Auburn Hills sets sustainable example; green roof on police dept

Auburn Hills city leaders are making the effort to talk the sustainability talk and walk a greener walk. The city has incorporated a number of environmentally friendly features in its facilities as a way of showing potential investors that green building has plenty of benefits. That has led to a number of privately funded sustainable-oriented projects that wouldn’t have necessarily been, such as Metro Detroit’s first LEED certified dental office.”We’re really surprised that a lot of developers and engineers are not aware of them,” says Pete Auger, city manager for Auburn Hills.Storm water management is one of the principal green features on Auburn Hills’ municipal campus. The 57-acre parcel has seven rain gardens, a couple of filtration ditches, and a bioswell, all of which absorb large amounts of water. The Auburn Hills Police Dept’s shooting range also has a green roof to soak up the rain water runoff.The city has also installed LED street lights on its municipal campus. LED lights are seen as the gold standard for energy efficient lighting. “We had a five-year payback on that,” Auger says. “It’s been quite successful for us.”Source: Pete Auger, city manager for Auburn HillsWriter: Jon Zemke