Pragmatic serves on Green Building Taskforce

Pragmatic Principal Juli Kaufmann currently serves on
the City of Milwaukee’s Green Building Task Force,
created by Mayor Tom Barrett in spring 2007. The
Green Building Task Force is charged with developing a
program for the City of Milwaukee regarding improving
energy efficiency, waste management and other
sustainability features in the City’s building stock. 


By the Spring of 2008, the Task Force plans to have a
set of recommendations to advance to the Mayor. These
recommendations will be based on the premise that
buildings fundamentally affect how we live, our
economy and the environment. Buildings use one-third
of total energy including two-thirds of electric
power, one-eighth of water, and can have significant
impacts on the health and productivity of employees
who work in these buildings. The Task Force
recommendations will be focused primarily on City
owned and operated buildings but also will propose
changes to make green buildings more attractive to
private sector developers and building managers.

The Task Force is currently reviewing the
sustainability practices of many other cities in
coming up with these recommendations. Many cities
require new construction projects and major
renovations to be certified under the U.S. Green
Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design) program and this standard is
being considered for Milwaukee. LEED certification is
based on a point system for building construction,
design and operation that looks at site
considerations, stormwater management and water
conservation, energy efficiency, indoor air quality
and waste management. The Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating
System™ encourages and accelerates global adoption of
sustainable green building and development practices
through the creation and implementation of universally
understood and accepted tools and performance
criteria.