Q&A: Green apartments in L.A.

Your eco questions answered.

Question: I'm contemplating a grad-school move to Los Angeles later this year (I currently live in Chicago) and was searching for tips on how to live sustainably in LA. So my specific question for you revolves around the extreme lack of information online about green apartments in L.A. 

It's a tall order, I know, but I feel like there have to be a few blogs or classified listings out there related to eco-friendly apartment living.  More specifically-- I'll be in grad school, so money will be scarce and I certainly won't be in a position to buy a place.  Have you heard of any sort of classified list like this that I might check out?  Laura

Answer: No, I haven't found any green apartments classified list. Why? There aren't a whole lot of green apartments in L.A. While L.A.'s embraced green building of late, that embrace has so far been reserved mostly for bigger office buildings and homes -- and lately, condos and lofts (for sale, not rent). Sadly, we have more eco-mansions in L.A. than we do eco-apartments.

My guess is that there are a few eco-minded landlords out there who've made some efforts to green their units -- perhaps by adding solar panels or opting for drought-resistant lawns. My landlord, for example, painted my apartment with low-VOC paints and installed CFL bulbs in some of the lighting fixtures before I moved in. However, these are small-scale changes that often aren't even touted on an apartment listing. As far as I know, there are no apartment complexes that are LEED-certified in L.A.

That said: It seems to me that what you really seek to do is lead a green life in L.A. And while a LEED-certified apartment could help with that, I suggest first focusing your green attentions on the big L.A. issue many people moving from cities with great transit systems don't consider: Transportation.

L.A. is not a cute compact city; it's a huge, sprawling, relatively low-density metropolis. If you don't choose wisely, you could end up spewing tons of CO2 every day you drive over to classes at Sci-Arc. In fact, the Wall Street Journal, recently published an article titled Eco-Paradox: Green Homes, Gas-Guzzling Commutes. My point is that you might do better -- environmentally, financially, and personally -- by picking a conventional apartment near campus than commuting from a random green apartment you happen to locate in Brentwood or Manhattan Beach.

Treehugger's guide to greening your rental agrees with me; the first tip is "Choose well": "The location of your home can have a huge impact on your ability to live sustainably, so think hard about your lifestyle when you are looking for your next rental property."

Your best green option might be living downtown, within walking distance from the campus. That photo up top's taken from the roof of one downtown L.A. apartment -- All the cool kids are renting down there, I hear. If other Sci-Arc kids know of other neighborhoods that allow for easy eco-friendly travel to campus, please do share in the comments.

Once you're settled in, you can try slowly working down Treehugger's list of tips for greening your rental. Lastly, you might want to get involved with Ride-Arc, a monthly social bike ride with an architectural theme, started by some Sci-Arc grads.

Photo by Topheroo via Flickr

Comments

[Jason Li]

The South Group offers a few LEED certified condo's in the downtown area. Go to www.exploresouthgroup.com for more details. Since they are condo's, there are many owners that are renting out the units. I have seen units for one of these buildings in the past on Craigslist. Unfortunately, they may be a little pricey for graduate school.

The other consideration is to live in an older building. There are many rennovated buildings in downtown, which are a little more green than a ground-up building because they are re-using something instead of building new.

My suggestion is look at classified adds (such as Craigslist), then research the specific building. Here are some buildings in downtown that I'm familiar with:

- Old Bank District: 3 early 1900's rennovated appartments (I lived there for 6 years), laloft.com
- Art District: many lofts rentals buildings and very close to sci-arc
- Higgins Building: rennovated early 1900's condo
- Santee Count/Village: rennovated apartments and condo's (this is where I currently live), santeecourt.com/santeevillage.com
- Elleven, Luma: LEED certified condo's
- Pacific Electric (PE) lofts: rennovated early 1900's apartments, pelofts.com
- Sante Fe lofts: rennovated early 1900's apartments, santefelofts.com