Tucson Leads in Green Living

If you’re looking to purchase some Tucson real estate or a home in sunny Arizona, you’ll be glad to know that Tucson is well ahead of the curve when it comes to “Green” living and technology. Here are just a few of the many environmentally responsible happenings in Tucson, Arizona.

* In 2007, Tucson was named one of 13 “Solar Cities” in the United States, and awarded a half-million-dollar grant to better implement solar energy. The three-phase plan includes installation of solar panels and water heaters at large city facilities, readying more facilities for future solar installations and initiating a solar education program in the community. The program also aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 25 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.

* In May 2008, Washington D.C. “think tank” The Brookings Institution ranked Tucson the 17th-lowest carbon-emitter among the one hundred largest metro cities in the country. The study analyzed each city’s per-person production of carbon dioxide from household energy use and vehicle traffic.

* A May 2008 American Lung Association survey listed Tucson as No. 6 in the country for clean air. The survey examined each city’s production of particle pollution – ash, soot, diesel exhaust, chemicals, metals and aerosols.

* A recent Deloitte survey found that nearly half of all travelers try to be environmentally friendly when they’re traveling. To accommodate these eco-conscious travelers, Tucson’s hospitality industry has stepped up to the plate and gone well beyond simple recycling.

* Tucson’s Reid Park Zoo is setting Southern Arizona’s “Green” standard with the opening of its LEED Platinum-certified Conservation Learning Center. The U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum designation is a rarity, and the Conservation Learning Center will be the first building in Southern Arizona to earn the title (and just the second in Arizona). The Zoo’s new 10,000-square-foot Learning Center uses 80 percent less energy than the average building and includes shade-rich design and orientation, recycled steel beams, polystyrene and poured concrete walls, solar panels, rammed earth construction, scrap cotton and blue-jeans insulation, rooftop rainwater harvesting and much more.

*Source: www.VisitTucson.org;used with permission.