Go Green Lansing

The green building movement is something relatively new on the American scene. Most people know the term green but do not know exactly what the standard is. In the residential housing industry, you can have the five star energy rating for a home, which means it is energy efficient. This is kind of the beginning standard, then you can get into the types of glues used, renewable finishings, such as bamboo flooring, and many other features that can be used to save energy and be more environmentally friendly. In Commercial buildings, I am aware of Leadership in Energy and Environment Design, or LEED. It is the standard developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. Here is the link if you are interested in finding out more about the standard, www.usgbc.org/LEED/. The National Association of Homebuilders announced that it is going green and is really pushing its new green building courses. In Lansing Gene Townsend announced his new project on the Corner of Kalamazoo and Cedar with its retail shops, condos, and apartments as a green building. I am really excited about this, and I think Gene is going to make a real impact on this town with this. As far as I am aware, this it the biggest green project that Lansing has ever seen. This may be the only true “Green” building in Lansing. This type of project is something that Lansing really needs. I hope that it is a great success for Mr. Townsend, and shows the other developers in the area that Lansing is ready to “Go Green.” (Hopefully that last line does not infringe on any copyright of any certain University)