• Tools:
• Save |
• Print |
• E-mail |
• Most Popular |

Buildings find it easier being green

By Gary Nurenberg
CNN

Adjust font size:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- From a Santa Monica, California, office building on the West Coast to a Gaithersburg, Maryland, youth center in the East, buildings designed to be energy efficient and conserve natural resources are sprouting up across the country.

"It's a no-brainer. There's no reason today that you should be building any other way than green," says Michelle Moore with the U.S. Green Building Council.

"Green buildings are an immediate and measurable way to save energy, reduce CO2 emissions, reduce water consumption and create a better, healthier environment."

The American Society of Landscape Architects has loaded the roof of its Washington headquarters with plants.

"We consider it like trading in an SUV for a hybrid," says ASLA President Dennis Carmichael.

"They will cool the roof, they'll clean the water. ... They also act as an insulating blanket. They should reduce our heating and cooling bills.

"Buildings contribute 40 percent of emissions and 40 percent of heat that's radiated into the environment. Buildings are actually worse consumers of energy than cars."

Sometimes the solution is as simple as opening a window, as the National Resources Defense Council has found at its regional office in Santa Monica.

"Instead of constantly air-conditioning the office, which you need to do in a typical office building, here you can just open the window and catch an ocean breeze," says the NRDC's Daniel Hinerfeld.

The NRDC office was built with recycled materials, uses motion sensors to turn lights on and off, captures and recycles rainwater, and uses special toilets.

"There are two buttons on the top (of the toilet), so you can choose to flush with a whole tank of water or half a tank of water," Hinerfeld said.

"We use about 60 percent less electricity than a typical office building this size."

The Robertson Park Youth Center in Maryland uses geothermal energy to heat and cool, has cabinets made from wheat straw, and window blinds made from recycled aluminimum cans.

"The wall insulation is made out of recycled blue jeans," says the center's Bob Peeler. "We don't burn any fossil fuels in this building and we're saving energy. It is renewable and it is environmentally friendly."

And with energy costs consistently rising, being green has building owners seeing green on their bottom line.

Poll: More troops OK, but war in Afghanistan still unpopular Although the war in Afghanistan remains unpopular with most Americans, the public supports President Obama's decision to send more U.S. troops to the confli ...

---

• Jetliner misses Jamaica runway
• HP checking claim webcams can't see blacks
• Pakistan court orders ears, noses hacked off
• Retaliation suspected in Mexico shootings
• 'Sesame Street,' '227' star Reed-Amini dies

• Plane misses runway in Jamaica
• Webcam can't see dark skin, users say
• Brazil justice backs U.S. dad's custody
• BlackBerry users hit by outages
• Family of anti-drug officer gunned down

• Talkin' 'Icky Thump' blues (1:40)
• 'Why you treat yourself bad?' (3:15)
• Soviet culture returns (3:47)
• Unseemly rap lyrics targeted (3:29)
• Now In The News