PCC’s new supermarket is still taking shape in Edmonds’ Westgate neighborhood but the job of making it one of Puget Sound’s greenest buildings has been underway for months.
The supermarket co-op hopes to build a platinum LEED (for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified building, PCC officials have repeatedly said. Scheduled to open this summer, it would only be Washington’s second platinum certified building.
Getting the building approved hasn’t been easy. It has required Edmonds to rethink — and rewrite — some of its building codes, Mayor Gary Haakenson said.
“It was not mandatory,” Haakenson said in early April. “But it is something that we are trying to do to make positive changes to protect the environment.”
Protecting the environment, of course, has become something everybody wants to do. Even, not surprisingly, the state politicians in Olympia.
While lawmakers hammer out legislation to reduce and regulate pollution in Washington, local communities already are taking steps to soften their impact on the environment.
Mountlake Terrace has hired consultants to examine ways to incorporate sustainability into that city’s economic development plans.
The city of Lynnwood is considering whether its remodeled recreation center will be LEED certified and, if so, to what level.
“Being green is no longer just trendy, it’s a revolution,” Mill Creek Community Development director Bill Trimm said. “We know we need to be more conscious about the environment as we go about our daily lives. We know we have to make changes.”
It wasn’t a state mandate that led to Mill Creek’s tree retention ordinance. Likewise, city leaders recently included language in the comprehensive plan to encourage sustainable development because it was the will of Mill Creek residents — not state lawmakers, Trimm said.
The Legislature passed several laws this session aimed at reducing pollution and improving air quality. House Bill 2815 — in addition to regulating emissions from the state’s top polluters — calls for a system of rewarding and compensating businesses and local governments that reduce carbon gas emissions through investments in alternative energy sources and other innovations.
The directors of the state Department of Ecology and the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development have until Dec. 1 to give lawmakers their recommendations on a greenhouse gas cap and trade program — how to design and implement this market-based system by 2012 in cooperation with British Columbia, Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon and other states within the Western Climate Initiative.
The system would establish a cap on emissions and a formula for allocating credits to businesses, local governments and other entities. Participants could then buy, sell or trade credits in a regional, multi-sector market.
Lawmakers are hopeful that a cap and trade program — by making it profitable to cut emission levels — will encourage innovation in reducing air pollution.
There is some debate over fairness and whether or not credits should be allocated retroactively to organizations that have already taken steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“That’s a stumbling block for some of us,” HB2815 sponsor Rep. Hans Dunshee said. “You want to acknowledge those groups that are leading the way, but the whole idea is to encourage people to do more to reduce emissions. For example, the automakers were arguing with us, because we passed legislation requiring more fuel efficient cars. That they should get credit for that is absurd.”
“You don’t want to pay someone for something they’re already doing,” he added.
The gathering storm nationwide around green living and energy efficient products — hybrid vehicles, Energy Star appliances, organic produce and the like — suggest the Legislature is behind the curve.
Millions of people are making business and lifestyle changes every day without promise of compensation or reimbursement from the government.
“That’s what the market wants,” Mill Creek City Manager Tim Burns said of trends in eco-friendly policy and merchandising.
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