From the Executive Director's Desk: A Look Back at 2009 

I know that the past year has been difficult for many of us in the green building industry, as we all continued to struggle with the effects of the economic downturn.  As a non-profit organization, Build It Green felt the squeeze of decreased availability in foundation funds, corporate sponsorships and the ability of our members and friends to support us financially.  As a hub among the green building industry’s many stakeholder groups, we heard about your challenges to find jobs and funding for the extraordinary work you are doing to improve the building industry and reduce its effects on the environment.

Despite these obstacles, 2009 saw monumental change and progress for both Build It Green and the green building industry in general.  With your support, green building became more relevant than ever, and Build It Green was able to make significant strides in our mission to revolutionize the way homes are designed, built and remodeled in California.  Let me share with you just a few of our organization’s many successes in 2009:

• Build It Green facilitated the passing of 29 new regional ordinances in California that reference, encourage or mandate GreenPoint Rated for new residential construction, bringing the total number of ordinances statewide to over 70.  To find out whether your city has a GreenPoint Rated building program, see the directory on our website.

• The San Francisco Multiple Listing Service introduced green ratings, including GreenPoint Rated, as a new search criteria. 

• California’s investor owned utilities introduced energy efficiency incentive programs that reward builders for using GreenPoint Rated.  Contact your local utility if you would like to take advantage of these incentives.

• We received endorsements from the Northern California Home Builders Association, the California Building Industry Association, and the Building Industry Association of Orange County.

• We won major contracts with the Environmental Protection Agency, Pacific Gas and Electric, and Sonoma County.

• We received major funding from the Energy Foundation and the San Francisco Foundation.

• We received support from seven new corporate sponsors and reached the 1000 member mark.

• We reached the 10,000 mark for GreenPoint Rated homes completed or under construction.

• We established our presence in Southern California by hiring our first Southern California Division Director.

• We revamped our training curriculum and introduced two new advanced trainings:  “Green Home Retrofitting & Remodeling” and “Designing & Building Green Energy Efficient Homes.”

• Our Certified Green Building Professional curriculum was named as a standard for Workforce Investment Boards to meet new green jobs training goals.

• We more than doubled the attendance at our Green Building Professionals Guild meetings.

This list of highlights is just a small representation of all that Build It Green accomplished throughout the last year.  We trained thousands of builders, answered hundreds of green building related phone calls, gave dozens of presentations, published a new edition of our green building guidelines, expanded our programs, assisted local governments, and so much more.  This is quite a lot for a staff of only 20 people, and we couldn’t have done it without your help.

As we enter 2010, I am looking forward to continuing our collaborative efforts to fight climate change by reducing the building industry’s impact on the environment.  Next month I will share with you some of Build It Green’s plans for the coming year.  Expect great things!

To a year of peace and prosperity for all of us, and with deep appreciation for your support,

Catherine A. Merschel
Executive Director
Build It Green