When it comes to actually implementing so-called Green Technologies, the Building Trades Unions are in the vanguard.

In St. Louis, Missouri - Sheet Metal Workers (SMWIA) Local 36 is seeking the highest ranking, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum, from the U.S. Green Building Council for its new 95,000-square-foot Headquarters and Training Center Building.

The new building features 357 photovoltaic panels, which will provide most of its power, as well as toilets flushed by a rainwater-collecting system.  The roof is planted with sedum, which reduces heating and cooling costs and filters airborne particulates.  Three geothermal heat pump systems provide heat and air conditioning for the training center offices, while a fourth geothermal heat pump system “will be used in the classroom to teach future technicians how to maintain and install the emerging technology,” according to a statement issued by Local 36, whose building also houses the Union’s International Training Institute for the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Industry (ITI).

Sheet Metal Workers Local 36 Training Director Dan Andrews says the building’s value goes beyond its immediate environmental impact.  In the Local 36 statement, he explains: “It’s a living lab.  The building itself is a training entity.  I walk people through the building to show them how a LEED building is built.”

The building, scheduled for a ribbon-cutting early next year, also features an 800-seat meeting hall, in addition to 56,000 square feet of workshops, offices and classrooms and administrative space for Local 36.  According to the Local, final approval by the U.S. Green Building Council for the LEED Platinum designation could take up to a year.

The National AFL-CIO, meanwhile, has long encouraged the creation of Green Jobs.

In 2009, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka stood with former Vice President Al Gore, saying: “Together, the Labor Movement and the Environmental Movement are a fighting force for change.  This is our time - time to let the powers gathered here this week know exactly what we want, and exactly what  we won’t stand for.  We want a clean energy economy that creates good jobs, and we want a safe and healthy planet.”

For more on Organized Labor’s role in building innovation and Green Jobs, see here, here and here.