wife Courtney Ludeman is a real estate broker. Darling, a friend and business associate of the couple, is a writer and marketer. The three of them had rehabbed a few houses several years earlier and wanted to focus on new construction specifically for younger buyers in their neighborhood of New Kensington.

But there was a problem.

“Any new house here is the standard 2000-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath type that costs about a half a million,” Darling explains. “We wondered why we were building houses that no one we know can afford to buy.”

The 100K house (and the 120K house) lists for $265,000. It is on an infill lot, which satisfies a key LEED (Leadership in Energy Efficiency and Design) requirement to reuse available land. Ludeman’s house is actually the prototype for a series of proposed LEED-certified houses, all of which are projected to cost between $200,000 to $300,000, with varying floor plans and options.

Did the team meet their $100 per square foot target for construction costs on the prototype? Darling says that their goal of making the 100K mark is well within reach. At a few weeks out from completion, they’re actually under that benchmark for the “hard construction costs” of the 1,100-square-foot space, which includes all the building materials and labor. “Soft costs” for architects and consultants, as well as the cost of the lot, are not included, and were not intended to be part of the building cost benchmark, he said.

So how did they do it?

The first daughters’ new school, Sidwell Friends in Washington, has been awarded the top LEED rating of platinum. But learning institutions across the nation are joining the ranks of LEED-qualified schools, as educators recognize both the health benefits for children and the long term energy savings of building greener.

Sidwell earned 57 out of a possible 69 points on the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED rankings. At the recent Green Build conference in Boston, the USGBC recognized several schools, including Sidwell, for their green advances.

Photo: U.S. Green Building Council

Fossil Ridge High School in Fort Collins, Colo., received a silver LEED (36 points) designation for new construction in 2005 by becoming 60 percent more energy efficient and saving $11,500 in annual water savings. They accomplished this by putting in lighting occupancy sensors, connecting heating and air conditioning systems to occupancy and using “heat wheels” for heat recovery.

The school makes and stores ice during the night so it can cool the building during the day. Carbon offsets are achieved by wind power purchases. Since water conservation is a huge issue in Colorado, the school uses a raw water pond for campus irrigation, installed low-flow faucets and toilets and also uses artificial turf for the athletic field.

The National Audubon Society headquarters in New York City has distinguished itself as a builder not just of avian habitats, but of green, sustainable office spaces too, earning a LEED Platinum rating from the U.S. Green Building Council.

In fact, the society’s 27,500-square-foot headquarters at 225 Varick Street received the highest point total of any commercial interior in the world that has been evaluated by the USGBC, according to an Audubon news release today.

The conservation group reports that the redesign of the space, which included a long list of energy-saving changes, cost only about 10 percent more than the upfront price for comparable conventional improvements. And most modifications are expected to pay for themselves within 10-15 years.

“Our new home office demonstrates Audubon’s commitment to providing employees with a cost-effective, productive and comfortable workplace that fits our environmental values and also allows us to concentrate financial resources on our conservation mission,” said Audubon President John Flicker, in a statement. “Most importantly, what we’ve done here is a model of cost-effective sustainability that can be replicated by others.”

The building conserves energy through a variety of innovations, including a floor air distribution system that helps lower the cost of blowing warm or cooled air around with fans; Energy Star appliances; daylight lighting that minimizes the need for “polluting lights” (the building already had tall windows, which was a key reason the space was chosen) and a system of sensors and controls to monitor and mitigate electricity use.

Other features that helped the workspace win LEED points include an array of salvaged and recycled materials such as steel, drywall and carpet with recycled content, and locally sources materials, like tables made from fallen walnut trees in the Hudson River Valley. Recycled barn siding became a décor feature of the reception area. (See photo, above, by Kim Phillips.)

Architects FXFowle also used cork and bamboo, which are quickly renewable materials, for flooring and cabinets.

The building also won points for being near subway and bus stations, which allows employees to use greener mass transit.

The USGBC’s certifies buildings under a four-tier ranking system called LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). Buildings that meet basic standards are “LEED certified.” Rankings continue upward from Silver, Gold or Platinum, as the building meets increasingly stringent guidelines for building materials, energy installations, waste management and other sustainable features.

