EASY WAYS TO GREEN YOUR PROPERTY

Edited by Jodi Summers

Thanks to the Green Building Update for these easy tips for greening your property and saving money on your utility bills.

1. Use light paint colors for the property’s exterior. Lighter colors reflect heat better than darker colors.

2. Insulate the attic, basement and crawl spaces of your property. Around 20% of energy costs come from heat loss in those areas.

3. Reuse old materials such as brick, stone, glass, slate and wood when building or renovating.

4. Keep doors airtight by weather stripping, caulking, and painting them regularly.

5. Have an energy audit done by your utility company or visit Energy Saver (http://hes.lbl.gov).

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http://ecodeonline.com/

http://www.allenmatkins.com/emails/nltr-green/newsletter.asp?is_id=87&utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=http%3a%2f%2fwww.allenmatkins.com%2femails%2fnltr-green%2fnewsletter.asp%3fis_id%3d87&utm_content=jodi%40jodisummers.com&utm_campaign=Green+Building+Update+-+May+21%2c+2010

GREEN REAL ESTATE – GOOD FOR CALIFORNIA, GOOD FOR THE COUNTRY?

By Jodi Summers

Once again, when it comes to green, what’s good for California tends to become good for the country. The US Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy have formed an action group to help states achieve the maximum cost-effective energy efficiency improvements possible in offices, buildings, industries and homes by 2020. Dubbed the State Energy Efficiency (SEE) Action Network, they are seeking to create a national version our statewide CALGREEN building code.

The CALGREEN Code was devised California Building Standards Commission is setting minimum green-building criterion that may, at the discretion of any local government entity, be applied.

“You will have a whole bunch of cities that never would have included this in their building doing it, and doing it in a way that won’t kill the economy,” observes Matthew Hargrove, a vice president with the California Business Properties Association. “Outside the coastal areas it will be helpful - like in West Sacramento, where they looked into creating a green building code but balked because it’s cumbersome to develop and they didn’t have the resources.”

Take the whole bunch of cities concept and spread it across a bunch of states. The DOE and EPA noted that 32 state public utility commissions requested help from the agencies last year regarding energy efficiency programs. SEE will be working with states to provide technical assistance and policy and program issues to advance energy efficiency efforts. Those state efforts may include financing solutions, residential efficiency programs and improving availability of energy usage information.

No doubt SEE’s goals will be similar to what we set forth in California. The purpose of CALGREEN’s codes is to improve public health, safety and general welfare by enhancing the design and construction of buildings through the use of building concepts that have a positive environmental impact, and by encouraging sustainable construction practices in the following categories:

• Planning and design

• Energy efficiency

• Water efficiency and conservation

• Material conservation and resource efficiency

• Environmental air quality

As California did with CALGREEN, now SEE and other DOE programs will help states develop strategies and action plans to improve the energy efficiency of existing building and reduce costs and emissions.

One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

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http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2257243/agencies-action-buildings

http://www.socalmultiunitrealestateblog.com/?p=673

http://www.socalgreenrealestateblog.com/?p=764

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LOS ANGELES NEEDS AN INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGIST

By Jodi Summers

Industrial Ecologist > the job description would be: To ascertain, catalog and cross reference the inflow and outflow of materials involved in manufacturing conducted in a given geographic area and figure out how one manufacturer’s excretion becomes another manufacturer’s production components. Low temperature steam anyone?

Industrial Ecology is based on the ideology of nature. It claims that industrial ecosystem may behave similar to the natural ecosystem where everything gets recycled. It involves the shifting of industrial processes from open systems to closed systems. The difference? An open system is “a system where matter or energy can flow into and/or out of the system, in contrast to a closed system, where energy can enter or leave but matter may not.”

Industrial open systems may involve the sharing of information, services, utility, and stem by-product resources > the outcome is always intended to add value, reduce costs and improve the environment. This flow is called industrial symbiosis - a type of eco-industrial development which expounds upon the theory industrial ecology.

The most traditional form of industrial ecology is the inflow and emission of materials - energy, water, by-products, finished goods, waste.

Geographic proximity is an obvious factor – which is why warehousing near LAX (in areas like Inglewood + Lennox) + the ports (Long Beach, San Pedro, Torrance, Carson), will always be valuable.

An area offering a superior example of a closed industrial system is the municipality of Kalundborg, Denmark. There is an industrial co-operation taking place between a number of companies and Kalundborg Municipality which mutually exploits each other’s by-products. The brilliant industrial symbiosis of Kalundborg has evolved over several decades, and has grown to encompass some 20 projects. All projects are environmentally and financially sustainable.

