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It's Easy Being Green, Says Irvine

Posted on: Thursday, 15 December 2005, 15:00 CST

By The Orange County Register, Calif.

Dec. 15--Irvine has become the first city in Orange County to approve a comprehensive residential green building program, an ambitious plan that includes guidelines for homeowners to create environmentally friendly buildings.

A typical green home might contain larger windows to reduce the need for electric light, a recycled water system, solar cells and native-plant landscaping.

Offices and commercial buildings will be included in future updates of the plan.

The program was approved Tuesday by the City Council.

The program is voluntary at this point, but the resolution establishing the program says Irvine will serve as a "key leader" in green building.

"This is a program that I have long advocated for, and I'm very excited to see this come together," Mayor Beth Krom said. She also said implementation of the program is an important first step for the Great Park, which is expected to be a showcase for green building guidelines.

The guidelines were created through a partnership among Irvine, the various utilities, the Irvine Co., the Building Industry Association and several companies involved in green building.

Irvine's guidelines were loosely based on the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED rating system -- Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. That rating system has four certification levels: certified, silver, gold and platinum.

A resource guide was also created that lists businesses where the environmental products can be found. The guidelines are said to benefit people through lower utility costs, support for regional waste management strategies, improved and healthier working conditions, and protection of the environment.

A pilot green building program was approved recently by Mission Viejo; solar panels and native landscaping are focal points of the Terramor village at Ladera Ranch. Green programs of varying scope are in effect in Santa Monica, Pasadena, Los Angeles and Santa Clarita and at Glendale Community College.

The Irvine program includes guidelines for residents and homebuilders on how to create environmentally friendly homes.

The city says the green program is expected to increase costs on any city facilities by 1 percent to 3 percent, a figure industry experts say is too low.

Configuring a building to green requirements can add as much as 20 percent to the cost, says Richard Gollis, principal with the Newport Beach-based Concord Group, a real estate consulting concern. The challenge is to make the energy savings offset the additional costs, Gollis said.

Nonetheless, he said green building is "gaining momentum" as a practice.

Some builders argue that costs are not yet low enough for a full-scale adoption of green building techniques, which typically include larger windows to bring in more natural light, water recycling systems and landscaping with native plants.

Some green practices, such as waterless urinals, remain a cultural stretch -- at least for now.

But Irvine seems determined to go green in a big way.

Planners for the Great Park have talked about adopting green techniques for the 3,714-acre project, a mix of wilderness areas, athletic fields, museums, schools, farms, shops and houses.

"We're totally on board," says Bob Santos, executive vice president of the Great Park project for Lennar Corp., which will develop the built areas of the old base.

Santos said Irvine planners included the company in crafting the policy. "We're going to embrace that and see what else we can do," Santos said.

By Jeff Rowe and Sonya Smith

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To see more of The Orange County Register, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.ocregister.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, The Orange County Register, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

LEN,

Source: The Orange County Register

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