REMODEL GREEN              

Last night I attended the latest meeting of volunteers looking to certify the Built Green Resource Center in town. The Energy & Atmosphere group met early to conduct measurements of the rooms and find more information about the electrical systems in place. Upon inspection we learned a few crucial pieces of information. Mainly, the windows put in during renovation are single-pane with a film placed over them and there is a huge skylight in the gallery. Also, heating and cooling are both run on electricity. I learned last night that this is seen as a negative, especially here in California. Utilities are worried about peak demand and frown upon relying solely on electricity. The PV panels on the roof help, but hopefully the current tenants maintain this educational center for a long time. Otherwise, the next building owner could decide to take them down, increasing the building's demand on the grid.

As many know, single-pane windows will contribute to massive heat loss and will ding us in the certification process. At the moment the Santa Barbara Contractors Association has no plans to replace them, especially considering they were just put in. I don't know the specifics of a step up to double or even triple pane, but I imagine the increase in efficiency to be enormous.

Recently revealed emails suggest that climate change experts may have exaggerated science data to overstate claims for geologic climate change.  Does this mean green building and innovation will be tossed out the window?  Will we return to the status quo - which I’ve seen in the last year to include businesses failing, foreclosures and bank bail-outs.  This can’t possibly be related to climate change can it?

When I think of climate change, I imagine rising temperatures, melting of the ice caps, lack of water in many parts of the world, but I don’t associate it with green building.  After reading multiple news reports and op-ed’s I get the feeling that most people lump climate and sustainability all together. 

Did you know that there are a number of green rating systems covering building design and construction other than LEED?

Green building certification systems cover national, state and regional levels and all vary in terms of credit categories and program fees. Three in particular fall within the State of California: California Green Builder, GreenPoint Rated and Built Green Santa Barbara.