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Green Cities and Counties  The Florida Green Building Coalition, Inc.(FGBC) through their Green Government Standard, designates Green Cities and Green Counties in the state of Florida for outstanding environmental stewardship.The Green Government Standard presents a comprehensive list of criteria and offers a point system concept similar to the USGBC LEED Certification point system in terms of local government department functions and focuses on improving environmental performance through a number of mediums such as energy, water, air, land or waste. It evaluates environmental practices done in-house, incentives and ordinances to foster green practices and educational activities to improve the environment. Please click here for the sample application for reference. The FGBC's Standard is unique in its target being the only known Government Green Standard in the country. It is similar to other green standards for buildings etc. currently in effect in Florida and many other states. A list of criteria is presented, and each is assigned a point value. A minimum total point value is set that represents a level of achievement, and local governments who incorporate sufficient criteria such that they meet or exceed the levels are "certified" or "registered" as a Green City of Green County. Typical components of green building programs have traditionally targeted individual buildings and land developments. The goal of the FGBC's Standards are to target green government operations and increase the penetration of many other different types of green activities such as LEED Certifications of new city owned facilities as well as major renovations of city owned facilities. The FGBC's Green Government Standard leverages many existing programs, and also presents new criteria. Existing programs that are leveraged include statewide programs such as Waterfronts Florida, and Florida Main Street Designation, and national programs such as Tree City USA from the National Arbor Day Foundation. The Florida Green Government Standard was created by the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC), working under a contract from the U.S. Department of Energy and the Florida Energy Office. A number of organizations, agencies and local governments served as subcontractors or contributed to the development of the Standards. In August, the Florida League of Cities and the Florida League of Mayors, by unanimous board votes, adopted the "Mayor's Green City Action Accord" which supports the FGBC's Green Cities program. Attached is a copy for your review. Through this action, cities across the state are now engaged in the application process to become a "Green City" through the Florida Green Government Standard. Because of the success of this initiative, the National League of Cities endorsed the "Green City Action Accord" at their national conference in November. In addition, ICLEI, USGBC and the Center for American Progress have announced plans to develop a "Star Community Index" , which in essence is a national green cities program using Florida's Standards as their model and the FGBC as their first partner. |
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