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GREENSBORO — It’s right there in the name.

GREENsboro.

That environmentally conscious attitude is all around in the work of city staff members, volunteer initiatives — even in the city’s buildings.

The world’s first hotel to receive the “platinum green” certification from the U.S. Green Building Council is the Proximity Hotel on Green Valley Road.

Not to be outdone by the private sector, the city plans to break ground this year on a building that it hopes will become its first to receive environmentally friendly building status: the new McGirt-Horton Branch of the public library.

Over in the rolling hills off New Garden Road, the Kathleen Clay Edwards Family Branch already has some of those green elements.

Step into its colorful entry way and you’ll be stepping on a special cork flooring, a sustainable building material. The library brings the beauty of the surrounding Price Park inside through north-facing windows that fill the reading rooms with natural light.

Library guests can learn about wildlife at the nearby butterfly garden, meander through the guided trails or dig their hands into one of the volunteer-planted gardens on the property.

“All of the water from the back of the roof is captured and filtered through the cisterns and rain gardens,” said Melanie Buckingham, the environmental resources librarian.

The library has an abundant amount of environmental literature, including field guides for kids and sustainability books for adults.

“It spans the whole Dewey Decimal System,” Buckingham said.

This year, the city also began its $6.1 million energy conservation program.

“The whole project is going to take nearly a year,” said Stephen Randall , Greensboro’s energy and sustainability program manager. “They are starting with the water.”

The city will upgrade sinks, toilets, urinals, lights and heating and air conditioning systems to more energy-efficient models. That includes solar water heaters for fire stations.

Those changes to more than 40 city-owned buildings will save $484,000 a year in energy costs.

And last year, Mayor Yvonne Johnson and the City Council created the city’s first Community Sustainability Council, a volunteer group that will help combine community and city efforts to make the city more environmentally conscious.

Contact Amanda Lehmert at 373-7075 or amanda.lehmert @news-record.com