The site, http://www.green.ca.gov/, is focused on two areas: the design and operation of environmentally sensitive, or green, buildings, and the purchase of environmentally friendly products and services.

"We believe this new Web site will become the primary 'go to' site ... for engineers, architects, building managers, contractors, purchasing agents and other business and government officials and environmentalists in their quest for a green California," said Rosario Marin, secretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency, in a news release. "We believe it will demonstrate with facts and figures that environmentally smart business decisions can also save big bucks, while making life healthier for all of us."

The site includes reference materials for the design, construction, benchmarking and operation of green buildings. It also provides information on environmentally friendly products and services, such as office supplies, paper products, office machines, vehicle supplies, building materials and medical supplies.

The Web site is intended to help implement the goals of a December 2004 executive order signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. In it, the governor called for a 20 percent reduction in energy purchases by 2015 for the thousands of state-owned buildings. The order also called on local governments, K-12 schools, universities, community colleges and businesses to adopt the same goal.

The governor proposed to achieve the 20 percent energy reduction by designing, constructing, operating and renovating state-owned buildings to meet the high standards of the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design silver rating, and by leasing office space in buildings with a federal "Energy Star" rating -- both of which are explained on the Web site.

In the private sector, commercial buildings use 36 percent of California's electricity and account for a large percentage of greenhouse gas emissions, raw material consumption and waste, according to the governor's office. By adopting the goals outlined in his executive order, Schwarzenegger said, California could save $2 billion of the $12 billion in electricity consumed every year by the state's commercial and institutional buildings.

Updated : 7/19/2007