Dennis Creech, executive director of Southface Energy Institute.
Green Leaders
From Grassroots Effort to Marketplace Player
Southface is the Southeast’s foremost advocate for environmental and educational change
BY
Danny C. Flanders
PHOTOGRAPHY
Lance Davies
PRODUCED BY
Rachel Cardina

Thirty years ago, Dennis Creech and a group of volunteers organized an annual event, much like Earth Day, for educating the public about wasting energy. They quickly realized, though, that one day a year wasn’t going to change a lot of bad habits.

So they developed a nonprofit organization for encouraging sustainable homes, workplaces and communities. Today, Southface Energy Institute provides technical assistance to businesses and government agencies, trains homebuilders about green construction, and teaches consumers how to conserve energy. Its staff of 45 reaches more than 40,000 people annually, advocating ideas as an independent adviser.

“We started as the Georgia Solar Energy Coalition, and from the start we weren’t a promotional organization but an educational one,” Creech says. “We realized that the greatest forum for environmental change was the marketplace, and our great evolution has been the partnership.”

Its best-known partnership is EarthCraft House, a program developed in 1999 with the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association to promote resource-efficient homes. More than 4,000 homes, 1,500 apartments and six communities have met EarthCraft’s standards, with more than 9,000 other units under way throughout the Southeast.

“If you look at climate change, buildings account for about 48 percent of the greenhouse gases,” Creech says. “That’s why we have strong building people on both the commercial and residential sides.”

After 30 years, Creech is more encouraged than ever by awareness for energy conservation. Yet much remains to be done in the government realm. “We have to push for public policy on climate change,” he says. “The Southeast is the least efficient region, and yet we’re where most of the growth is occurring. The opportunity for change is here.”

RESPONSIBLE LOCAL LEADERS

Besides nonprofits, leading Atlanta-based corporations and universities are also taking responsibility and incorporating sustainable practices into their business mantras.

Coca-Cola Company announced in September that it will partner with United Resource Recovery Corporation to build the world’s largest plastic bottle-to-bottle recycling plant. UPS announced in October that it is adding about 300 alternative fuel vehicles to its “green” fleet by placing an order for nearly 170 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) delivery trucks and 140 new propane delivery trucks. Emory University has more LEED-certified buildings than any other campus in the nation and recently drafted an aggressive 10-year strategic plan to reduce energy emission, improve air quality, provide locally grown food in campus dining halls and divert more than half of campus waste from landfills to recycling. Georgia Institute of Technology achieved a Silver level of LEED-NC (New Construction) certification for its business building in Technology Square in 2003. In September, Atlanta architecture firm Perkins + Will unveiled the first federal government high-performance lab to achieve Gold level of LEED certification for the Centers for Disease Control’s Division of Laboratory Sciences. Last summer, Home Depot introduced Eco-Options, identifying more than 3,000 products promoting clean air, energy efficiency, sustainable forestry and water conservation.