Photo by Camas Frank

On August 30th, InBalance Green Consulting hosted a Caltrans LEED celebration tour for the California Department of Transportation Office which was awarded LEED Gold certification. This building was originally built in the 1960's and was first used for storage, and then more recently was used as a small viticulture processing plant before it was renovated into the new Caltrans offices. 83% of the existing building was reused for the project, and based on modeling and analysis, the building is expected to use 31% less energy compared to similar buildings.

Photo by Slotography

During the event, LEED Gold certification strategies were discussed including building materials and reuse, energy efficient design, low impact development for stormwater management, and reduced indoor and outdoor water use. These were just some of the sustainable construction strategies that exceeded the owner's requirement to originally attain Silver (InBalance 2017).

It was a great event, and we would like to thank the builders, architects, Caltrans employees, and others who came!

Read the published press release here:  http://www.tolosapressnews.com/midway-on-higuera/

AUSD Announces Monterey Road Elementary School Green Ribbon Award 

Julie Ann Davis, Principal, Monterey Road Elementary

We are excited to announce that Monterey Road Elementary School in Atascadero Unified School District, has been awarded Silver Recognition for the California Green Schools Award for a second year in a row! Green Ribbon Schools demonstrate exemplary achievement in three “pillars.”

Pillar I: reduce environmental impact and costs; Pillar II: improve the health and wellness of schools, students, and staff; and Pillar III: provide effective environmental education that teaches many disciplines and is especially good at effectively incorporating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, civic skills, and green career pathways.

Monterey Road began this journey in June 2015 when they partnered with Cuesta Community College Sustainability Resource Center. Teachers attended professional development around the Next Generation Science Standards and designed sustainability units to be implemented across grade levels.

Victoria Carranza from One Cool Earth talking about how the students can help reduce waste on their campus.

In addition, Monterey Road partnered with One Cool Earth, a nonprofit organization, in an effort to increase recycling. In January 2016 and 2017, One Cool Earth conducted a Waste Audit with the students and staff at Monterey Road where a complete days’ worth of waste was sorted and weighed. During the audit, students and staff learned how they could sort and recycle waste on campus daily. Upon completion of the audit, the students and staff made a commitment to increase recycling efforts and waste reduction. Soon a Green Team made up of student volunteers, was formed.

The Green Team runs the compost stations at lunch where waste is either recycled or treated and transformed into compost to use in the school garden. In addition, the garden has been transformed to an outdoor classroom where students learn responsibility through planting and harvesting annual crops.

Sorting the waste, it's a dirty job, but these kids know how to do it!

Finally, the school’s Garden Committee, which consists of students, staff, and parents, is participating in a Turf Replacement Project, where turf is being removed and replaced with native drought resistant plants as well as a Food Forrest that has been designed by the students.

The vision of the School Board and the commitment of the community, through the Facilities Bond, has led to high performing classroom environments that are energy efficient and wonderful spaces for student learning.

After all the hard work, the results are both stunning & fruitful. 

Monterey Road Elementary School is very proud of this award and wants to thank everyone who has supported them with Sustainability Projects this year! It has been an amazing learning experience for the students and staff and the school looks forward to continuing to expand this program in the years to come! 

Media inquiries may contact:

Julie Ann Davis, Principal, Monterey Road Elementary School, 805-462-4270 or District Superintendent, Tom Butler, 805-462-4217. 

To see the Monterey Road Elementary Statistics infographic Click the image below. 

Oceano Elementary is the First Awarded School in the Country

The League of American Bicyclists recognized Oceano Elementary with a Gold Level Bicycle Friendly Business (BFBSM) award, making them the first Gold Level K-12 in the country! There are 2 Silver-level high schools, one silver-level elementary and 1 Silver-level public school district.

With the announcement of 59 new and renewing BFBs today, Oceano Elementary joins a cutting-edge group of 1,315 local businesses, government agencies, and Fortune 500 companies in 49 states and Washington, D.C., that are transforming the American workplace.

“The business community’s investment in bicycling is playing a central role

in making the country a safer, happier, and more sustainable place to live

and work,” said Amelia Neptune, Director of the Bicycle Friendly America

program. “We applaud this new round of businesses, including Oceano

Elementary, for leading the charge in creating a bicycle-friendly America

for everyone.”

Oceano Elementary is extremely proud of the bicycle community they have created. The school has the leading bike program in San Luis Obispo County. Here are a list of some of the activities that the school provides to our students and community:

•       Monthly Bike to School Days (incentive prizes given to participating students.)
•      After school bike club - called the Bike Posse. We ride twice a month after school (7 miles total) to get ice cream.
•       Bike cleaning and maintenance opportunities both before and after school (the school provides tools, tubes, parts, cleaning supplies and help for students to fix and clean their bikes.)
•       Free bikes given to students who cannot afford bikes through donations from the local "Honor Farm" (correctional facility), and community members.
•        Students who do not have bikes can participate in cycling activities with 20 loaner bikes available at the school.
•        Bike safety instruction at least once a month.

