Go Nashville!

Current mood: optimistic

I attended the Public Workshop on Green Building in Metro Nashville this week with my gal, Allison. Pretty exciting stuff for sure! The city of Nashville has an ordinance up for approval to implement a policy of Green Building for Nashville's government buildings. If you aren't familiar with the idea of sustainable or green building, I have included a few websites at the bottom of this post. The idea of Nashville moving towards a greener philosophy is so very exciting!
Because we, as American's, spend about 90% of our time indoors, the quality of the environment we work, live and shop in is very important. If a building is green, expect 30% energy savings, 35% carbon savings, 30-50% water usage savings, and 50-90% waste cost savings. In a business, these figures add up to enhanced productivity (between 2-16%), reduced absenteeism and improved employee morale. In schools, 20% better test performances. In retail a significant increase in sales. With all this being said, the health benefits are the most important to those of us who aren't business owners. I, for one, would love to work in a green environment. Several other large cities have already implemented Green Building policies and are reaping the benefits.


From the workshop:
The purpose of the Metropolitan Government's policy on sustainable
building is to require the Government's commitment to environmental,
economic, and social stewardship, to yield cost savings to the
Metropolitan Government taxpayers through reduced operating cost
savings to the Metropolitan Government taxpayers through reduced
operating costs, to provide healthy and productive work environments
for staff and visitors, and to contribute to the government's goals of
protecting, conserving, and enhancing the region's environmental
resources. Additionally, the Metropolitan Government shall help to set
a community standard of sustainable building.

16.60.050 Policy and goals.
1. It is the policy of the Metropolitan Government to finance, plan,
design, construct, manage, renovate, maintain, and decommission its
facilities and buildings to be sustainable. This applies to new
construction and renovations, for which the planning and construction
commences on or after August 1, 2007, in which the total project square
footage includes 5,000 gross square feet of occupied space or the total
project cost exceeds two million dollars. For existing buildings or
facilities, this chapter shall only apply to renovations that add 5,000
or more gross square feet of occupied space.
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If you would like to get involved, join the mailing list at the Nashville Civic Design Center Website: