What is a "green" building? These days, a lot of people claim their house or commercial building adheres to so many environmental principles that it qualifies as a green building, but some of those claims are a bit like watermelons: green just on the outside and seedy on the inside.

Verification of green claims is important because local governments, in an effort to conserve resources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, are looking for ways to use public policy as a tool to encourage genuine green building.

For example, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved changes to the Building Code, providing expedited permit processing for green buildings. After Jan. 1, if an applicant provides evidence that a green project is registered with a legitimate, authoritative, neutral third party, such as the U.S. Green Building Council, the timeline for project approval will be shortened to 10 or fewer days. Prior to the county approving final occupancy for the building, a certificate of compliance from the green-building program will be required.

The Green Building Council's system of certification awards points for various design elements in new buildings, as well as points for building operations, processes and system upgrades in existing buildings. If a building earns enough points for insulation, energy-saving lights, recycled-content carpets and other features, it can be certified through the council's Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design program.

In Ventura recently, Wal-Mart sought to defuse criticism of its proposed new store on Victoria Avenue by pledging to obtain Green Building Council certification for its new construction. The city of Thousand Oaks anticipates its Community Transportation Center Building will earn certification.

At the new Riverpark development in Oxnard, builders are investigating complying with certification standards for an entire 600,000-square-foot retail center as a way of attracting and retaining high-profile tenants, including a proposed Whole Foods Market.

The Thacher School near Ojai is planning a new dormitory to be built to Green Building Council standards.

The rating system evaluates environmental aspects of an entire building over the building's life cycle. In some cases, it measures not just design and intention, but actual performance as well. For example, even if you put recycling containers all over your building and send out an inspiring memo telling everyone to recycle, your existing building doesn't get a single point for recycling until you can prove you are diverting at least 30 percent of your waste, including at least 95 percent of all batteries and fluorescent bulbs.

The council's Environmental and Energy Design program requires similar proof of performance for recycling construction and demolition debris during remodeling (a minimum of 50 percent), "daylighting" (the sun must provide light in 50 percent of a building's space), use of cleaning products meeting specified standards (30 percent of purchases) and optimization of energy use.

Building owners can certify new construction, existing buildings, just the core and shell of a building, or just a commercial interior. To obtain preferential permit processing from Ventura County, buildings need only reach the basic certification level.

County agencies themselves are leading the Environmental and Energy Design effort by certifying existing county buildings and meeting standards on proposed county buildings. The county General Services Agency has registered its Vanguard Building in Oxnard with the Green Building Council and is pursuing existing building certification. The county Public Works Agency is building two new fire stations to certification standards.

Through certification, the Green Building Council offers public agencies and private developers an opportunity to prove they are keeping an eye on the environment.

On the Net:

www.usgbc.org

— David Goldstein is an environmental resource analyst for the county of Ventura. Paul R. Young is the General Services Agency principal engineer for the county. Representatives of government or nonprofit agencies that want to submit articles on environmental topics for this column should contact Goldstein at 658-4312 or david.goldstein@ventura.org.