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 (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/01/2007 at 04:57 PM
Jerry,
Thanks for the kind words in your Green Building News Blog. Thank you for making the business case for green building in Fairbanks. The University of Alaska Fairbanks may build a new reasearch building on campus to LEED standards and the Fairbanks North Star Borough may strive to radically reduce their energy consumption thanks, in part, to your presentation.
Regards,
Mike Musick
Posted by Mike Musick on 02/05/2007 at 04:18 PM
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