Green Means

A Sustainable Vibrant Nevada

                                                            By Shannon Scott

             Sustainability legislation for Nevada is in the works.  The Nevada Sustainable Energy Coalition held a legislative forum in March 2012 to garner ideas and establish priorities that Coalition stakeholders want to introduce and advocate in the 2013 Nevada Legislative session.  The Coalition seeks to promote renewable energy businesses, energy efficiency, and green building to make these areas more vibrant and productive within our state. 

            Sustainability encompasses a triple bottom line: protecting environmental integrity, ensuring social equity, and enabling economic vitality.  Green is good for Nevada.

            The University of Nevada, Reno began an Integrated Sustainability Initiative to significantly reduce the UNR campus’s environmental impact.  Participants hope to transform infrastructure and institutional practices with the ultimate goal being a closed loop campus for energy, materials consumption and discharge or waste.  This means that the campus will not consume more energy or produce more waste than it can sustain independently – a bonus for our state budget.

            GREENevada is a coalition of seven non-profit organizations that foster sustainability education and planning competitions within northern Nevada high schools.  Most recently they received a $50,000 grant from Pepsi REFRESH for awards to student group competitions amongst Washoe County high schools.  Groups needed to come up with the most environmentally friendly and energy efficient plans for their schools.  The Grand Prize winner was Reed High School.  Reed students plan to upgrade the school’s bathrooms, cutting back on wasted water and energy, and potentially saving their school thousands in utility bills. They walked away with $12,000 to make it happen.

            As individuals, communities, states, and a nation we are creating sustainable commercial and residential practices that realize the triple bottom line through local and regional ordinances, comprehensive community plans, declarations of sustainability, and federal executive orders. 

            Boulder County, Colorado a progressive, healthy and vibrant community made a commitment to improving their community.  Their long term goal seeks to …balance environmental, economic and societal needs.  The county’s mission statement reads: To ensure that Boulder County’s operations and decision-making processes reflect our deep commitment to Environmental, Social and Economic sustainability and to build partnerships to help make the broader community more sustainable. 

            The National League of Cities (NLC) states in their 2012 National Municipal Policies and Resolutions document that, Environmental degradation respects no political boundaries; therefore a coordinated national environmental quality policy is vital to our nation.  Without such a policy, no city or town can accomplish the most basic goals of protecting the health, welfare, and safety of its citizens. 

            Oregon’s governor in 2006 supported a federal Executive Order for Sustainable Practices (Executive Order No. 06-02) that included, The state establish a “green” building policy requiring all new state buildings to meet, at a minimum, the U.S. Green Council’s Leadership in Environmental Design (LEED) program’s silver equivalency status, with major renovations also requiring LEED certification.  Oregon also insists that State procurement practices include life cycle costs and sustainability considerations when awarding contracts and making purchases, from computer equipment to janitorial supplies.

            Nationally, Executive Order No. 02-03 Requires that each state agency establish sustainability objectives and prepare a biennial sustainability plan.  Plans should be guided by long-term goals, including minimizing energy and water use and shifting to "clean energy" for both facilities and vehicles (though the term "clean energy" is left undefined).  In 2004, Executive Order 05-01 added provisions for green building construction; petroleum, energy and paper use reduction; and agency sustainability plans.          
  

            Green developments save money in energy and operations costs, sustain the environment for future generations, and yield greater satisfaction for all involved from initial planning stages and construction to resident and worker building occupation, then on to owners’ resale values. 

            Student performance has been documented to improve by greater than 10% in schools that utilize green building features such as natural daylight. (Heschong-Mahone Group studies)  L.A. Unified School District now has a full time green building advisor on staff who contributes best-design practice ideas to building remodels and new construction.

            Employee productivity is drastically affected by interior environmental conditions.  When we connect to the outdoors like having a view out a window, control indoor environmental conditions such as temperature and natural lighting, and have a physically comfortable place to work or study we tend to work longer and more efficiently. 

            Buildings with reduced indoor comfort levels prove distracting in that occupants spend time attempting the make the spaces more comfortable which results in decreased productivity.  We’ve all been in buildings we just can’t wait to get out of, like ones with inoperable windows, no view to the outside world, and re-circulated air. 

            As home owners, citizens, community planners, construction professionals, and developers we can improve our local community by learning what makes development truly sustainable.  The Environmental Protection Agency has a PDF document on line, “Community Based Environmental Protection” (CBEP) designed to help us protect the ecosystems that support the physical and economic health of the places where we live and work.  You’ll find this document at www.epa.gov/care/library/howto.pdf.