The Olive Tree – A Common Yet Invasive Plant in California
Many Landscape Designers are surprised when they hear that their beloved Olive Tree, also referred to as the Olea europaea, is considered to be an invasive plant according to the California Invasive Plant Council’s (CAL-IPC) invasive plant inventory. The Natural...
VCA Green Presents on Lighting Control Acceptance Testing at the Jonathan Club
VCA Green’s Associate Director, Wayne Aldridge, is presenting on lighting control acceptance testing tonight at the Jonathan Club in Downtown Los Angeles. The event is being held by the George S Hall Facilities Management Association dinner. VCA Green provides code...
CHPS Criteria II 7.1: Demonstration Areas
Similar to LEED and GreenPoint Rated, the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) rating program helps address the growing demand for energy efficiency through innovative design, construction, and operation of schools. An excellent way to showcase this...
LEED v4.1
Image Source: Wikipedia. Fair use. Recently, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced the release of LEED v4.1, an expansion and reorganization of LEED v4. With LEED v4.1, developers now have further opportunities to optimize the sustainable designs of their...
What is a BUG Rating?
When it comes to exterior lighting in new nonresidential projects, there’s more to consider than just energy usage. CALGreen Section 5.106.8 outlines the requirements for all new exterior lighting associated with nonresidential spaces, and this primarily includes the...
AB 802 – California’s Existing Building Benchmarking Law
The State of California has made several efforts to increase energy efficiency, and Assembly Bill 802 is only one of them. Through this bill, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission has implemented a benchmarking and disclosure program for...
California Commissioning Requirements for Non-Residential Spaces
Does my project need commissioning? This is a typical question that VCA Green's clients have in their preliminary design phase. The following is a summary about when commissioning is required by the Energy Code and the list of documents the design team needs to...
When Is HERS Testing Required?
For multifamily projects built in the state of California, one of the typical compliance measures that most developers will encounter at some point is HERS testing. The Home Energy Rating System (HERS) is a set of protocols devised by the California Energy Commission...