It is a beautiful example of industrial recycling which could perhaps be implemented in nearby industrial regions around L.A. As environmental regulations became stricter, firms will become more motivated reduce the cost of compliance, and turn their by-products into economic products.

An added benefit - rekeying industrial usage is a great way to cost justify the expense of greening an industrial property and tapping into those government benefits.

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http://greeneconomypost.com/retrofitting-industrial-ecology-for-increased-profitability-and-environmental-improvement-7663.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheGreenEconomyPost+%28The+Green+Economy+Post%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_system

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_symbiosis

http://www.symbiosis.dk/industrial-symbiosis.aspx

http://www.bsdglobal.com/viewcasestudy.asp?id=77

http://www.industrialecologyinpractice.com/msc-programme

MAYOR VILLARAIGOSA’S 30/10 INITIATIVE WILL CONTINUE TO GREEN LOS ANGELES

By Jodi Summers

“How do we transform places of poverty and crime into urban villages where they are sustainable, not only economically for the people that are there, but also sustainably green and financially sustainable,” asks Rudolf Montiel, CEO of the Housing Authority of Los Angeles.

The solution is believed to be Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s 30/10 initiative. The 30/10 initiative is the mass transit financing method that the mayor proposed to the federal government so that Los Angeles can build their 30-year mass transit model in 10 years’ time.

The 30/10 proposal would curtail traffic and pollution making Los Angeles a greener, more livable city. Suddenly, we will all be able to get around more easily, as the 30/10 proposal would allow Metro to construct the full Westside extension, but also two easterly extensions of the Gold Line, two new branches for the Green Line, several busways in San Fernando Valley, a link along I-405, and new light rail lines downtown, along Crenshaw Boulevard, to Santa Monica, and via the West Santa Ana branch corridor. The West Santa Ana branch corridor would be served by commuter rail. All by 2020. Green multiunit complexes would dot the new transportation lines.

“We are trying to define density not as a bad word, but as a word that can have elegance to it, and be green, and be smart,” the mayor said. “Yet the city needs to change even more, and the 30/10 plan is one of the routes to that change.”

The 30/10 proposal that could quickly green Los Angeles went to Washington looks something like this:

o Current long-range transportation plan assumes $18.3 billion in transit expenditures over 30 years. 65% of funds would come from Measure R, with 23% from New Starts and 12% from other sources.

o The 30/10 Initiative would allow total expenditures to be reduced to $14.7 billion because of avoided inflation, since projects would be completed in ten years, twenty years ahead of schedule. More cost savings could also be possible because of a cheaper construction market.

o Of that $14.7 billion, $5.8 billion is expected to be available from existing sources, with around $8.8 billion still necessary, which could be provided through a loan from the federal government.

o Measure R would then pay back its $8.8 billion in debts for projects completed between 2010 and 2020 with $10.4 billion in tax revenue received between 2020 and 2040.

In Washington, Mayor Villiarigosa got support Oregon Democratic Representative Peter DeFazio, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit. California Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer also supports the effort. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood signaled that he was open to the opportunity in a meeting in Los Angeles

“Four years ago, when I talked about the subway to the sea, people laughed,”

Villaraigosa recalls. “But we are going to build it. All of these transit plans will happen.”

Initiatives like the 30/10 plan are part of a way of thinking that cities must pursue in order to remain successful, the mayor concludes. “Continue to think through what cities need to do to be more sustainable, to develop their assets, and to leverage the many important components of what a livable city should be like.”

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http://www.laedc.org/businessscan/index.html

http://www.globest.com/newspics/la_urbanmarketplacepanel.jpg

http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2010/03/01/how-feasible-is-antonio-villaraigosas-3010-gambit-for-los-angeles-transit/

http://la.streetsblog.org/2010/04/22/3010-survives-the-metro-board-of-directors/

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/26/opinion/la-oe-rutten27-2010feb27

http://www.globest.com/news/1622_1622/losangeles/184054-1.html

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BREN HALL GOES LEED DOUBLE PLATINUM

BREN HALL GOES LEED DOUBLE PLATINUM

By Jodi Summers

Quick – think of the richest man in U.S. real estate named Donald.

Bet you did not think of the real star of real estate – our local Donald Bren. Affectionately dubbed, “America’s richest landlord,” the 76-year-old Newport Beach resident is the wealthiest man in American real estate, as well as an extremely admirable philanthropist. On his shelf of accolades and trophies, Bren can now add the first double platinum building in the country.

