How green is Augusta? You might be surprised.

Plenty of towns are green on St. Patrick's Day. Augusta is green all year long - and getting greener.

That's a good thing, according to our mayor, Deke Copenhaver, who was green long before he ventured into politics. 

"What will Augusta look like in 20 years? It will be green," he said last night, as the speaker for the Metro Augusta Green Scene meeting.

If you haven't yet heard of this group, you will. And if you don't know what it means to be green, you should. 

The word used to imply inexperience - or envy. Now it is a synonym for environmental sustainability.

Part of Metro Augusta Green Scene's role is social -  a conduit for networking and the exchange of ideas. Its members form the local chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, which promotes the benefits of environmentally responsible planning, design and construction of buildings and communities.

Copenhaver, who was director of the Central Savannah River Land Trust and a member of a half-dozen conservation groups before seeking office, believes the greening of Augusta is part of the key to its successful future.

"There is a lot we can gain from leveraging our green assets," he said. "We already have a great green infrastructure."

Examples include the Augusta Canal National Heritage Area, Phinizy Swamp Nature Park, the Savannah River and a broadening network of bicycle trails that reach into neighboring counties.

Those features helped lure last year's inaugural Ironman competition, in which more than 3,000 athletes helped create the largest such event of its kind in the world, with an economic impact of $2 million to $4.7 million.

"The organizers want to grow it out to 5,000 people," Copenhaver said. "They see tremendous room for growth and they'd like to see it here."

Later this year, Augusta will host the International Mountain Bike Association's 2010 World Summit, with more than 500 participants. Cities competing to host the event included Madison, Wisc., home to one of the major mountain bike manufacturers. "Augusta won out, though. And we're delighted."

Eco-tourism is a fast-growing part of the nation's economy, but the greening of Augusta goes beyond luring outdoor oriented visitors.

Efforts to build "greener" buildings that rely on natural light and promote energy efficiency are also a part of the Garden City's future, he said.

The interest in  such buildings is there, especially in government construction, he said. "The demand is for direction in how to do it. That is the biggest need."

Augusta already has several buildings the U.S. Green Building Council has certified as meeting Leadership in Energy Environmental Design (LEED) standards. The rating system on environmentally friendly construction takes into account factors such as water use, promotion of recycled materials and numerous other criteria.

Automatic Data Processing's $40 million center in west Augusta received gold LEED certification last fall - and will be the focus of an upcoming Green Scene field trip. The Kroc Center now under construction downtown will seek similar certification. MCG Medical Associates in Evans and Reed Creek Wetlands Interpretive Center in Martinez also were named registered green projects, along with six buildings at Fort Gordon, according to a December story by our business editor, Tim Rausch.

Copenhaver would like to see more government buildings seek similar designations. "It would be nice if we had an ordinance that everything the city builds is LEED certified," he said.

Will that happen soon? Probably not. But discussions that get people thinking about how our resources are deployed are a great start, he said.

If you're interested in learning more about Metro Augusta Green Scene, its meetings are held the third Tuesday of each month from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Partridge Inn, with free appetizers and a cash bar, said Margie McClain, Georgia's field representative for the Oceana environmental group. The April meeting, she said, will be different due to the planned field trip to ADP, but the schedule will resume in May.