See video of before and after images at the Audubon website.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Hollywood is known for conspicuous environmentalism, but its legendary movie studios were built many decades before anyone thought about a production’s environmental impact. Now a team including former Paramount Pictures president David Kirkpatrick hopes to change that by building “the first all-union built, green, SMART studio facility in the world” — in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

The team behind Plymouth Rock Studios announced this month that it “has registered its entire development project with the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) in order to pursue campus-wide, new construction certification under Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED(R)) standards.”

This will be no rinky-dink, hangar-plus-solar-roof affair. The entire project, scheduled to break ground in spring 2009 and open a year and a half later, is expected to cost $422 million and will include “fourteen sound stages, ranging in size from 18,000 to 24,000 square feet” in addition to “10-acre backlots [that] will provide easy access to the cobblestone streets of Paris or Rome, the bustle of Los Angeles or New York, the glamour of Beverly Hills or any other city in the world you wish to capture.” (The campus will go beyond production features as well, with a “studio as city” ideal that already has the developers recruiting office tenants.)

Designed by Gensler, an architecture firm that among other green achievements just built the country’s first LEED-certified car dealership outside Dallas, the site will not only produce solar- and wind-generated electricity, but promises to offer such unpredictable amenities as onsite organic gardens and composting facilities.

And for anyone asking “why Massachusetts?,” the branding-conscious entrepreneurs are quick to describe Plymouth as “America’s Hometown” and the area as a nascent “Hollywood East” with a history of regionally-shot hits like Jaws and Good Will Hunting under its belt. Big new tax incentives have brought productions like Martin Scorsese’s upcoming Shutter Island to the area, and one imagines this new studio could only sweeten the deal.

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Want to stay at a verifiably green hotel for your next vacation? Soon you’ll be able to choose from among dozens of hotel and resort projects, in various stages of construction or remodeling, that have registered with the US Green Building Council, aiming to achieve silver, gold or platinum LEED certification.

But so far only a handful of resorts, hotels and lodges, 13 at last count, have completed the LEED certification process. These get-aways, which include upscale, urban hotels; trendy spas and woodsy lodges, have met the LEED standards, which requires that building projects consider the environment in how they locate their structures; choose materials with a lighter environmental impact; recycle or reduce construction waste, and conserve energy and water.

The 13 green pioneers:

Avalon Hotel and Spa — Portland, Ore., US (pictured)
GAIA Napa Valley — San Francisco, Calif., US
Kandalama Hotel — Damulla, Sri Lanka
Len Foote Hike Inn — Dawsonville, Ga., US
Orchard Garden Hotel — San Francisco, Calif., US
Snowmass Golf Clubhouse — Aspen, Colo., US
The Ambrose — Santa Monica, Calif., US
The John James Audubon Lodge & Camp — Charlotte, N.C., US
The Lodge and Spa at Callaway Gardens — Pine Mountain, Ga., US
University of Maryland Inn & Conference — Adelphi, Md., US
Vancouver Conference Center & Hotel — Vancouver, Wash., US
Palazzo — Las Vegas, Nevada, US
Unity Village Hotel - Kansas City, Missouri, US

**LEED certification of building projects differs from the certification by the Green Hotels Association. While LEED focuses on construction and energy consumption; the GRE, which also looks at energy conservation, more closely analyzes daily operations, giving points for hotels that use bulk soaps, low-toxic cleaners, natural pesticides and less food packaging.

Chart source: The US Green Building Council.

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Set atop a ridge overlooking the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains, the Len Foote Hike Inn at Amicalola Falls State Park in north Georgia offers a sweeping view of the foothills, the lights of the old gold-rush town of Dahlonega and distant peaks to the east. The 20-room lodge, celebrating its 10th anniversary in October, also offers a close-up view of how thoughtful design and day-to-day diligence combine for low-impact living.

