Aubuchon Strong

Nils Richter grew up in a green household in Germany, learning the ways of environmental responsibility. "I might have been the first kid to eat organic in a 50-mile radius of where I grew up in the 1970s," he said. "My parents had a catalytic converter on the car when it was hard to even find unleaded fuel."

Now Richter is a contractor in Fort Myers and he has a chance to incorporate green principles in the houses and commercial buildings put up by his company, CENTRIC Construction & Management.

But truly going green is easier said than done, say Richter and other contractors making an effort to make their structures more environmentally friendly. "The interesting thing with green is it's a simple word but when you look behind it, there are all these aspects," Richter said. "A given is energy efficiency but the other thing is sustainability."

For example, he said, green can be improving insulation by using a solid concrete wall sandwiched between two sheets of insulation, but also eliminating materials like wood framing that decay in time. "A house that lasts 100 years is twice as green as a house that lasts 50 years."

Another contractor, Punta Gorda-based Florida Green Source LLC CEO Roy Benton, said his company is building a 5-million-gallon-a-year bio-diesel plant in Highlands County.

The project is an example of how not all green is equal, he said.

For example, Benton's plant will make diesel from animal fats that are byproducts of slaughter houses run by companies such as Perdue and Tyson.

"Our feedstock won't be competing with the food chain," he said. "That's what we don't want to do. Soy or soy oil competes with the food chain and drives up the price of our food."

Already, Benton said, Green Source is producing bio-diesel on a small scale and using it in the company's own trucks and other heavy equipment. He's also making an effort to use renewable materials in his buildings, such as lumber from a sustainable forest.

Some of the companies going green in various ways are long-time real industry players:
Owen-Ames-Kimball Co. was recycling at job sites even before it was mandated and makes a point to recycle at the office as well, OAK manager of marketing and public relations Suzanne Maurice said. "We throw away so much - it's just horrible to look at one garbage can at the end of the day, how full it is."

The company has built projects designed to be certified under the national guidelines of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and recently completed in-house review classes for 10 staff members so they can get LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Another company, Fort Myers-based commercial builder J.L. Wallace Inc., is working with clients to make its projects greener and project manager David Grossman recently earned LEED accreditation.

Colonial Bank is opening a new regional headquarters and training center in Fort Myers and has incorporated green buildings at the new 28,000-square-foot facility on Daniels Parkway east of Interstate 75.

The building includes high efficient lighting and air-handling systems, and careful selection of interior materials.