If you haven’t heard about it yet, get ready to go for gold!

On May 17, all of UCOP will be striving for gold — LEED Gold. UCOP is renewing the Franklin building’s LEED certification for environmental sustainability. We’ve been at silver, but we’re going for gold.

The University of California is a national leader in modeling and teaching environmental sustainability. And UC walks the walk every day, at all its locations, by reducing the environmental impact of its own activities.

That includes UCOP’s Franklin building headquarters, which is among the top 3 percent of the most energy-efficient office buildings in the nation. With a little support from everyone, UCOP can grab LEED Gold and demonstrate that it is a true steward of the environment.

Here’s how it will work . . .

On Friday May 17, UCOP is asking you to complete a brief, anonymous survey about your work commute. Everyone is being asked to join the effort, whether you work at Franklin or elsewhere and whether you take BART or drive to work.

There will be food and prizes, including an iPad mini, all as a way of saying thank you for helping the Franklin building go for gold.

We will have one day — and one day only ­— to take the survey on May 17. Success will require an all-out effort and full participation of every UCOP employee, said Michael Reese, UCOP’s associate vice president for Business Operations.

“LEED certification is a centerpiece of UC’s Sustainable Practices Policy,” Reese said. “The Franklin building was a frontrunner in 2007 when it earned the second LEED certification for existing buildings in the UC system, and we want to demonstrate that UC headquarters can continue to meet the highest standards and be a systemwide example of environmental performance.”

UCOP’s sustainability team believes that Franklin has a strong chance of qualifying for LEED Gold, one step up from its current silver certification. One important measure for success is how Franklin occupants commute to and from work, and that will be the subject of the May 17 survey.

More details will be made available in the coming weeks about the survey and how you can participate.

So stay tuned, and get ready to go for gold on May 17!

For more background:

• About Sustainability at UC
• LEED: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
• UC’s Sustainable Practices Policy
• LEED certifications in the UC system
• Franklin building’s 2007 LEED certification

About

View all post by