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.