I’m glad to be back home after a really terrific vacation on the West Coast. I missed gbNYC tremendously but it was great to take a break and recharge for the remainder of 2007. My girlfriend Allison and I drove from Los Angeles to Portland - we stopped in Big Sur, San Francisco, Napa, and at the Oregon beaches, all of which were beautiful and a wonderful change of pace and scenery for both of us. While renting a car and flying on a jet across the country weren’t the most sustainable of vacation choices, we did rent bikes, hike, and check out a number of green buildings, which I’ll be writing about over the next few posts.
The first, which we stumbled into as we drove through Napa Valley, received its LEED Silver rating from USGBC earlier this year. The Frog’s Leap Winery sits in a gorgeous Napa setting in Rutherford, California, and Allison and I had a lovely time tasting its wine and enjoying the peace and quiet of its vineyards. The winery’s Hospitality Center, which broke ground back in the spring of 2005, is demonstrative of its commitment to sustainable farming and winemaking practices. Green design features at the Center include low-VOC carpets, paints, and sealants, high-performance HVAC equipment, and a geothermal heating and cooling system. Also, 1,020 photovoltaic panels are spread out over a half acre of the winery and produce more power than Frog’s Leap requires, which allows the winery to sell its excess capacity back to the electric company. The PV system cost $1.2 million and Frog’s Leap estimates that it will fully pay for itself within six years.
I’ll have more to say about Frog’s Leap - as well as link a number of photos that we took of the Hospitality Center - in another post. In the meantime, I hope you’ll bear with me as I get back on a regular posting schedule this week.
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