Sept 23, 2010 ‐The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association’s annual Green Buildings Open House (GBOH)—the largest sustainable energy event in the Northeast—will be taking place on October 2, 2010 from 10AM to 4 PM. On this day, area colleges, state‐owned facilities and businesses will showcase green, high performance buildings and renewable energy technologies. Last year, more than 16,000 people toured approximately 500 sites from Maine to Pennsylvania.

This year, the Rhode Island Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council plans to arrange for over a dozen buildings to be open across the state, many designed to the USGBC’s LEED™ standard and others that feature high efficiency, net zero energy systems. Also on the tour are wind turbine facilities.

In Kingston, URI students and staff will walk participants through the LEED Gold Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences which earned a high green building rating, not just for its indoor environmental quality and water efficiency, but for sustainable site considerations and innovation. RI Dept. of Environmental officials will guide tour‐goers through Salty Brine’s Bath House in Narragansett which features an onsite wind turbine. The owner and designers of Jamestown’s Environmental Packaging, Inc will be on hand to show off their eco‐friendly building from top to bottom (green roof, sophisticated mechanical/energy systems and xeriscaped gardens).

On Aquidneck Island, visit Newport’s re‐greened historic Fort Adams Jailhouse that has been thermally enhanced with advanced insulating materials and the LEED Gold Potter League for Animals shelter in Middletown – a first in the nation—as well as operational wind facilities in Portsmouth. The LEED designed Bristol Fire Department facility as well as Avtech Software’s renovation of its new corporate headquarters in the historic Cutler Mill complex in Warren will also be on the tour. The mill project features deep energy retrofits among other significant, historical materials reuse applications.

In the greater Providence area, Providence College will open the Slavin Center which features renewable energy applications. Brown University’s Sidney Frank Hall for Life Sciences and Rhode Island Hall—both designed to LEED standards—are also open. The Eco‐office at 28 Wolcott Street will run hourly tours of its net‐zero facility.

The Green Buildings Open House operates in conjunction with the American Solar Energy Society's (ASES) National Solar Tour and kicks off National Energy Awareness Month. For the past 14 years, the program has inspired thousands of individuals to learn about and implement energy efficient and renewable energy solutions in homes and businesses. At green building sites, participants will learn ways to reduce a project’s impact on the environment, reduce embedded energy, conserve water, and ensure healthy indoor environments. Building owners and representatives will be available to answer questions about the benefits of building green.

For a list of green building sites in Rhode Island—which is expected to expand in the days leading up to the event—please visit: http://www.nesea.org/openhouse/listings/. For more information and to learn which of the tours will offer one continuing education credit, visit www.usgbcRI.org.

About NESEA

NESEA is the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (www.nesea.org), a leading regional advocacy and membership organization dedicated to promoting sustainable energy practices and whole systems thinking. For more than thirty years, NESEA has supported and inspired a growing network of professionals and sustainable energy experts committed to responsible energy use. NESEA’s members hail from the 10 Northeastern states, from Maine to Washington, D.C.

About the RI Green Building Council

The primary mission of the Rhode Island Green Building Council, a 501©(3) nonprofit, is to transform the way buildings are designed, built and operated in the state of Rhode Island in order to promote environmentally and socially responsible, healthy, aesthetically pleasing and durable communities that protect the state’s cultural heritage and natural environment and improve the quality of life.

The LEED® green building certification program is a voluntary, consensus‐based national rating system for buildings designed, constructed and operated for improved environmental and human health performance. LEED addresses all building types and emphasizes state‐of‐the‐art strategies in five areas: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials and resources selection, and indoor environmental quality.