Bren Hall, which houses the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at UC Santa Barbara – has become the nation’s first building to earn two LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certifications. Double platinum is the highest sustainability rating possible from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

In August, Bren Hall received a Platinum certification for Existing Buildings –– Operations & Maintenance. This certification comes seven years after Bren Hall opened in 2002 as the greenest laboratory facility in the nation, and the first to be certified Platinum for New Construction by the USGBC’s LEED Green Building Rating System.

“As the first project to receive LEED Platinum certification as both a new and existing building, Bren Hall demonstrates tremendous green building leadership,” states Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO & founding chair of the U.S. Green Building Council. “The urgency of the USGBC’s mission has challenged the industry to move faster and reach further than ever before, and Bren Hall serves as a prime example with just how much we can accomplish.”

The second platinum certification for Bren Hall was under the Existing Buildings certification. The building is a retrofitting role model as no major reconstruction was undertaken to obtain the Platinum certification. Most of the work was done at “no cost or low cost,” observes Jordan Sager, LEED program manager at UCSB’s Physical Facilities. He notes that the biggest changes were an upgrade of the already energy-efficient laboratory fume hoods and the purchase of 2 million megawatt hours of renewable wind and solar energy credits. The building received the maximum amount of credits possible for energy efficiency.

Certification confirmation was based on how the building fared during a three-month performance period. Bren Hall’s energy use was one-third to one-half that of similar buildings of similar function.

It is an exemplary building for LEED v3.0– which focuses saving energy for the long term.

Real estate developer Donald Bren is a self-made millionaire, with a net worth in excess of $13 billion, made much of his money as chairman of The Irvine Company, a privately held real estate investment company known for creating balanced, sustainable, quality communities like the 93,000-acre Irvine Ranch in Orange County. Finished plots sell for more than $1 million an acre. The ranch also has 400 office buildings, 35 shopping centers, 80 apartment complexes and 2 luxury hotels.

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http://www.socalindustrialrealestateblog.com/?p=21

http://www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/display.aspx?pkey=2069

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/31KV.html

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http://ocbiz.freedomblogging.com/files/2009/03/bren-9-23-07-goulding.jpg

MALIBU GOES GREEN UNDER PRESSURE

MALIBU GOES GREEN UNDER PRESSURE

By Jodi Summers

Malibu should be ashamed of itself, acting like conservation is not for the wealthy. Santa Monica has been heavily into the green movement for years – aiming to become a net zero city, Our mother city, Los Angeles, is very motivated to become one of the greenest cities. Meantime the gilded village of Malibu is only turning green because of upcoming deadlines for compliance with state-mandated sustainable development standards.

Under pressure by state mandates, Malibu is finally getting around to developing a sustainable development program. This comes more than a year after the City of L.A.’s green building ordinance to reduce the City’s carbon emissions by more than 80,000 tons by 2012. Motivated only by state regulation, Malibu is planning to require larger projects to be LEED certified. Money is green; Malibu will get the hang of it.

Grudgingly, in late summer, Malibu began to comply with mandated standards addressing water use for landscape irrigation. Additionally the fabled city on PCH will comply with other statewide requirements, such as weather-proofing, formaldehyde content in wood products, air conditioning refrigerants, and outside air ventilation, not to mention finally getting collection areas for recyclables. (Hello! If that’s an issue for you guys, just bring in some homeless, and they’ll recycle for you.)

As Malibu has been so late to get on board the green bandwagon, the city is panicking about meeting residential construction standards effective Jan. 1, 2011, benchmarks that are already in place in neighboring Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and Los Angeles.

The January 2011 requirements call for sediment and runoff protection from construction sites; diversion of at least 50% of construction waste; low or no use of volatile organic compounds such as indoor adhesives, paints and coatings; low formaldehyde indoor finish materials.

Looking further forward, as of July 1, 2011, residential construction projects will be required to be more water efficient – insisting on a 20 percent reduction in indoor water use.

Not to be berated for being totally arrogant and antiquated, Malibu does already have mandates in place for water conservation landscaping – though some city residents are insisting that is not enforced.

“I think our biggest problem is water in Malibu,” planning Commissioner Regan Schaar noted, more than a year after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a statewide drought. “The issue of people submitting plans [development applications] without any landscaping plans is a way for them to get around the issue. We need to put landscaping plans in place and make sure they’re low water usage.”

