Last week our office was on top of the Cincinnati Business Courier’s Greenest Projects in the Tri-State for the third year in a row. I wish I were not leading this list.

Let me explain.

We LEED Certified our office Platinum for less than $12 per square foot. We did all of the work, LEED documentation and I was the LEED AP on the project. But very few businesses are doing it. It doesn’t take money; it takes time and common sense. Not designy, not cool, not expensive, not fashionable, not somebody else’s opinion of what is beautiful.

You don’t build sustainably just to save money. The money part is out of sync with life and ecology. But that doesn’t mean sustainability has to cost more. Money is only something we all agree has value. In the future, we will agree that nature has value as well. The ecologies of the planet are more productive rather than monocultures that benefit a few. Photo from the Wilderness Society.

When I learned about the holistic LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, process; I went all in, started a new brand, Green Cincinnati Education Advocacy, and created the Greenest project in the Tri-State. Big deal, only emersion DESIGN, Melink Corporation and Greensource Cincinnati are Green Building practitioners that have LEED Platinum offices. This article is in response to being the number one office on the Cincinnati Business Courier’s Greenest Tri-State Projects list three years in a row. I want to reach out to others that want a more environmental reason to build a project. It doesn’t cost more, it performs better, and it tells a more realistic story about our environment and the future of mankind. Our office was included in an article titled, “10 of the World’s Greenest Offices.”

Like all civilizations, all of the questions of the past are still present. The only thing slowly growing and becoming more accurate over time is science, it will provide the answers. In the ’70s, we looked to ecology for the answers. At the time, ecology was a young science and didn’t have the answers. Now the study of ecology has a path to the answers. We need to continue to learn and take action. I’m using all of my marketing knowledge to offer the public a chance to learn more. Join us at the South West Ohio Chapter of the USGBC’s tours of local Green Homes this year. It’s a small group of only a few hundred that are interested. Even fewer commercial project owners are interested or even know what’s possible. The first words out of their architect, engineer and builder’s mouth is, “Green is more expensive.” That’s expensive in their mind; it doesn’t have to be in yours. Please get in touch if you have any questions about building sustainably or subscribe to our Green tour announcement newsletter. Hopefully next year we won’t be the Greenest in Cincinnati.

The Energy Lab at Hawaii Preparatory Academy is a great example of the future (photo) and my new favorite building.

Chuck Lohre LEED AP ID+C is president of Lohre & Associates Marketing Communications, which specializes, in industrial marketing. In 2007, he started Green Cincinnati Education Advocacy a Green Building consulting firm specializing environmental education, LEED Documentation and Green marketing. Chuck’s on the boards of Greater Cincinnati Earth (Day) Coalition and ReSource.