Eco-City Alexandria Hosts First in a Series of Green Building Workshops

The City of Alexandria hosted the first in a series of six free Green Building Workshops on Saturday, Feb. 5 as part of the Eco-City Alexandria initiative.

The initiative, which began as a partnership between the city and Virginia Tech’s School of Urban Affairs and Planning, ultimately resulted in the Eco-City Charter, adopted by the City Council in 2008, and the Environmental Action Plan, adopted by the City Council in 2009.

About 30 people, primarily homeowners along with several city officials, attended the “Greening Your Home, Apartment, or Small Business” workshop at City Hall, which provided information and resources to help homeowners, renters and business owners make environmentally friendly and energy efficient improvements to their homes, condos, apartments and buildings. Topics included everything from air quality improvements to energy efficient toilets.

William Skrabak, deputy director of the Office of Environmental Quality in the city’s Department of Transportation and Environmental Services, explained that the series of workshops was funded by a grant to the city made possible through monies provided by the government to stimulate the economy. He also shared information about many of the initiatives underway, both at the city level (LED Streetlights) and in the community (Kill-a-Watt device for measuring electricity usage that’s available on loan to citizens through the city’s public library system).

Barbara Ross, deputy director of the Department of Planning and Zoning, also highlighted several green building projects throughout the city including the new DASH bus facility, T.C. Williams High School and the Charles Houston Recreation Center.

The workshop featured presentations by Brian Uher of Amicus Consulting Services and Amicus Green Building Center and Doug Horgan, of BOWA Builders, Inc. Both provided information to help homeowners understand and appreciate the driving forces behind various improvements and upgrades and shared metrics for determining what makes sense given the particular circumstances involved.

The presentations covered:

• factors to consider when building and/or making changes to improve the comfort and/or energy efficiency of one's home or business;
• benefits of a home energy audit, what to expect from one and what to do with the results;
• solutions for commons issues that included do-it-yourself options and the range of the costs one could expect if hiring a contractor, installer, and/or auditor for various projects;
• the pros and cons of various technologies, including solar panels and geothermal heating systems; and
• the significance of various labels, ratings and certifications and what they mean to individual consumers

Both shared examples of tools that individuals can use to assess their needs and potential solutions, costs, return on investment and more.

Available to participants were several resource sheets for greening one’s home, apartment or small business; a list of online resources and tools; free compact fluorescent light bulbs; and an opportunity to win one of five door prizes (including programmable thermostats, LED light bulbs and an energy efficient shower head).

Those interested in learning more can:

• Visit the new Green Building Resource Center on the city’s web site
• Sign up for the city’s e-news letters for updates and related information
• Attend future free workshops, which include:

• Energy Audits for Home and Small Business, 
  March 19 at Charles E. Beatley, Jr. Central Library, 5005 Duke Street
• The Green Landscape: For You and the Chesapeake Bay, 
  May 7 at Cora Kelly Elementary School, 25 West Reed Avenue
• Green Upgrades in Historic Properties – June
• Renewable Energy Systems and Green Power – September
• Green Operations for Retail, Restaurants, Small Offices and Cultural Centers –November