The Hike Inn was built for those who love the outdoors, but aren’t so crazy about sleeping on the ground. Guests arrive on foot, hiking a five-mile trail that takes you through a deeply shaded forest of oak and pine, tulip poplar and maple; through tunnels of rhododendron and patches of pungent galax, a broadleaf evergreen groundcover. Your steps will be lighter, though, knowing that a hot shower and hot meal are waiting for a you at the end of the trail.

The inn, named for the naturalist who inspired the Mark Trail newspaper comic strip, was designed to provide accommodations “somewhere between a tent and a Holiday Inn,” says architect Garland Reynolds of nearby Gainesville, Ga.

Traditional Japanese inns inspire the steeply pitched roofs and deep eaves, Reynolds says. And there are practical concerns: the eaves provide shelter from rain and snow as you move from the bunkhouse to the bathhouse to the mess hall and on to the Sunrise Room, the social center of the inn where guests gather around a wood stove, reading, chatting or playing one another in a collection of board games. The covered deck off the Sunrise Room (pictured above) is the place to stand, coffee cup in hand, to welcome the crimson streaks of daybreak.

The inn’s design also is aimed at preserving as much of the wooded landscape as possible. The four buildings that comprise the inn were built on pilings to minimize grading. Composting toilets are used, in part, because building a septic tank leech field would have meant cutting down many more trees. And the trees that had to be felled provided firewood to heat the inn for its first four seasons.

The 20 rooms in the bunkhouse are Spartan, little more than an 8-by-10 foot wood box with bunk beds. There is a wall-mounted fan and a ceiling light – burning, of course, a compact fluorescent bulb. There is no electric outlet to charge your iPod or cell phone. Cell phones, in fact, are banned on the grounds.

When the inn was built, there was no heat in the rooms. Electric space heaters were added later, a concession to winter nights at 3,100 feet. Some guests that first winter spent the night in the lobby or Sunrise room where you find the woodstoves.

The bathhouse offers two showers for each gender. There are also wall-mounted hair dryers. There are five composting toilets, each in a separate water closet. Or should we say waterless closet?

The use of composting toilets cuts water use by more than 200,000 gallons a year, compared to a traditional system. More importantly to most guests, they aren’t yucky at all. An extremely effective ventilation system sucks out any odors. The only downside: there is a bit of a breeze on your bum.

A solar hot water system atop the roof of the bathhouse helps heat the 60-degree well water and cuts propane use by about 30 percent, says the inn’s general manager Stan Krajeski.

Likewise, 24 photovoltaic solar panels installed in 2002 on the southern side of the roof of the Sunrise Room have cut power demanded by 30 percent.

Krajeski, or another staff member, point out all the design features – and show you the worm beds – during a tour given before dinner each day.

“We hope the tour will instill some ideas how you can conserve energy and green up your house a little bit,” Krajeski says.

All the steps taken at the Hike Inn earned it Gold Level Certification in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC).

The tour is interesting, but the best part of the evening is dinner.

Houston’s air quality and recycling rates may be nothing to brag about, but the city’s school district is among the country’s leaders in its commitment to building energy-efficient schools.

Walnut Bend Elementary, on the city’s southwest side, is one of the first of dozens of Houston Independent School District schools that will be built or retrofitted to meet LEED standards, the nationally accepted benchmark for design, operation and construction of high performance “green” buildings.

“We’re the largest employer in Houston, and we feel we have a responsibility to the environment,” says HISD Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra. “We are teaching children, and that means we need to set an example of environmental stewardship that the children can follow.”

When Walnut Bend (pictured) opened last year, its teachers and students exulted in design touches that include hues from nature, terazzo floors embedded with scattered leaf imprints and lots of natural light. But it was the greening of this school that really sets it apart –- the drywall is guaranteed against mold and wind is powering the school’s electricity for at least the first two years. Chickens scratch and scurry in an enclosed courtyard nature center that includes vegetable plots and a fishpond. Wood and brick from the old Walnut Bend building were recycled and integrated into the sleek new construction. Mechanical and electrical systems are optimal performance, and plumbing fixtures and native landscaping are designed to conserve water.

