L.A. firms play key role in retrofitting White House.

Project is brainchild of movie director David Zucker

The Clinton administration is having the White House retrofitted in the hopes that it will serve as an environmental showcase for builders across the country. And two Los Angeles environmental consulting firms are playing a pivotal role in the effort.

Although the idea of "greening" the White House has been batted around for years, |E.sup.2~ Environmental Enterprises Inc. of Marina del Rey and P.S. Enterprises of Santa Monica helped transform the idea into reality, with the help of local film director David Zucker.

With the inspiration and financial backing of Zucker, these two L.A. consulting firms put together the original assessment of how the White House and the Old Executive Office Building could be retrofitted into "environmental showcases," according to people involved in the project. They also coordinated a meeting with 12 top officials from environmental groups, including the Environmental Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Audubon Society and the Rocky Mountain Institute, an expert in energy efficiency.

Both |E.sup.2~ Environmental and P.S. Enterprises have been involved with other high-profile projects across the country, but it was Zucker, director of the "Naked Gun" series of movies, who brought them together.

Zucker said, after doing a lot of research on alternative energy for the movie "Naked Gun 2 1/2," he jumped on the environmental bandwagon.

He said he had talked about "greening" the White House during Clinton's campaign, and became more inspired about the idea after seeing the cover of a catalog for energy-smart products that displayed an illustration of an environmentally progressive White House.

The illustration -- detailing a White House complete with wind generators, solar panels, electric limousines and an organic garden -- was on the cover of the January 1993 catalog for Real Goods Trading Corp. of Ukiah, Calif. That company bills itself as the largest supplier of solar panels in the country.

After seeing the cover, Zucker said, "We really need to do something about this," so he said he brought together the two consulting firms to draft a plan.

April Smith, co-founder of |E.sup.2~ Environmental, had been Zucker's environmental consultant for two years, helping him on various environmental causes. She also happens to have connections in the Clinton administration.

She went to the University of Vermont with Ken Connolly, now a staffer in the Office of Environmental Policy, who ended up hooking the firms up with key decision makers in Washington, D.C.

Her partner at |E.sup.2~ Environmental, John Picard, is a former builder with an expertise in environmental design.

Tom Soto, president of P.S. Enterprises (named after his father Phil Soto) and Cliff Gladstein, executive vice president, are environmental activists who now run a public relations and policy development firm.

With encouragement from the White House, and Zucker paying travel expenses, the principals of |E.sup.2~ Environmental and P.S. Enterprises flew to Washington, D.C., and drafted a preliminary strategy on how to "green" the White House in time for Clinton's speech in April to commemorate Earth Day 1993.

Clinton widely embraced the idea of "getting his own house in order" to provide a role model for environmental retrofitting throughout the country, said those involved with the project.

As Vice President Al Gore encouraged Americans to be more environmentally responsible, the White House was in the "environmental Dark Ages," as one person close to the project put it.

The government was using Styrofoam trays in its cafeteria and running heating systems simultaneously with 1950s-style air conditioners mounted in windows.

The "greening" of the White House has since been taken over by the American Institute of Architects and the U.S. Department of Energy, which coordinated a task force of 150 specialists to conduct a feasibility study and make recommendations.

Both Smith and Picard have served on one of the task force's dozen committees and have made about four trips to Washington, which were all financed by Zucker.

"We really felt like we were bending history," Picard said of the meetings.

P.S. Enterprises' Gladstein said his company had to drop out of the project after putting in hundreds of hours because they simply couldn't afford to take the time off without pay.

Although he's had to step back from the project, he said, "I felt like it (the White House renovation) was our baby."

Zucker said he's spent about $15,000 on the project, and Smith said |E.sup.2~ Environmental has spent about 300 hours, worth about $45,000, on the pro-bono project.

Although the feasibility study hasn't been released to the public yet, Picard said, the ideas being presented to the Clinton administration are quite simple. They include "no-brainers," as Picard called them, such as using non-toxic paints, more electronic mail for communication, double-sided copiers, occupancy sensors (gadgets that turn on lights automatically when someone walks into an area) and recycling programs.

"If they (the Clinton administration) did 20 percent of what's recommended, they would be doing a lot," said Picard.

If these ideas were to be carried out through the rest of the country, it could "change the way the country builds," said Smith.