Denver: Leading by Example

By Anton J. Marqui, Attorney, Querrey & Harrow

Mayor John Hickenlooper in Denver’s Civic Center Park Credit: Steve Crecelius

In July 2006, Mayor John W. Hickenlooper launched Greenprint Denver-a program to “advance and further support the integration of environmental impact analysis into the city’s programs and policies, alongside economic and social analysis.”

Mayor Hickenlooper described the program as “a pragmatic and far reaching plan to reduce Denver’s environmental footprint, ensure a healthier city for future generations of Denver residents and create opportunities for new economic development.” Now over three years into the program, Denver residents have seen a number of ‘green’ achievements.

Greenprint seeks to modify the environmental impact in all areas of development and construction, including energy and emissions, preservation of natural resources, materials and waste management, land use and transportation, communications and community and economic development.

One of the major themes of Greenprint is to implement high performance building. A primary goal set for 2011 includes partnering with Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation’s Energy Efficiency Committee to encourage commercial building property owners and managers to become more energy efficient through energy audits and improvements, resulting in energy savings.

Another goal is to use construction incentives and support to attain a 50% increase of new LEED (U.S. Green Building Council’s certification/ranking system) and Energy Star certified (EPA’s certification/ranking) buildings constructed or renovated in Denver (compared to the number existing in 2005).

Greenprint also hopes to add 100 new units of affordable green housing in Denver and increase the funding from grant and loan programs for green affordable housing and housing located near transit to $1,250,000. Denver would ultimately like to see all new city construction and major renovations meet LEED Silver standards as well as the required benchmarks of Energy Star.

So how has the City of Denver imprinted "green?"

• In October 2007, Denver Executive Order 123 was enacted and established requiring all new city-owned building projects over 5000 square feet to achieve LEED Silver certification and Energy Star status whenever technically and financially feasible.
• Additionally, major renovations that affect more than 25% of city buildings’ square footage or include major HVAC renovation, envelope modifications and interior rehabilitation and where the building has a useful life of more than 15 years must also achieve LEED Silver and Energy Star certification. 

For now, private building projects are exempt from Executive Order 123, and Denver’s city government has taken a ‘lead by example’ approach to green building. Other cities that have taken the approach of requiring municipal buildings to be LEED certified, such as Chicago, Illinois and Austin, Texas, soon expand the requirement to the private or government subsidized arenas.

According to a spokesperson for the Mayor’s office, one of Greenprint’s first accomplishments included receiving the LEED-EB Gold certification for the Webb Municipal Building. Although built in 2002 with many conservation techniques in mind, it was not until a 2007 renovation that brought status to the building as LEED-EB Gold certified. This renovation overhauled the operations and maintenance of this building.

This overhaul included the following:

• the enhancement of recycling systems and increasing the recycling rates from 23% to 56%;
• purchasing products with a reduced environmental impact such as non-toxic cleaning products; and construction materials;

• ensuring function of building systems; &

• improving energy efficiency.

Green building for private projects remains voluntary in Denver. However, Xcel Energy has offered incentives to help green operations become more economical. Xcel offers rebate programs for commercial customers for a wide range of energy efficiency technologies including heating and cooling, motors, lighting and refrigeration. In many cases, part of the cost assessment will be covered by Xcel and a customer will receive an equipment installation rebate.

‘Energy Design Assistance’ is also available for ground-up construction, additions or major renovations to commercial property over 50,000 square feet or residential properties over 150,000 square feet.

In 2008, Greenprint Denver partnered with the EPA and the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado to help sponsor workshops on future greening. In 2009 Greenprint intended to upgrade older city buildings with modern energy efficiency and water conservation systems.

Furthermore, the Denver Office of Economic Development (OED) launched Greener Denver-a program which builds off Greenprint and is designed to help local businesses save money, grow the demand for green products and services and train the green workforce of the future. The OED has partnered with CORE Colorado to offer energy efficiency training and technical assistance. The OED also works closely with the venture capital community and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to capitalize on metro-Denver’s strong position in the emerging clean technology industry.

Green building has always made its mark on Denver outside Greenprint Denver. Indeed, since 1995 the Home Builders of Denver have offered the Built Green Colorado program. This program encourages environmentally friendly technologies, products and practices in home building. Home building contractors can obtain membership and enroll ‘green built’ homes.

Built Green provides certain criteria to qualify for enrollment. Not every home the builder constructs is entered in the program, but Built Green keeps a tally of how many green homes each builder enrolls per year. Interestingly, Built Green membership listings indicate that membership has spiked in the past three to four years, reflective of the ever growing green building trend.

Denver’s national recognition in sustainability is deserved and makes it one city to watch as it leads by example.

Anton J. Marqui can be reached via email at amarqui@querrey.com