The California Department of Education Building in Sacramento became the first state-owned office building in the United States to earn the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) platinum certification, which is the U.S. Green Building Council's highest rating.
Earlier this year the Education Building earned an Energy Star® rating of 95 out of 100 points. The building is designed to maximize daylighting and is 40% more efficient than required by California's Title 24 efficiency standards.
See the California Department of General Services July 27 press release.
Also in July, the California Green Building Initiative issued its progress report (PDF 25 KB) Download Adobe Reader:
* 187 of 250 largest state buildings have been benchmarked for energy performance. All 1,566 state buildings and campuses are scheduled to be benchmarked by 2007.
* 52 buildings are pursuing LEED silver certification.
* 4 solar photovoltaic projects totaling 1.2 megawatts of capacity are due to come online by January 2007.
Source: August 8 edition of California Flex Your Power e-Newswire.
In August, the California Department of General Services (DGS) and the state's investor-owned utilities will work together to implement $17 million worth of energy efficiency improvements in state buildings. DGS will work with Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, San Diego Gas & Electric, and the Southern California Gas Company to improve the energy efficiency at dozens of the state's largest office buildings, several prisons, and a number of smaller buildings such as Department of Motor Vehicles field offices.
Altogether, the utilities will conduct energy audits and retrofit construction projects at almost 1,000 state buildings. DGS estimates that energy savings in large state-owned buildings could reach 30%, with payback in as little as three to five years.
The project will help the state meet Governor Schwarzenegger's Green Building Initiative (Executive Order S-20-04), which calls for public buildings to reduce energy consumption 20% by 2015 and encourages the private sector to do the same. The $17 million in energy program funding will be administered by the utilities under the auspices of the California Public Utilities Commission.
For details, see the DGS August 29 news release.
In September, the inaugural West Coast Green Residential Building Conference and Expo was a smashing success. From September 28 to 30, more than 8,000 people attended the first residentially focused green building expo in the United States. According to the sponsors — the City and County of San Francisco, the U.S. Green Buildings Council, Habitat for Humanity, and the American Institute of Architects San Francisco Chapter — the conference will become an annual event.
Source: US Department of Energy
Manuel Torres Laveaga
0 comments:
Publicar un comentario