Campus Green Builder

In 2002, the Los Angeles Community College District's Board of Trustees also made a commitment to design and build environmentally friendly educational facilities that would reduce energy consumption and dependence on non-renewable power sources. Today, the District's award-winning $6-billion Sustainable Building Program, which will add approximately 90 new green buildings throughout its nine colleges, has become one of the nation’s largest green building efforts and a model for other educational institutions.¹

East Los Angeles College began capital improvement projects that include the installation of solar panels, the construction of a new parking structure and that of the new Men's Baseball Facility among other things. Construction of the $65-million Performing and Fine Arts Complex is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2010. This building is expected to meet the highest achievable LEED^® certification as required by the LACCD Sustainable Design Standard document. This new complex will house the College's Vincent Price Museum, Recital and Theater Halls. (For more information, please go to http://www.laccdbuildsgreen.org/elac.php). The 40,382-square-foot gallery will include workshops and a lecture hall. It also will be home to more than 2,000 art pieces from the Vincent Price Collection – estimated to be worth $5 million. The 77,078-square-foot recital hall will include facilities for painting, sculpture, print-making, dance and ceramics/sculpture. There will also be design and drawing studios, music classrooms, choir and music libraries, music computer labs and rehearsal space. The 42,110-square-foot theater building will have a drama theater, an experimental black box theater, costume workshop and rehearsal space. (For more information, please go to http://www.laccdbuildsgreen.org/elac_news_release_article.php?newsrelease_id=169).

Challenges in regards to Building Green on Campus

At this stage of the energy and sustainability initiatives at the college, the campus community and governance are supportive of the projects and recognize that they are cost-effective and positive steps toward improving the campus and achieving energy efficiency with the ultimate goal of pursuing climate neutrality. The primary challenge while building green on campus is directly associated with the cost or the upfront premium of building green. The administration has to grapple with this initial investment any time a new energy efficiency system plans to get introduced on the campus. As a result, there is also the difficulty of advocating for green buildings, given the belief that they come with a higher cost. Also following this, public relations and promotion of the campus initiative outside of the campus becomes a challenge as well.

Identifying and Assessing Opportunities to Build Green

The State of California has long promoted reduction of carbon footprint and GHG emissions. The “Grid Neutral” initiative is intended to make state colleges and school districts energy efficient and eventually energy independent by enabling them to produce their own energy. East Los Angeles College, as part of the LACCD, was concerned that the campus will be burdened by increase in energy cost as well as greenhouse gases across the campuses. Taking advantage of the tax incentives and financing opportunities, the LACCD received the encouragement to join the movement to combat global warming and climate crisis in its own capacity.

Green Building Protocols

The Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) has prepared a Sustainability Design Standards document, which outlines the district’s goals and established standards for renovations and new construction based on the LEED^® requirements. “Any LACCD project that is required to meet these Standards shall aim to achieve the highest possible level of LEED^® certification. This being the case, all LEED^® prerequisites, and some LEED^® credits, will be “mandatory” for all projects. It is left to the project team to choose among the various “recommended” practices to achieve the highest possible level of LEED^® certification.” The document covers the six areas of LEED^® criteria:

• Sustainable Sites
• Water Efficiency
• Energy and Atmosphere
• Materials and Resources
• Indoor Environmental Quality
• Innovation in Design

For each campus, a checklist is provided that indicates the recommended best practices and mandatory measures to which the campus building team must abide. For example, ELAC and all other campuses in the district are required to reduce heat island effects generated by rooftops and other surfaces, as well as reduce water consumption by at least 20%. The LACCD’s green procurement policies also have resulted in an increased demand for recyclable materials and furniture. Thanks in part to the LACCD's demand for furniture, lighting and flooring products with substantial recycled content, manufacturers are now selling environmentally sensitive products, including furniture made with 100 percent renewable materials. The District has made its bulk purchasing process available to all California educational and governmental agencies as well as nonprofit organizations, giving these groups the opportunity to bulk purchase sustainable products at discounted rates.²

These and other specifications can be found in the Sustainability Standards document.

¹ Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. "Los Angeles Community College District Campus Sustainability Profile." Retrieved September 2, 2009.
² Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. "Los Angeles Community College District Campus Sustainability Profile." Retrieved September 2, 2009.