AN APRIL 23 Journal editorial, “LEEDing America,” credited the national LEED program of the U.S. Green Building Council with setting progressive, much-needed standards for the construction of energy-efficient “green” buildings. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

What few Rhode Islanders know is that the first LEED-certified commercial building in Rhode Island was constructed in South Providence. Yes, that’s right. Not South Kingstown, East Greenwich or the East Side of Providence, but in South Providence. Known as the 17 Gordon Avenue Business Incubator, it was an 18,000-square-feet vacant industrial building, built in the early 1900s. With nearly $3 million in public and private investments, it was totally rehabbed beginning in 2000. Its doors officially opened to tenants in 2003, making it the first green commercial building in a federal enterprise zone in America.

Its occupants now include such noteworthy environmental organizations as People’s Power & Light, the Sierra Club of Rhode Island, Apeiron Institute, and the RC & D Corp., as well as the Providence American newspaper and the Providence After School Alliance. The South Providence Development Corporation manages the incubator.

The 17 Gordon Avenue project won the LEED “silver” rating earlier this year after a lengthy application review process. The three-story building has a 10-kilowatt solar-energy array, a living roof, a rainwater recovery/reuse system to flush toilets, interior light shelves, energy-efficient lighting and many other green features. Local architect Robert Stillings designed the project, with support from a team of talented sustainability enthusiasts.

More recently, the beautiful new Meeting Street School received LEED certification, also built in South Providence, at the intersection of Eddy Street and Thurbers Avenue.

I was disappointed that Governor Donald Carcieri, when informed about these milestones through the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources, chose not to hold a press conference and give these projects the public accolades they deserve. After all, the official line from the State House these days is that saving energy and embracing renewables is a statewide priority, with first-order preference to be given to projects that use wind power. Unlike solar power, wind energy will require massive amounts of time and capital to bring to market, and will probably be regulated and sold in a utility-like manner. Don’t expect to see too many wind turbines in our capital city anytime soon.

Alas, the two aforementioned projects were more grassroots in their conception, design and implementation. Without a Brown University to praise, or a Fidelity, FM Global or GTECH to be credited, no mention of these achievements has been made. Such is the way of the world.

So, we reluctantly toot our own horn.

When the 17 Gordon Avenue project began, the price of crude oil per barrel was $22. Now it is $125. Eight years ago, little was being said about the growing shortage of clean, potable water and how valuable and increasingly scarce this important commodity would soon become. Little was being said (publicly anyway) about the growing menace of global climate change resulting from our excessive burning of fossil fuels. The peak-oil debate was just beginning to gain some traction. The 9/11 attacks had not yet taken place and we had not yet invaded two Middle East countries that lie very close to the world’s oil jugular vein.

Our contention in 2000 is the same as today: It is poorer communities and families that can least afford to waste energy. Our agencies, churches, public schools and homes are the first to feel the effects of quadrupling energy prices, causing us to make the hard choices between heat, food, gasoline to power older cars to get back and forth to lower-paying jobs, and the important civic and educational uplift programs we need to survive in an increasing hostile economy.

It would behoove us to wake up to our energy challenges before it is too late. That is what leadership is supposed to be about: helping us to take collective action before a problem becomes a full-blown crisis.

There is much that Rhode Island could do to become a regional leader in renewable energy. Many new “green” jobs could be created if we embraced the need to conserve and generate more energy by using these proven, cleaner technologies. We have to be willing to experiment and to support demonstration projects like 17 Gordon Avenue. Several energy bills sponsored by Senate President Joseph Montalbano would help in this regard if passed.

The real tragedy of 9/11 was that we failed to connect so many obvious dots. Now, seven years later, those dots are still waiting to be connected:

• Dramatically escalating energy prices.

• A growing dependence upon imported oil from hostile regions.

• A massive and growing national debt and international trade deficit.

• A weakening U.S. dollar and manufacturing-job losses.

• A growing mortgage-foreclosure crisis.

• More families and children living in poverty and/or homeless.

• Higher and higher prices for food and basic transportation.

• Extreme sums of our tax dollars diverted to fight resource wars while states and cities struggle to balance their budgets.

Without a responsible energy policy at the national and state levels, the future looks bleak for all except the rich and famous. The emergence of something akin to energy apartheid is not too hard to image in the near future.

Let’s pray that we wake up soon to these realities. Communities need to be empowered to pursue their own solutions quickly without undue bureaucratic resistance.

And while we are waking up, let’s urge Governor Carcieri to pay attention to what ordinary folks are doing to help their own neighborhoods and set an example for others in our state to emulate. He should applaud and encourage them to do more, instead of ignoring their accomplishments.

Joseph E. Newsome, a former state representative from Providence, was president of the South Providence Development Corporation from 1996 to 2006.