Josh Knoefler

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology civil engineering alumnus Josh Knoefler has a dream to transform America's real estate development industry.  However, governmental officials in the San Diego area didn't share his ambitious vision of a community with renewable energy sources, high-tech cooling and a cutting-edge water-recycling system for irrigation.

Late this summer, after spending $4.8 million and more than two years in planning, Knoefler withdrew his plans to construct the Green Village, a $600 million green energy, housing and retail project in National City, Calif. The first project of its kind in the country, Green Village was believed to be a model for other eco-friendly developments.

Knoefler, a 1997 Rose-Hulman graduate, will return to campus on Monday, Dec. 17, to make a presentation on "Politics and Sustainable Development", starting at 4:20 p.m., in Room M-137 of the John Myers Center for Technological Research with Industry. The event is free and open to the public.

In a letter dated Aug. 13 that announced his withdrawal of the project, Knoefler told National City Mayor Ron Morrison that the city was imposing "cookie-cutter requirements" to his project, according to reports published in the San Diego Union Tribune.

Knoefler's project proposed a very green four-and-a-half-square block redevelopment project in National City, Calif., that would have included 1,100 homes, 200,000 square feet of commercial and retail space.

"It's so far beyond carpet from recycled material," he told the San Diego Metropolitan Uptown Examiner & Daily Business Report about his proposal early in 2007. "It's sustainable development. There's only one building in the whole country that's as green as we want to be."

Since August, Knoefler has been in discussions with municipalities around the country attempting to find a political leader with similar vision and will to partner with his firm to lead in the green building revolution.  Is government ready for true sustainable development?

The son of Terre Haute developers Gene and Diane Knoefler, Josh Knoefler founded Knoefler Enterprises to lead in the development of green and other construction projects in the San Diego area. He was featured as one of San Diego Magazine's "50 People to Watch in 2007."