Jump to content

Cities making "green" decisions

dimebag1980

By dimebag1980
in The Treehugger's Lounge

Recommended Posts

Nitro Burg

Nitro

Posted
Posted

BTW: We actually have someone on the GR forum who is an expert in LEED Certification who knows a lot more than me. :D Hopefully he'll pipe in.

And yes, I agree it would be nice if that certain someone would chime in. :)

Good Lord they're clamoring for me! Just kidding. I'm here, a bit late but I'm here. Great new section! I've been accused of being a tree hugger many times.

Two of the projects that Dadof listed are mine one he forgot was the offices of the West Michigan Environmental Action Council which was a gold LEED-CI project. The building that WMEAC is in is the Center of the Universe project which is a gold LEED-CS project. As near as we can figure it is the first double gold certified project in the US (gold LEED-CS and LEED-CI). Also our office building was a LEED-NC silver project that was certified two years ago. We've also got two more LEED projects in various states of completion.

I applaud all of the LEED certified buildings that are being done across the US. Someone else asked where they could look for LEED buildings in their area. Check out this Linky

Looking forward to this new section. I hope I can contribute to the activity.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 42
  • Created
  • Last Reply
Nitro Burg

Nitro

Posted
Posted

Yeah I was wondering why they're experimenting more with larger plants than something like grass.

Do you want to get up there and mow it? The Rouge plant has over 10 acres of green roof. Sedums are the plant of choice for green roofs for a couple of reasons. They are shallow rooting plants that root more horizontally then vertically. This is important because most green roofs only have a 4"-5" soil depth. The next good thing about sedums is that they really are the Ron Popeil of plants, set it and forget it. They are tough little buggers that will withstand just about any weather or period of drought.

There are some species of Allium's and Sempervivum's (hen's and chick's) that work well too. But, the majority of green roof plants are sedums.

Although Rouge is the biggest we are currently working on the second biggest green roof in Michigan. It is for a hospital and will be 48,000 sq. ft.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mith242 Gigalopolis

Mith242

Posted
Posted

Do you want to get up there and mow it? The Rouge plant has over 10 acres of green roof. Sedums are the plant of choice for green roofs for a couple of reasons. They are shallow rooting plants that root more horizontally then vertically. This is important because most green roofs only have a 4"-5" soil depth. The next good thing about sedums is that they really are the Ron Popeil of plants, set it and forget it. They are tough little buggers that will withstand just about any weather or period of drought.

There are some species of Allium's and Sempervivum's (hen's and chick's) that work well too. But, the majority of green roof plants are sedums.

Although Rouge is the biggest we are currently working on the second biggest green roof in Michigan. It is for a hospital and will be 48,000 sq. ft.

I see, maybe I also need to look for some pics of some sedums. I guess just mentioning the word succulant doesn't make me thing of something that covers a lot of surface like grass would.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Nitro Burg

Nitro

Posted
Posted

I see, maybe I also need to look for some pics of some sedums. I guess just mentioning the word succulant doesn't make me thing of something that covers a lot of surface like grass would.

They are far more beautiful then you may expect..............

1001lake01sj3.jpg

1001lake02hn1.jpg

roofgardensmalllp4.jpg

The first two are our East Hills Center project. This is a LEED-CS gold project.

The third is our office building which is a LEED-NC silver project.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

Posted
Posted

They are far more beautiful then you may expect..............

The first two are our East Hills Center project. This is a LEED-CS gold project.

The third is our office building which is a LEED-NC silver project.

Wow, beautiful Nitro! I had not seen these pictures before. What hospital are you working on with the 48,000 sf roof? Any pictures?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
RustTown City

RustTown

Posted
Posted

More news about Lansing/Lansing Township making smart decisions, it almost makes mention of the projects in Grand Rapids and Grayling:

Report lauds storm water efforts

Lansing Twp. wetland cited as model site

By Chris Andrews

Lansing State Journal

The Tollgate Wetland in Lansing Township is a state and national model for combating pollution from storm water runoff, according to a report released Wednesday.

"The Greening of Stormwater" report highlighted projects in Ingham County, Grand Rapids and Grayling that it said were safe, efficient and cost-effective methods of managing stormwater runoff.

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A...10353/1001/NEWS

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've gone by it many times, but never thought much of it. I thought it was just park. This is one of the 5 parcels of Lansing Township totally surrounded by Lansing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 3 weeks later...
pdxheel Whistle-Stop

pdxheel

Posted
Posted

Portland, OR is considered a national leader in sustainable/green development. The City has a Sustainable Development Department and many of the top real estate developers are known nationally for being promoting green developments. Also, there is a growing movement at Oregon Universities to focus research on what many call "livable" or sustainable solutions. The idea would be to create a "livability/Sustainability Valley" in around Portland (and entire Willamette Valley) modeled after Silicon Valley and Stanford.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 months later...
colin Burg

colin

Posted
Posted

Civano to add state's 1st 'green' hospital

"A planned East Side hospital will be the first "green" health-care facility in the state, with the UA's architecture school teaming with Tucson Medical Center to create an energy- efficient, sustainable building.

The Rincon Community Hospital at Civano will be silver certified under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards set forth by the U.S. Green Building Council."

Full story: http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/157975

Civano is a New Urbanist community on Tucson's southeast side. After the first phase, the community was unfortunately purchased by Pulte, the newer phases have diverged to a more traditional model, and the idealistic master plan has been lost.

This hospital is something that the community members have always been excited about though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
eastsider Burg

eastsider

Posted
Posted

The city of Austin is taking another step in becoming a leading city in environmental protection. Last week, the city council voted to adopt a climate protection plan that would eliminate all carbon dioxide emissions from all city activities by 2020. This would be done by having all city facilities use 100% renewable energy by 2012, converting the cities vehicle fleet to alternative fuels and electric power, and implementing greenhouse gas reductions in every city department.

The plan also calls for

  • Setting a goal for Austin Energy to have all of the energy produced coming from renewable sources by 2020

  • Achieving 700 MW of energy savings through conservation and efficiency by 2020

  • Making all new single family homes capable of consuming zero net-energy by 2015

  • Require all older homes meet a basic level of energy-efficiency when they are sold by 2015

  • Increasing efficiency in new commercial buildings by 75 percent by 2015

  • Develop a comprehensive plan for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions from sources in the community

Full plan here: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/council/downloa...acpp_points.pdf

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.