O.C. green building efforts soaring, report shows

October 2nd, 2009, 11:24 am · Post a Comment · posted by William Diepenbrock, Editor

Orange County applications for the coveted Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certifications exploded in 2007 and continued to show strong gains through this year — with Irvine the hands-down leader in applications and successful certifications.

LEED certificates are awarded to buildings that showcase the most efficient and environmentally friendly design, construction, operation and maintenance systems.

The Plaza Tower, O.C.'s tallest building, is one of three at South Coast Plaza awarded a gold LEED certificate for operations and maintenance.

The Plaza Tower, O.C.'s tallest building, is one of three South Coast Plaza office buildings awarded a gold LEED certificate for operations and maintenance.

According to an Oct. 1, 2009 report on certifications provided the Register by Orange County’s chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, the county has posted 253 application registrations from 2001 to 2009. Of those, 36 have received certicates, including 10 silver, 17 gold and 1 platinum.

The Green Building Council developed the LEED standard, now used in a number of countries. (Interested in applying for your building? Click here to learn how.)

Irvine is Orange County’s LEED star, with local buildings responsible for 57 applications and, so far, 13 certifications.

But the applications and certifications just eked along until 2007 and really exploded in 2008 and 2009. (Click here for past blog entries on LEED certifications).

As an interesting comparison, O.C. is outpacing California — which had 3,973 applications through this year and 486 certifications, 14.2 percent to 12.2 percent.

Here’s a year by year look at registrations and certifications for the county:

Year	Registrations	Certifications
2001	2	1
2002	0	0
2003	3	0
2004	5	0
2005	13	2
2006	9	1
2007	54	1
2008	90	9
2009	77*	22*
Total	253	36

Note: Partial year figure.

Here are the numbers by city:

City	Certifications
Aliso Viejo	1
Anaheim	1
Costa Mesa	4
Fullerton	1
Irvine	13
Ladera Rancho	4
La Habra	1
Newport Beach	3
Orange	2
Confidential	6
Total	36

Click below for the full chart of certified buildings:

Title	City	Type	Date	Level
Airport Professional Building	Irvine	Commercial Office	09/22/2009	Silver
Confidential project	Confidential	Commercial Office	09/04/2009	Silver
Summit Phase 5	Aliso Viejo	Commercial Office	09/01/2009	Silver
UCI Anteater Recreation Center Expansion	Irvine	Multi-Use	08/27/2009	Gold
2nd Floor 999 Town & Country Road	Orange	Commercial Office	08/21/2009	Gold
Pacific Financial Plaza	Newport Beach	Commercial Office	08/20/2009	Silver
17901 Von Karman	irvine	Commercial Office	08/11/2009	Gold
100 Bayview Circle	Newport Beach	Commercial Office	08/03/2009	Gold
UCI Bren Hall Computer Sciences Building	Irvine	Higher Education	07/28/2009	Gold
Coast Community College District Administration	Costa Mesa	Multi-Use	07/17/2009	Silver
Confidential project	Confidential	Commercial Office	07/14/2009	Gold
Albertsons Supermarket SuperValu	La Habra	Multi-Use	07/07/2009	Silver
Confidential project	Confidential	Commercial Office	06/17/2009	Certified
Confidential project	Confidential	Multi-Use	05/27/2009	Silver
UCI Student Center Expansion	Irvine	Higher Education	04/20/2009	Gold
Saddleback Church Student Zone	Lake Forest	Multi-Use	04/17/2009	Gold
Ladera Building 555 Office	Ladera Ranch	Commercial Office	03/30/2009	Gold
Confidential project	Confidential	Commercial Office	03/25/2009	Silver
CSU Fullerton Student Recreation Center	Fullerton	Multi-Use	02/05/2009	Gold
Center Tower	Costa Mesa	Commercial Office	01/15/2009	Gold
Park Tower	Costa Mesa	Multi-Use	01/15/2009	Gold
Plaza Tower	Costa Mesa	Multi-Use	01/15/2009	Gold
Environmental Nature Center	Newport Beach	Interpretive Center	12/02/2008	Platinum
Turner Construction Co. SoCal Office	Anaheim	Commercial Office	11/13/2008	Certified
Ladera Ranch – 777 Corporate Drive	Ladera Ranch	Multi-Use	08/04/2008	Certified
UC Irvine Surge Building	Irvine	Multi-Use	07/14/2008	Gold
Depot Walk	Orange	Multi-Unit Residence	06/16/2008	Certified
Interior Office Solutions	Irvine	Multi-Use	05/15/2008	Certified
2211 Michelson	Irvine	Multi-Use	04/10/2008	Silver
Ladera Ranch 999 Corporate Drive	Ladera Ranch	Commercial Office	03/08/2008	Gold
La Jolla Pacific	Irvine	Commercial Office	02/25/2008	Gold
Confidential project	Confidential	Multi-Use	03/20/2007	Gold
Heritage Fields Information Center	Irvine	Commercial Office	09/20/2006	Certified
Constructive Technologies Group, Irvine	Irvine	Commercial Office	07/26/2005	Silver
LPA Irvine Headquarters	Irvine	Commercial Office	02/03/2005	Certified
Premier Automotive Group North American	Irvine	Commercial Office	11/09/2001	Certified