San Diego City Wire

San Diego County News Center

When the County broke ground last month on its seventh Crisis Stabilization Unit—a place to give people in crisis a calm place to recover—it wasn’t just a boon for behavioral health. It was also a boost for the environment, sustainability, and climate change mitigation in San Diego County.

The new building in El Cajon, set to open next year, will be the County’s sixty-eighth structure meeting the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED environmental standards. LEED stands for “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.” Additionally, it will be the County’s eleventh “Zero Net Energy” building, meaning it will produce more electrical energy than it uses through solar rooftop panels, natural lighting, air circulation, and other green amenities.

It will also be the third County facility to reduce its carbon footprint using “embodied carbon” techniques. Marko Medved, head of the County’s Department of General Services, explained that embodied carbon is newer to the County but has become an essential part of their sustainable building strategy alongside LEED status and Zero Net Energy.

Embodied carbon reduces buildings' overall carbon footprint by using materials that require less energy to create—such as low-carbon concrete and naturally growing timber instead of steel. These techniques also involve low-energy transportation, installation, maintenance, demolition, and disposal processes. Medved noted that this approach is expected to cut carbon emissions by 30% for constructing the new Crisis Stabilization Unit in El Cajon.

The County has long adhered to Zero Net Energy and LEED standards. “You get there,” Medved said, “by having an efficient building with low water use, recycling local materials and ensuring good interior environments—natural light, good circulation and air quality.”

In 2018 San Diego County became the first county in California—and second nationwide—to receive Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council under its LEED for Communities program.

Several notable green buildings exist within the county:

- The County Operations Center in Kearny Mesa has multiple LEED certifications.

- Seven branch libraries are LEED certified: Alpine (opened 2016), Borrego Springs (2018), Fallbrook (2023), Lakeside (2023), Lincoln Acres (2023), Imperial Beach (2017) and Ramona (2023). Of these libraries six are certified gold; four are also Zero Net Energy buildings.

- The Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk’s Office & Archive building in Santee opened in 2020 is certified LEED gold and is recognized as the first Zero Net Energy archive in the United States.

- The East Otay Mesa Fire Station is both LEED certified and Zero Net Energy.

- The Southeastern Live Well Center opened in 2023 at $79 million with a 65,000 square-foot two-story design; it too meets both criteria.

For further details on sustainability plans from the Department of General Services visit their Operations Energy & Sustainability Management webpage.