What’s up with that? Special parking spaces LEED the way

I noticed that the closest-in, most convenient parking spaces at Clark College’s Columbia Tech Center campus say they are for low-emission and fuel-efficient vehicles only. They don’t have electric charging stations, so they don’t benefit electric cars. Why are they limiting parking spaces like that? I pay taxes.

Congratulations on paying those taxes, SUV. Well done.

Be that as it may, those designated parking spaces are one teeny element of what’s been designated a terrifically green branch campus. Clark College’s Columbia Tech Center buildings, which opened in 2009, have earned gold-level LEED certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED stands for Leadership in Engineering and Environmental Design.

Gold level means your development has earned a certain number of points for efficiency in use of energy and water.

That includes the parking lot. You get a LEED point if 3 to 5 percent of your building’s total parking spaces are reserved for “fuel-efficient and low-emission” vehicles. There are 393 parking spaces at Clark College’s Columbia Tech Center; 20 of them are what you might call LEED spots. The standard also requires them to be close to entranceways — almost as close as the parking for those who are disabled.

OK, but what’s a “fuel efficient and low emission” vehicle, and who says an SUV can’t be on it? Actually, there’s a detailed list and it appears pretty expansive and up-to-date. Qualifying vehicles start with model year 1998 and do include SUV models such as the Toyota RAV4 and more recent versions of the Honda CR-V and the Ford Escape. There are literally thousands of qualifying vehicles on the list, which you can see at http://greenercars.org/news/list-leed-qualified-cars.

By the way, if you’re interested in some tax-assisted help in shopping for a fuel-efficient car, check out http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/SmartWay.do.

By law, all Washington state-funded buildings must achieve a minimum of silver LEED certification. Repurposing those special parking spaces is what lifted Clark’s Columbia Tech Center campus from silver to gold.