North to Alaska!
The green building movement is taking hold even in the frozen far north, as my recent visit to Alaksa showed.
Earlier this week I gave talks to almost 100 people in Anchorage and Fairbanks, on behalf of the Alaska chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. With the fine leadership of many dedicated people, green building in the far north is taking off. Anchorage’s mayor is pushing a Sustainable Building Initiative, to get the city commited to LEED-certifying its future facilities. In Fairbanks, the Cold Climate Housing Research Center, led by Jack Hebert and Mike Musick, has just opened. They’re hoping for a LEED Gold certification for this $6 million research, testing and education facility. The day I arrived in Fairbanks, the temperature was a mild 16F (for January). The week before it had been -24F (daily high). A 40F swing in a few days is not unusual for interior Alaska. Check out the CCHRC and get on their mailing list. When you realize how thinly populated Alaska still is (about like the Dakotas, Vermont and Wyoming), you realize the difficulties of introducing green building ideas and techniques, and you really appreciate all the good people there who are doing this work.
Posted by on 02/01/2007 at 04:57 PM
