.floatimg-left-hort { float:left; } .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Charles Becker has a bird’s-eye view of downtown Des Moines from the Belin McCormick P.C. offices on the 20th floor of the Financial Center.

From that vantage, it will be easy to watch office lights flicker off when Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield completes its exodus from the heart of downtown to new digs on Grand Avenue near Western Gateway Park. Aviva USA will move its workers later this year to new headquarters in West Des Moines.

Estimates are that 1 million square feet of empty office space will come on the market after the two companies vacate their current locations. And the prospect of all that empty space has Becker and others wondering who will turn the lights back on, and what features will attract them.

Becker is among the growing number of Greater Des Moines attorneys who specialize in a broad area of law that focuses on renewable energy, sustainability and the environment.

It is called environmental law at some firms. At others, those issues are dealt with by their business, finance and real estate departments.

The attorneys deal with issues including water usage, storm water drainage, siting of wind farms, creation of renewable energy companies, and the successes and failures of emerging companies in those areas.

For Becker, the key to filling those empty offices might be found in the sun and the wind.

“I don’t think you’re going to do too much with these buildings without creating some buzz,” he said, and sticking a wind turbine or solar panel array on a suitable site just might create that buzz.

While Greater Des Moines communities wrangle out the details for allowing wind turbines in commercial and residential settings, some thought could be directed toward pushing aging office buildings toward generating their own energy.

All it takes is the will to make it happen, Becker said.

The city of Des Moines wants to find an office building that could become a model for sustainable retrofitting.

Becker sees the move toward renewable energy and sustainable buildings as inevitable, provided that business people understand that they can make or at least save money in the process.

Matt Anderson, economic development administrator for the city of Des Moines, is involved in the effort to find a building in the central business district that could be a model of green design and sustainability.

The city has looked, in vain so far, for a building owner who is willing to make the steep financial commitment to provide that model. The city, the Downtown Community Alliance and other businesses and organizations are attempting to determine whether federal funds could help defray those costs.

Wind and solar have not entered into the discussions, Anderson said.

“I do know that as we’ve followed trade publications, there are more and more creative alternative energy uses popping up,” he said. “But it’s probably one of those things that are more cost-effective in a new building than in a retrofit.”

In fact, several cities and property developers around the country are sticking turbines on top of new buildings and old.

Just last year, a new office building in Portland, Ore., was outfitted with four 45-foot-tall wind turbines in an experiment initiated by a local green developer to determine the efficacy of rooftop wind power generation. The turbines were expected to produce less than 1 percent of the building’s energy needs. However, they also served as a symbol of a commitment by businesses and city leaders to make Portland stand out as a green city.

Becker sees no reason why Des Moines can’t earn a reputation as a green city, given that the state is the second-leading wind energy producer in the nation and has been a focus of efforts to make the state a leader in the production of renewable energy, especially from biofuels.

“The future of Iowa and Des Moines in the next five to 10 years is going to revolve around energy and energy creation,” Becker said.

The key to continued development of Des Moines lies in attracting young people, and young people are drawn to communities that appear to be on the cutting edge, he noted.

To support his argument, Becker points to the growth of the city’s arts and culture scene.

Becoming a hub of sustainability also would attract young people.

“It’s a kind of thing that feeds on itself,” Becker said.

And it’s the kind of thing that is not limited to erecting wind turbines and solar panels.

Parking ramps could have charging stations for electric cars, for example.

“The electric car is going to change the world,” he said. “Not because of the environmental benefits, but because it goes from 0 to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds.”

In other words, the fun factor creates the environmental buzz.

Becker noted that businesses can become raging environmental advocates if they discover that they can turn a profit from certain practices, even those that are forced on them by state and federal regulators.

“Sustainable concepts that make money, and that incidentally save the environment, are going to be huge,” he said.

Becker said more than 90 percent of his practice involves environmental law, whether he is dealing with land-use issues, property sales, storm water runoff issues or construction in a flood plain.

“Environmental law,” he said, “now peripherally affects most aspects of a large-firm practice.

“It shows up in mergers and acquisitions, which usually involve land purchases or hazardous process streams, banking (is the bank foreclosing on a contaminated parcel?), taxes (does a contaminated parcel have the same tax value as a clean parcel?), construction (is storm water runoff being properly addressed?), energy law (siting of transmission lines and waste disposal issues) and so on.”

As for the stuff that creates the buzz, that’s what can put an energy star on the city.

“Microgeneration of energy and electric cars are just among any number of things that can put us on the map,” Becker said.