“It’s probably one of the most beautiful buildings I’ve been in,” said Principal Julie Fernandez, as the 2008-2009 school year was set to begin. “It’s airy, it’s open, it’s very warm and inviting; you don’t feel like you’re in an institution.”

Amid growing concerns about higher energy bills, strengthened commitments to environmental stewardship and research that shows improved academic achievement when students attend high performance “green” schools, more and more school districts are building campuses like Walnut Bend. The U.S. Green Building Council launched its LEED (Leader in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system for schools in spring of 2007 with a few hundred schools. A little more than one year later, there are nearly 1,000 schools either certified or awaiting certification, says Rachel Gutter, an education sector manager with USGBC.

“We’re certainly on the upswing,” she says. At least 10 states have passed legislation that requires school districts to build using energy efficient methods. California and Pennsylvania offer incentives to school districts, and many other districts are passing resolutions to build green.

When Houston passed a bond proposal to build 24 new schools and renovate 134 more, the school district committed to construction designed to meet LEED standards.

“We are not the first school district to adopt the standards but we may be the first to commit to building such a large number of schools,” says Meredith Smith, architect and project manager for HISD’s Bond Program.

“It’s been an evolving process for us,” Smith says. “The architects we hire (in Walnut Bend’s case, VLK Architects, Inc.) are on the cutting edge, so we were already doing many of the things required.”

Smith says comparing conventional construction costs with that of Houston’s first schools built to LEED standards is difficult because of factors such as accelerating construction costs and the fact that some engineers and architects donated time on the first few projects in order to gain experience.

“We would like to think the cost is about the same,” she says. Walnut Bend’s price tag was $14 million.

A 2006 study found green schools cost about $3 more per square foot to build, but that the added costs are quickly recouped. The same study found green schools’ spend an average of 33 percent less on energy costs and average a 32 percent reduction in water usage.

As communities in Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama and Arkansas sift through damage from deadly tornadoes that tore through last night, another town is quietly commemorating its reconstruction after a belly-punch from Mother Nature last year.

On May 4, 2007, 95 percent of the homes and businesses in Greenburg, Kan., were virtually wiped away by a massive, slow-moving EF5 tornado that scraped a 2-mile-wide path. The result left the already economically depressed town wondering if it would have a future.

The ultimate answer was, yes, there was a reason to rebuild Greensburg, but only if it truly lived up to its name. The townspeople launched an ambitious green initiative to make the town “a model for rural America.”

As part of its plan, the Greensburg City Council passed a resolution that all city building projects would meet the top LEED rating of Platinum, making Greensburg the first municipality in the United States to aim for that highest standard for all new construction.

The business of greening Greensburg kicked off with a Resource Conference and celebration this week (Feb. 5-6). Discovery Channel, which is filming Greensburg’s rebirth for a series called “Eco-Town” to air next year, will host the big celebration. Among those attending will be Rick Fedrizzi, founder and President of the U.S. Green Building Council, which oversees LEED certification.

Already the town, with a current population of 800 living mostly in FEMA temporary housing, has several important projects underway:

• Feb. 1 saw the groundbreaking for a John Deere dealership that will include wind turbines and other green features.

• In January, Dwane Shank Motors and General Motors broke ground on a new green dealership that will feature energy-efficient skylights, special windows that maximize the use of sunlight, water-saving fixtures in the bathrooms, and cellulose insulation with a high R-value.

• Blueprints are ready and bids will soon be let for a business incubator building that will make use of passive solar heat, natural day lighting, have its own wind generation and use renewable materials throughout. City leaders hope to have a building on the ground by late summer 2008. (See concept drawing above.)

• The nonprofit Greensburg Green Town was created to provide the town’s residents with the resources, information and support they need to rebuild Greensburg as a model green community.

• Construction is underway on 101 new homes, with repairs and construction of another 300+ buildings ongoing.

Ultimately, plans call for the town in southwest Kansas to have a new platinum LEED-rated city hall, school, arts center, library and visitors center – replacing buildings that were total losses in the tornado and helping lure back tourists and more residents, more than a third of whom were forced to leave after the tornado.