Steven Hughes is the designer of a new dorm at Rhode Island College that uses special window glass and lights.

>

The Providenec Journal / Glenn Osmundson

Rhode Island College recently celebrated the “green” certification by a national building organization of its new, 367-bed residence hall at its Providence campus. The five-story building uses special window glass and lights, heat exchangers and other innovations to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in energy costs each year.

Yesterday, a family moved into their new house in Narragansett — the first house in Rhode Island built to the standards set by the U.S. Green Building Council, the same group that certified the RIC dorm. Evaluation of the house is not yet complete, but architect Tom Weber expects it will receive the highest rating — platinum — and by year’s end, the house’s photovoltaic cells should produce more electricity than the homeowners need.

Finally, at 4:30 this afternoon, Rhode Island architects, engineers and builders will meet at the New England Institute of Technology in Warwick to continue their efforts to organize a Rhode Island chapter of the USGBC, one of the nation’s leading groups promoting sustainable building.

Barbra Batshalom, founder of the council’s Massachusetts affiliate, will talk about her work creating the Nexus Green Building Resource Center in Boston, which displays “green” products and services to builders and the public. Rhode Island organizers hope to create such a center here.

Soaring energy prices, an executive order from Governor Carcieri mandating “green” construction standards for state buildings, and growing public interest — all are getting credit for prodding Rhode Islanders into changing the ways they build houses, stores and government buildings.

Carcieri created momentum toward green buildings three years ago when he issued an executive order requiring that all new or expanded or substantially renovated state buildings be constructed to meet the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating) standards of the USGBC.

As a result, the Hope Commons dining hall that opened in the fall on the University of Rhode Island’s Kingston campus earned a Silver LEED from the USGBC. It has a coating on its roof to reflect heat, energy-efficient heating and air conditioning systems, bike racks for cyclists, and drought tolerant landscaping. Some 94 percent of the materials from the old dining hall were recycled.

The state has also applied for LEED certification for the Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences and the College of Pharmacy at URI, the Ocean Exploration Center and Pell Marine Sciences Library at URI’s Bay Campus, the Rhode Island School for the Deaf, the proposed new state police headquarters and the Salty Brine State Beach bathhouse.

Brown University, Roger Williams University and Johnson & Wales University have all planned or constructed LEED-certified buildings.

Private companies such as FM Global, Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse, Taco Inc., MetLife, and RGB architects are also building to LEED standards.

But Rhode Island remains one of only five states that doesn’t have a chapter of the USGBC.

Connie McGreavy, a green consultant who is spearheading a Rhode Island group, says she doesn’t know why Rhode Island lagged behind most other states.

But things are happening now, she says. McGreavy says she has lined up 300 people who want to participate in a local chapter.

“As an environmental scientist, I’ve been waiting for years for people to finally get it about the environment,” McGreavy said. “But now you see ‘green’ everywhere. You know it’s finally taking hold.”

McGreavy is consulting for New England Tech as it embraces environmental sustainability by “greening” its campus and its curriculum.

She hopes to establish a resource center in Rhode Island that would include directories of legitimate green service providers and products.

“The center in Boston has eight researchers who evaluate products,” McGreavy said. “There is so much greenwashing going on out there. You don’t want people buying products that they think are good for the environment, and then have them not work.”

The USGBC is not the only source of green building standards.

The American Institute of Architects has created its own green building rating system and is making available instructional videos on sustainable designs for renovating or building new.

A group called the Green Building Initiative has developed a Green Globes rating system.

Assessments also are provided by the International Initiative for a Sustainable Built Environment.

And just a few months ago, the National Association of Home Builders launched green building standards and certifications of green builders.

At RIC, Steven Hughes, architect of the new dorm, and Ed Brady, director of facilities, operations and capital projects at the school, can’t conceal their enthusiasm over how the combination of simplicity and high technology made the building so successful.

It pumps fresh air into every room. When it exhausts air, it uses devices on the roof to remove the heat and apply it to incoming fresh air during cold weather.

Special windows let in natural light, but block heat energy.

Minimal land was cleared, so rooms are shaded by old trees.

Each floor has a room for recyclables and the students use it.

It’s so well insulated, one student said, that for the first time this year she was able to sleep through the normal Thursday night rowdiness and go to her Friday class refreshed.

For more information on the Nexus Green Building Resource Center in Boston go to: www.nexusboston.com/

For more on the U.S. Green Buildings Council, go to: www.usgbc.org.

To contact McGreavy, go to www.conservebydesign.com. For more on the GreenStep video series offered by the American Institute of Architects, go to: www.aia.org/walkthewalk.

plord@projo.com