David searches for and finds green buildings in Alaska

So part of my job this summer is to help plan for a renewable energy fair that REAP hosts at the end of the summer. Today I tried to find as much information as possible on green buildings in Alaska and the architectural firms that build them. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the amount I found.

As far as LEED certified buildings go there are currently three such buildings in Alaska. The first one I came across is the Evergreen Building in Juneau, which is the first LEED certified in Juneau. It was designed by MRV Architects, and also acts as their new office. There are also three 'upscale' apartments on the top floor and there is another office area in the building. From the Alaska Public Radio piece that I listened to it sounds as if they attained the certified rating through using local materials, reusing old materials whenever possible, and because of the close proximity to jobs, grocery markets, and other amenities. What was really surprising/amusing/somewhat saddening to me was an interview with a contractor who mentioned it was difficult to subcontract out parts of the job behttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifcause of the "greenie" association with the building, as if working on the building would somehow turn them into commie, tree-hugging lefties or something.

The Homer Public Library is also LEED certified, and garnered a Silver rating. It also used local materials to help reach LEED status. Interestingly, the movement to remake the Homer Library was largely community driven, and stemmed from a prior incident in which the library was fined by the EPA for violating the Clean Water Act.

The last, which was also the first to be built, is actually the West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer. Not only was this the first LEED building in Alaska, but it was also the first NOAA, National Weather Service, and Commerce Department building to be LEED certified.

There are some other really interesting building currently in the works as well. Aurora Square is being built in Eastern Anchorage and advertises itself as "lux-eco-modern townhomes" and seems to be an interesting project that I want to find out more about. The development is supposed to have energy efficient appliances and there is a rain garden. They also advertise that there are lawns on the roofs, whether this means that they are green roofs and add to the efficiency of the building I'm not sure. I plan to email them sometime to find out some more.

There will be at least one more LEED building in Alaska as the Augustine Energy Building is on track to be LEED certified silver. It is going to be a twenty-one story retail/office building in Downtown Anchorage, but that is about all I've been able to find out about it so far.