City Profiles / Medium Cities / Boise, ID

Boise, Idaho

Green Building

In 2008, Boise created the Excellence in Green Building Construction awards to encourage environmentally sound construction as a part of the mayor's charge to make Boise the most livable city in the country. One of the first winners was the downtown Falcon Building, which sits on the Boise River and uses the circulating water below to cool the interior. Reflective copper-tinted windows reduce solar gain, and five inches of foam insulation cut heating costs by a factor of ten. The building is also piped for geothermal energy, as the City of Boise is expecting to expand its geothermal system. It is expected to receive a LEED-gold certification.