Green Building Services

Achieve Green continues to provide us with affordable development opportunities in a tough economy….press release except below

“Today, Achieve Green NW conference organizers announced new series dates and details for the retooled, online conference series presenting tips for businesses and organizations interested in being green and saving “green Conference attendees will hear from a variety of industry experts on how to incorporate the concept of sustainability in areas such as recruiting and retaining employees, accessing energy efficiency incentives and tax credits, greening office and operational practices and marketing their business as a green leader. All workshops are designed to provide easy and important tips that reduce costs for businesses and preserve the environment.”

July 1, 2009 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Putting Your Sustainability Initiatives to Work: Recruiting New Talent and Finding Your Dream Job

July 15, 2009 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Show Me the Money: Incentives, Tax Credits and Financing to Help You Pay for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

July 29, 2009 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Best Practices for a Green Workplace

August 12, 2009 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Marketing That Matters

August 26, 2009 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Recycling, Composting and Purchasing in Food Service Operations

Visit www.achievegreennw.com to register and find more information about individual workshops and confirmed speakers.

Contact: Jeff Blosser, Oregon Convention Center, 503-235-7583

I am a presenter at this year’s Summer Sustainability Series, which takes place June 22 through 26. The only program of its kind in the world, this series is limited to 20 select professionals and 15 top graduate students from the region and abroad to ensure direct engagement with experts, policy makers, academics and not-for-profits. It’s a weeklong sustainable immersion course that gives an insider’s view of Oregon as a living laboratory of sustainability successes, challenges, and ongoing experiments.

The series is an educational goldmine with great opportunities for collaboration, and Green Building Services (GBS) decided to sponsor a participant to attend. We believe that social equity must remain a vital component of sustainability, so we stipulated that our scholarship go to a community college instructor with the intent of taking the program’s sustainable lessons back to the college, coworkers and students.

It’s essential that our industry build better relationships with community colleges to engage more people in sustainability. Community colleges are the educational venue of choice for a huge number of people. As a training ground for tomorrow’s workforce, a gateway into the university setting, and a learning center for people in all stages of life, community colleges are in a prime position to educate people around the state on sustainable issues.

The administrators of the series awarded Mike Holtzclaw, Ph. D, an associate professor of geography at Central Oregon Community College in Bend, Ore., with the GBS scholarship. We are pleased that Mike shares our view of positively influencing community college students, as he is working to develop a degree in sustainability for his institution.

We were also delighted to discover that our scholarship inspired additional series participation at the community college level. The process of inviting candidates to apply for the GBS scholarship raised awareness and ignited interest in the program – so much so that three other community college instructors are now attending. This is a wonderful offshoot of our scholarship as it will help disburse sustainable education further across the entire community.

Because we all have a stake in our future, protecting our environment needs to become meaningful for people in every job, from all walks of life. Our hope is that sustainable curriculum becomes more deeply integrated into our educational system from K-12 through community colleges and higher education to help everyone in our community better understand and apply sustainable principles and practices.

Jay Coalson, President

Jay Coalson CEO & President

Established in 2000, Green Building Services, Inc. (GBS) is a professional consulting firm dedicated to enhancing the well being of our communities and the environment. GBS is comprised of architects, engineers, interior designers and construction specialists who share a passion for sustainability and a desire to effect positive change. Our consultants actively guide clients to identify and implement green building and facility management strategies. With offices in Portland, OR, Sacramento, CA, Orlando, FL, and Houston, TX, GBS is nationally recognized for its achievements in supporting green building projects.

Recently, Enterprise Community Partners selected GBS as an Approved Technical Assistance Provider for its Green Communities certification program. Enterprise is a nonprofit organization that provides capital and expertise for affordable housing and community development across the nation. As a company dedicated to social equity, we are thrilled to help enhance the standard of living for people and families everywhere.

The Green Communities certification program is modeled largely after LEED for Homes and LEED for Neighborhood Development to guide affordable housing in more sustainable directions. The program reviews and accepts grant applications to fund the incremental cost associated with green design and construction. Enterprise selects projects for funding based on the ability to demonstrate a process that will clearly identify and verify the achievement of sustainable objectives. They also have grant funding available for eco-charrettes.

GBS has written grant applications on behalf of affordable housing developers and public entities and performed eco-charrettes and sustainable project consulting with the subsequent funds. Our new status as an Approved Provider means that Enterprise formally recognizes our demonstrated expertise and in-house technical capabilities. This is exciting news for us because we are always looking to expand our opportunities in promoting social equity.

One of our recent projects where GBS wrote the project scope outline to obtain funds from Enterprise was the Kaupuni development in Oahu. Covering a little more than 3-acres, this 18-unit, single-family home neighborhood is a project of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL). GBS has supported the State of Hawaii’s efforts to evolve sustainability into their affordable housing projects. Kaupuni marks a major change in the mindset of DHHL, as they are working toward net-zero energy across the overall community and will attain Green Communities certification. The intent is that this community serves as a sub-template for DHHL’s future projects, allowing the agency to evaluate which sustainable features are practical and affordable for Hawaiian projects. A known strategy that all State of Hawaii projects must incorporate now is solar hot water. We are pleased to be part of the Kaupuni team to help create new strategies and work on a community level to achieve net-zero energy.

Another new program Enterprise is piloting will assess opportunities to incorporate sustainability into existing affordable housing properties in need of renovation. The program will measure the impact of existing buildings improvement measures and create feedback based upon performance. As the program launches, GBS will be ready to provide analysis and expertise for these existing projects – both on a building and neighborhood scale.

By Terry Miller, Senior Consultant, LEED AP