Malibu has been an ostrich, hiding its proverbial head in the sand while other local cities have been proactive on conservation measures. Lifestyles of the rich and infamous.

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http://www.malibutimes.com/articles/2009/06/10/news/news3.txt

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http://www.triyoga.com/Galleries/images/malibu_point1.jpg

http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/835/images/malibu_sportfishing_pier_sign.jpg

http://www.beaumondevillas.com/images/cities-malibu.jpg

http://www.imagekandi.com/photo/images/Malibu-Beach-Houses.jpg

http://www.destination360.com/north-america/us/california/images/s/malibu-beaches.jpg

http://www.city-data.com/picfilesv/picv7812.php

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THE GREENEST BUILDING IS THE ONE THAT’S ALREADY BUILT

By Jodi Summers

We love this website http://www.thegreenestbuilding.org/. The Greenest Building website is based on the premise of “the Greenest Building is the One Already Built,” and they have the calculators to support that claim.

The goal is to get developers to rehab existing buildings as opposed to tearing them down and building new structures.

For example, the embodied energy calculator will figure out the total energy spent in the production of a building, from the manufacture of materials to their delivery to construction.

The demolition energy calculator is to calculate the amount of energy “needed to raze, load, and haul away construction materials.”

Convert energy to gasoline, figure out BTU usage…http://www.thegreenestbuilding.org/ is fascinating.

THE CITY OF L.A. WANTS TO GREEN INDUSTRY

By Jodi Summers

 Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced in Los Angeles’ State of the City Address that the city intends to grow the clean and green city concept …is it merely election time promises or can L.A. be the leader in Clean Technology?

“…We are aggressively growing the industries of the future here in LA.. We need to build a future in which clean technology is - as - synonymous with Los Angeles as motion pictures or aerospace. Where LA is acknowledged as a growing capital of the green economy.

“With our Solar LA plan, we’re working to cut our carbon footprint and to transform LA into a clean energy powerhouse. With the nation’s most far-reaching green building ordinance, we believe we can create America’s most vibrant jobsite in sustainable construction. And at the Port of Los Angeles, I’m proud to say tonight that we’ve sent 2,000 dirty diesel trucks to the junkyard and replaced them with vehicles that run on natural gas and electricity.

“I believe L.A.’s economic future starts right here, in places like Balqon, where the next generation of electric trucks are being designed, tested, and manufactured; where we are literally revving up the engines of our Clean Truck Program; where the wheels of a clean, green port are turning; and a new high-tech venture is producing clean fuel vehicles IN L.A., for the betterment of LA.

“This facility will serve as the model for our Harbor Clean Tech Center; for investments in the latest vessels for green development; for the San Pedro Bay Port Technology Development Center - home of green companies serving our port.

“A few miles up the 110, we are building a literal “Clean-Tech Corridor.” A business corridor bringing together researchers, designers and manufacturers from around the world dedicated to sustainable solutions and to creating green-collar jobs.

“Located just outside of downtown, this corridor will house our Clean Tech Manufacturing Center a catalyst for smart growth that could create as many as 1,000 high-paying jobs.

“It will host our Clean Innovations Research Center where the world’s leading experts will come together to define future renewable energy sources, water conservation strategies, and green building advances.”

http://mayor.lacity.org/pressroom/stateofthecity/index.htm

FORMER LOS ANGELES INDUSTRIAL BROWNFIELD BEING TURNED INTO L.A. CLEANTECH CORRIDOR

by Jodi Summers

First Los Angeles was known for its weather. Then we became known for our traffic. Our next claim to fame will be Los Angeles’ emergence as a model for sustainable industrial development in North America.

“We will make clean tech as synonymous with LA as motion pictures,” noted Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said. “We will make LA the capital of green technology … and transform the city into a laboratory for green development.”

Los Angeles’ great green project, the CleanTech Corridor is a 20-acre Center site at Santa Fe Avenue and 15th Street is located within the greater Los Angeles Downtown area. The site is a prime industrial-zoned parcel uniquely positioned to provide jobs for those living in nearby loft and residential developments or for those commuting via local and regional public transit.

CITY SAYS

City boasts that the Los Angeles CleanTech Corridor offers an aggregation of clean technology and green-focused companies near the Los Angeles River. The firms sought for the Center include both established firms and emerging companies engaged in the assembly, manufacture or development of products in clean energy generation, sustainable building materials and furnishings, clean water technology, reduced emissions vehicle technology, manufactured products using recycled or organic materials and similar CleanTech initiatives.

