Counties take different routes to same ‘green’ goals

By Charles Taylor
SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The “greening” of America’s county buildings is proceeding apace on a number of fronts. From obtaining Energy Star ratings to green building certification, counties are pursuing various paths to more environmentally friendly government buildings.

Mohave County, Ariz. and Whatcom County, Wash. are two of the latest counties to have government buildings certified “green” under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, rating system.

In addition, Mohave County — working with NACo’s Energy Star Local Government Challenge — has six local government buildings that received Energy Star ratings from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency within the past month. Counties like Mohave that participate in NACo’s Energy Star challenge can get free help to obtain Energy Star ratings (see related story).

Whether it’s new construction or existing structures, greener county buildings are growing in number. In Whatcom, it was an existing courthouse that obtained LEED certification. Mohave started from the ground up to create a “green” county administration building.

“We’re seeing interest among the public sector and much of the growth of the green building movement has been driven by the rapid adoption of LEED in both the public and private sector,” said Ashley Katz, U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) communications coordinator.

Various LEED initiatives including legislation, executive orders, resolutions, ordinances, policies and incentives are found in 77 cities and 24 counties, she added.

For Energy Star, to date, 57 counties have participated in NACo’s Energy Star Challenge effort — and help is available for many more.

Mohave County officials recently celebrated their sleek new administration building’s LEED certification and its Energy Star designation.

“These environmental honors from LEED and Energy Star aren’t just out of the blue,” said County Manager Ron Walker. “Conservation and energy efficiency have been part of our planning for years. Our Mohave County General Plan has a large section on conservation which includes planning for air quality, water quantity and quality, energy, and natural and scenic resource protection.”

Whatcom’s courthouse in Bellingham recently become only the second county courthouse in the nation to be LEED certified in the existing buildings category (Ada County, Idaho is the first), and only the sixth existing building of any kind to be certified in Washington state, according to a county spokeswoman.

Whatcom County Executive Pete Kremen decided to pursue LEED certification in late 2006, recalling, “We wanted to reduce our energy consumption and demonstrate leadership in environmental practices and stewardship.”

He attributed the success of certification for Whatcom County largely to its conservation resource analyst, Christina Reeves, who compiled most of the data for the LEED certification requirements.

One major highlight of the project is the county’s purchase of 100-percent green power for all buildings, in addition to the achievement of a 55-percent recycling rate at the courthouse. The building’s proximity to bus access, plus its bicycle storage and showers for commuting employees, helped to meet the strict criteria for certification. Additionally, the county’s purchase of “green” cleaning supplies, and low-toxicity paints and sealants also were contributing factors.

Mohave County pursued is Energy Star designation through NACo’s free Energy Star Local Government Challenge program. Gene Helper heads Mohave’s Office of Management and Budget. He said the EPA evaluates a building’s energy efficiency the same way other rating organizations look at appliances.

“There is software involved that compares buildings nationwide for energy efficiency,” he said. “We worked with NACo and the EPA and put 39 of our buildings into this system. It takes a lot of information such as square footage, natural gas usage, how many people use a building, number of computers, kilowatt usage and parking information. That information is compared with similar buildings across the country and a score is issued.

“We got a 90 percent score for the County Administration Building as compared to other buildings nationwide,” Hepler said.

Whatcom’s courthouse is more energy-efficient than 86 percent of comparable buildings in the United States, county officials said. Conservation measures and the reduction in energy consumption have resulted in a savings of more than $160,000 annually in the courthouse alone.

Whatcom County’s Kremen said his county’s project wasn’t only about being green: “This is a real achievement because it was made possible through efforts that we already decided were good business practices. We had invested in things like energy efficiency and good indoor air quality to improve our operations. The fact that these ‘green’ practices helped us attain certification is an added bonus.”

For more information, contact Christina Reeves in Whatcom County at 360/676-6717 or creeves@co.whatcom.wa.us, or Darryle Purcell in Mohave County at darryle.purcell@co.mohave.az.us.

(Whatcom County staff and Mohave County staff  contributed to this report.)