Joe Snider, a Delray Beach resident and owner of Building Green Generations Inc., is doing all he can to be "green."

Snider, an AIA, LEED AP green architect, works with colleague Jeffrey Conley as green building consultants.
"We have projects all over the state making buildings more energy efficient and bringing them up to LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) U.S. Green Building rating," Snider said.

He’s concerned about how Delray Beach is doing in LEED certification, but continues with projects in Miami, St. Petersburg, Punta Gorda, Cape Canaveral (NASA project) and Martahon, a Coast Guard building.

“Unfortunately we’re way behind locally and the rest of the country. Delray Beach has no LEED-certified buildings… Boca Raton has eight. I’m dying to do a project like that in Delray.”

He has brought the “green issues” topic to local government.

“I was a member of the Green Task Force in Delray Beach. We presented our six-month study of Delray Beach to the city commission. I’m also a member of the 15-member Palm Beach County Green Task Force.”

And, new developments are arising for “green” in Delray Beach.

“I just helped the city with an Energy Conservation Block Grant, which will allocate $638,000 in federal funds to the city of Delray Beach over the next year.”

His office, which is in the Huber Drugs building downtown on Atlantic Avenue right across from the popular Green Owl Restaurant, is becoming "green."

He's not sure the office building is Art Deco, but he's making it "green" anyways.

“I’m not sure… I know it was built in the '50s and is a great office that overlooks Atlantic Avenue. We currently just obtained the former gymnasium hardwood floor from Cocoa Beach Middle School and are refurbishing it as green flooring.”