A city known for its cobalt blue lake will hear about its buildings going green today at 1 p.m. in council chambers.

Representatives of the Sierra Green Building Association and Truckee Town Council plan to address the South Lake Tahoe City Council to urge members to create green-building standards in town.

Truckee has "gotten off the ground" in terms of developing guidelines, and the environmental advocacy group wants the vision to spread regionally, Mayor Beth Ingalls indicated.

In addition to the North Shore's, the town hosted a "green building tour" last month that introduced those exploring emerging green building techniques to remodeling and new construction techniques.

For example, the Cedar House Hotel owned by Jeff and Patty Baird uses a drainage system that recycles stormwater runoff for landscaping. All lights are equipped with photo sensors and timers. Plus, the cedar exterior siding and logs were obtained from a reforestation project.

"It's not a mandate - but we do what we can to provide information at the counter and through the (SiGBA) group," Ingalls said. "It's not easy, but we just finished our general plan so we thought it was a good time to do it."

The hope is to create incentives for developers to follow such as moving up on the list for building permits.

Green-friendly building guidelines may range from installing energy efficient washers and dryers to using solar panels and tinted windows.

The South Shore has began to dabble in the art - with cabins at the 4H Club camp of Stateline using specially designed insulation and solar panels. Plus, homes from Christmas Valley to Montgomery Estates have learned the advantages of running energy efficient systems.

"Homes are the largest users of natural gas and electricity. We're polluting just heating our homes," said Cheryl Murakami, a Re/Max real estate agent and eco-broker who works with the green-friendly group.

In Murakami's profession, she's receiving a growing group of calls from home seekers wanting to buy "green" homes at the basin.

In other business, the City Council may approve an upgraded contract with the EDAW design group to develop interpretive exhibits for the Explore Tahoe Visitors Center at the Heavenly Village transit station.

Also, the panel may give the nod to an agreement to advance the Tahoe Valley Community Plan in respect to the city's general plan and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency's regional plan process called Pathway 2007.

And the council expects to hear an update on reducing wildland fire fuel and hire a registered forester to supervise the effort.