Incentives for moving your green business to Los Angeles, according to the city include, “Support and advantages not otherwise available at other development sites. Tenants will have access to a wide variety of city, state and federal financial incentives. The site is located within the Central Industrial Redevelopment Project Area, the Eastside State Enterprise Zone and the Los Angeles Federal Empowerment Zone. Incentives include City Department of Water and Power energy programs and rebates, significant employment and investment tax credits, permit expediting assistance, workforce recruitment and training and other programs. In addition, occupants may qualify for favorable ground-lease terms, New Market Tax credits, infrastructure grants and low interest CRA/LA loans.”

Advantages for locating in Los Angeles

• A growing pool of high-tech, skilled workers engaged in technology jobs within Los Angeles County – numbering nearly 226,000 – the fourth largest source of jobs in the County

• The largest manufacturing employment base in the country with 470,000 jobs

• The largest number of Ph.Ds granted in any region of the country

• World-class research facilities at UCLA, USC and the California Institute of Technology, with a combined 42 Nobel Laureates and opportunities for collaboration in technology development

• Four of the nation’s top ten engineering firms

City-offered incentives include

• The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s $5 billion projected investment in achieving 20 percent of customers’ power from renewable sources by 2010 and 35% by 2030

• The Port of Los Angeles’ $15 million Technology Advancement Program as part of the 2006 Clean Air Action Plan targeted at investing in clean technology related to improving air quality and meeting clean energy goals

• $46 million set aside by The Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System (LACERS) funds in 2005 for CleanTech investments over a ten-year period

If you’re interested, let us know. It will be great to have you here.

For more information visit www.CleantechLA.org.

http://www.ioe.ucla.edu/news/article.asp?parentid=3347

http://www.today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/la-to-become-the-capital-of-green-88893.aspx

http://cleantechlosangeles.org/

CLEANTECH L.A. AIMS TO LEAD THE GREEN DEVELOPMENT EVOLUTION

By Jodi Summers

As we move toward a more efficient world, collaborative alliances are the next wave of evolution. In the last administration, we saw the auto companies begin to share ideas. In leaner, greener times the Department of Energy created the Commercial Building Energy Alliance. Locally, our universities are pooling their knowledge through CleanTech Los Angeles, with goal of making L.A. THE city spearheading the green evolution.

“Los Angeles is leading the world with its commitment to reducing its environmental footprint and this collaboration will undoubtedly stimulate innovation in our region and provide opportunities to create and attract clean tech companies who wish to capitalize on the region’s enormous public demand for their innovative solutions,” said Bill Allen, CEO of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.

CleanTech Los Angeles, it is an alliance featuring prominent leaders from the City’s premier academic institutions, business community and local government. The big picture is to establish Los Angeles as a global capital of clean technology by leveraging the City’s strongest assets.

Publicly, the CleanTech L.A. Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, California Institute of Technology President Jean-Lou Chameau, University of California Los Angeles Chancellor Gene Block, University of Southern California President Steven Sample, Los Angeles County Economic Development President Bill Allen, Los Angeles Business Council President Mary Leslie, and Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce President Gary Toebben.

“Broader recognition of Los Angeles as a global regional center of science and engineering research and clean technology development bodes well for its economic competitiveness in a rapidly changing world,” added Dr. Jean-Lou Chameau, President of the California Institute of Technology.

CleanTech LA will focus on four key areas: Testing, R&D, and Commercialization; Advocacy for Funds; Education and Outreach; and Economic Development Strategy. The partnership is currently working together on initiatives such as www.cleantechla.org, the California Climate Change Institute, the CleanTech Manufacturing Center, and theClean Technology Research Center. Planned future programs include the CleanTech Corridor, advocacy for federal and state funding, and greater collaborations and partnerships.

PARTNERS:

* City of Los Angeles

* University of California, Los Angeles

* University of Southern California

* California Institute of Technology

* Los Angeles Business Council

* Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation

* Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce

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“Clean technology is one of the bright spots in our future economy,” said Gary Toebben, President & CEO, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. “The L.A. Area Chamber is pleased to work with the City of Los Angeles and other partners to help make Southern California the hub of the emerging clean tech sector and the jobs and economic growth associated with it.”

For more information visit www.CleantechLA.org.

http://www.ioe.ucla.edu/news/article.asp?parentid=3347

http://www.today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/la-to-become-the-capital-of-green-88893.aspx

http://cleantechlosangeles.org/

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