What exactly is "Green Building" anyway?

By Mike Madrid

Once upon a time, in the not too distant past, we used to call "climate change" initiatives by another name - energy conservation. While this was long before "An Inconvenient Truth" changed our social and political consciousness, its important to understand that with all of the recent headlines (some might suggest hysteria) surrounding the issue, what we're still basically talking about -- and hoping that consumers and public agencies alike will come to embrace -- is energy conservation.

While some people believe that Hawaii is a few years away from being submerged as a result of shrinking ice caps in Greenland and others believe that we're simply starting a natural warming cycle that our planet has been sliding in and out for a few millenia or so - there is, I believe, a lot of common ground on this issue.

Very few people I've ever talked to believe there isn't something virtuous about energy conservation. Some peope are motivated by saving money, others by the prospect of emerging technologies driving responsible change, still others believe we are well on the road to destruction if we don't radically alter our ways. Regardless, being frugal with our energy resources is widely accepted as a virtue.

In the current political climate, it's hard to separate fact from fiction. In many ways, there's too much information and too many ways to make better on the ways we live our lives. The term "green building" has become one of those terms, much like "smart growth", that sounds awful good -- but isn't too clear on meaning.

What's "green" to one may not be to another in much the same way that "smart" to one, isn't so much to the other.  So what exactly is "green building" anyway?

The answer? Well, there isnt one. Not a definitve one anyway.  If you want to get an idea of how many folks out there are trying to define it, take a surf through www.greenbuilding.com, or www.buildinggreen.com, or www.greenbuilder.com, or how about www.greenhomebuilding.com or even the EPA's "gateway" to green building info?  Overwhelmed?  We thought so. The closest California City News can get to is "it depends," or that perhaps "green is in the eye of the beholder." And how a city becomes green ususally depends on where it starts off.

This is a topic we will be writing about quite a bit in the coming months. It's certainly captured the interest of city leaders and their residents like few others in recent memory. Expect a lot more information on this blog trying to discern fact from fiction as millions of dollars are poured into trying to solve the "energy conservation" question. In the meantime, click here for an answer in the Ventura County Star

Comments

[Jake Mackenzie]

Check out RP's Green Building ordinance. Petr Bruck , our building official, crafted this as part of his M.S. program at Sonoma State University's Environmental Technology Center. Contact Peter at 707-588-2257. Cheers Jake