Green government buildings, red faces

Government officials who go gaga over “green” buildings may want to get familiar with Northland Pines High School in Eagle River, Wis.

A sharp-eyed observer at engineering firm Stantec (the same firm that recently acquired WilsonMiller in Naples) passed along this tidbit from HPAC Engineering, a trade publication for the heating and air-conditioning industry.

Turns out that a group of Wisconsin taxpayers are now challenging the green-building certification (called “LEED”) awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council to the Northland Pines school building in Eagle River, HPAC reports.

The taxpayers allege that some key standards for the certification were never adopted and they are asking the council to decertify the school building. That's important because governments and others have been paying top dollar to have buildings be recognized as being energy efficient, a process that can add as much as a $1 per square foot to the price of a building.

So far, the council has refused to decertify the building. But it makes you wonder whether any of the “green” government buildings on the Gulf Coast would turn politicians' faces red.