To apply or learn more about the BFB program, visit the League online.

Bike Posse Parking on campus

About the Bicycle Friendly America Program

To learn more about building a Bicycle Friendly America, including the Bicycle Friendly CommunitySM, Bicycle Friendly StateSM, Bicycle Friendly BusinessSM and Bicycle Friendly UniversitySM programs visit www.bikeleague.org/BFA.

The League of American Bicyclists is leading the movement to create a Bicycle Friendly America for everyone. As leaders, our commitment is to listen and learn, define standards and share best practices to engage diverse communities and build a powerful, unified voice for change.

_________________

Oceano Elementary has many other achievements as well! 

Oceano Elementary also has many other notable achievements. Since 2015, they have been making improvements to their school and earned a $500 grant from PG&E through CCGBC’s Gateway to Green Schools Program.  

Click here to see a statistical display of Oceano's achievements at large! 

CCGBC Potting Bench Raffle

• 

CLICK HERE TO ENTER THE RAFFLE

• 100% of Proceeds go towards Gateway to Green Schools Program
  
• $5 for (1) raffle ticket or $20 for (5) tickets
  
• Drawing will be held on December 16, 2016
  
• Perfect Holiday Addition for Your Garden
  
• 4’ Potting Table with Live Edge
  
• Value Price $425
• 
  

AIA Santa Barbara is hosting their annual ArchitecTours event showcasing 9 extraordinary homes and businesses. 

This year's theme is " Buildings With a Story."

Where: Santa Barbara, Ca.
When: October 3rd from 10a.m. - 4p.m.

Registration costs are*Early Bird pricing: 

$65 for the general public 
$55 for AIA members 
$25 for students

Learn how to master designing Low Impact Development Landscapes during this 1-hour free Lunch-N-Learn!

 (AIA Members can earn 1 LU for attendance) 

Low Impact Development (LID) landscape features are designed to support storm water management objectives in addition to providing traditional landscape benefits.

A successful landscape design for a LID project requires a synthesis of civil engineering and landscape architecture considerations during design, understanding of correct construction practices, and knowledge of long-term maintenance needs.

This training will focus on aspects critical to a successful project, including:

• Plant Selection 
  
• Soils and Mulch
  
• Integration with Specifications and Details
  
• Construction and Maintenance Considerations
  

The Central Coast Green Building Council would like to recognize outstanding sustainable building achievements along the California Central Coast. The Green Awards highlight innovative design, construction, products, businesses, schools, governments and educational programs in our community. The juried awards process is based on specific criteria for each award category. Awards presented at this year’s Green Awards Gala: December 5th, 2015.

Pre-Registration Aug 29th - Sept 14th

Member: $ 75  Non - Member: $ 100

Registration Sept 15th - Oct. 5th  

Member: $100  Non - Member: $ 125

Categories - Click on a category for submittal form. You may submit more than one project for any given category.

Links to the forms:

Green Homes

Green Landscape

Green Rehab/ Renovation

Green School & Government

Green New Construction

Green Operations

Green Innovation

*To save your form and return to it later, make a free FormSite account login username and password. 

Check out these upcoming events in your community. Don't miss the BuildSMART Trailer at the Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival April 18th & 19th!

April 9th Eblast.pdf

The Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI), the certification body for the global LEED® green building rating system, the WELL Building Standard®, the PEER™ program and other sustainability initiatives, announced today that it has acquired GRESB (the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark), an industry-driven organization committed to assessing the sustainability performance of real estate portfolios around the globe. “GRESB delivers the missing link by providing a framework for this measurement within and across portfolios,” added Fedrizzi. “The merging of our two organizations will provide an unprecedented view of global real estate that can help protect and enhance the value of its investments and contribute to a more sustainable built environment at the same time. This is a huge step.”

The merger will provide the global real estate industry with a powerful set of integrated sustainability solutions, linking real time performance, asset certification and portfolio-level reporting to provide investment-grade data. These solutions will leverage GBCI’s established expertise providing rigorous third-party review, verification and training, which will be extended to the GRESB Survey in combination with GRESB’s unique capabilities to assess and benchmark critical aspects of environmental performance, social responsibility and corporate governance.  Together, GBCI and GRESB will provide investors with reliable information to inform global real estate investment decisions. 

To learn more about this merger and these two organizations:

Visit GBCI & GRESB