The San Diego Green Building council is excited to be celebrating our 15th year of operation in 2020! Now, more than ever, we continue our mission to inspire, educate and collaborate within our community to transform our built environment toward true sustainability. San Diego is a leader in innovation and passion for our environment, with a rich history in the green building movement. This presents a great opportunity to celebrate our anniversary with renewed inspiration and drive for the future.
Even though we officially filed our Articles of Incorporation with USGBC in 2005, (hence our 15 Year Celebration taking place this year), the first real step toward the establishing of today’s chapter began in 1999. The Ridgehaven Office Building, home to the City’s Environmental Services office, was historically declared the first Energy Star certified commercial building in the U.S. While this certification system preceded LEED, San Diego’s “Greenhaven” was key to launching the national US Green Building Council organization. Three years later, we had established a robust working group of green building volunteers, and in 2007 we officially launched as a nonprofit with our 501(c)(3) status. From that day, we hit the ground running and vowed to showcase San Diego as a leader in the green building movement. Today we have over 250 members vowing to do the same.
As a community, we pride ourselves on being a resource for educational content on emerging trends like carbon counting, health and wellness, and building for resilience. We work to provide partnerships with green organizations in the community, volunteer and career-building opportunities for emerging professionals, and training in rating systems like LEED and the Living Building Challenge. These efforts support the idea that buildings and communities will regenerate and sustain the health and vitality of all life within a generation and our participating members are a huge part in the success of that vision.
Our organization thrives off of the dedication and passion of our members and volunteers to support our initiatives like the Green Homes Tour, a robust Women in Green Committee and green business support to organizations all over the county.
Our Green Assistance Program's successes equate directly to that great base of volunteers and the knowledge, enthusiasm, and dedication they bring to each project. In 2019, we launched GAP S3 (Students, Service and Sustainability) at SDSU, mentoring students in performing green audits on small to medium sized businesses. The aim of this program is to educate and collaborate with building operators and tenants by providing environmental metrics and solutions through hands-on green building training.
With a busy year ahead, we encourage you to join a committee, become a member, offer your expertise as a speaker or even attend a networking event to learn more! We’ll be hosting a wide array of professional events throughout the year including the first ever Sustainable Building Week in San Diego - coming April 20th - 24th. In addition to this exciting new event, we’re proud to be the official host chapter of this year’s Greenbuild International Conference & Expo in November - lets show off all the best that America’s Finest City has to offer!
Stay up to date with all things green building by subscribing to our newsletter or checking out the official SDGBC calendar. Thank you for continuing to support our growing community.
