Green Building Insider

USGBC CHANGES LEED CERTIFICATION FOR NEXT YEAR!

2007-11-12T15:13:00.000-05:00

I'm just catching wind of this announcement, and i'll be working on a great update for everyone later. While you wait let me link you to another article I found partially useful.

LINK HERE

Organic Lawn Care Part of LEED Certification?

2007-11-09T09:57:00.000-05:00

I have very recently caught wind that an organization, SafeLawns.org is working with the USGBC to encoroporate their organic (pesticide free) lawn care methods into the LEED System. Very recently SafeLawns.org was successful in using their system on a small plot of the National Mall in Washington, DC. I think the incoroporation of a pesticide free lawn maintenence system into the LEED certification program makes a lot of sense. First of all, regardless of what the EPA says, pesticides are dangerous and pollutants. Second of all, at schools it should be essential that the greening done inside is mirrored outside because children can be harmed from pesticides rolling around in the grass during recess and not just from poor air quality during class. I'm going to keep my ear to the pavement on this one and see what I can learn, also... I might soon have the opportunity to work on this project and some other very interesting renewable building technologies and I will keep you up to date if and when I do.

Update from USGBC

2007-11-06T20:46:00.000-05:00

Well, well, well...the USGBC just sent out an email letting everyone know what I found out days ago...they updated USGBC.org! But also, they mentioned their new website www.greenbuild365.org

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up if you don't receive their emails.

GW University Pushes Green Campus Development (continued)

2007-11-06T10:07:00.000-05:00

As I profiled yesterday, the George Washington University is currently trying to adopt new plans to pursue green building in some of their future construction projects. However, something I discovered today is helping to explain this new policy.

The Sustainable Endowment Institute gave GW a D+ letter grade, down from last years C-. The rating corresponds to eight categories. Five are focused on campus environmental initiatives, and three on school endowment policies. The brand new GW University President Stephen Knapp was very disappointed in the drop in score and made it known publicly that he intended to rectify the situation. Three days later we learned of the universities intentions to build the newest dorm (which broke ground this week) and an upcoming multi-use development project to LEED standards.

As I said yesterday, I plan to continue following this development as it happens around me, so stay tuned.

GW University Pushes Green Campus Development

2007-11-05T15:00:00.000-05:00

The University that I currently attend, George Washington, is now adding its name to the long list of schools that are building their campuses green. The GW Hatchet reported that the universities development plans for a new dormitory and a large project called Square 54 which will be primarily condominiums, restaurants, and a large supermarket are intending to gain LEED certification from the US Green Building Council. The zoning is still an issue, as community groups in what used to be a quaint part of Washington, DC are now appealing all new development projects by GW in response to unfettered growth over the past decade. However, it is my opinion that the likelihood of these new plans to build to LEED specifications will go through before the 35 day appeals period is over.

Read the full hatchet article here, and I plan to personally follow this story myself.

Just An Update: USGBC Fixes Website

2007-11-05T00:24:00.001-05:00

Incase anyone was wondering or hadn't noticed, the USGBC put their new, cleaner, LESS AWFUL website live tonight. Don't be worried that most of their links don't work, i'm sure they'll fix it.

Kyoto Protocol For American Cities

2007-11-04T11:51:00.000-05:00

US Mayors from 728 cities have signed a green protocol for municipalities. The plan is an attempt to eliminate the carbon footprint of these cities by aggressively pushing green standards on new and existing buildings. Interestingly, this move is in concert with congressional grants that are just coming under consideration in the house. These grants would allocate $2 billion in "green jobs" training, to teach under skilled workers how to retrofit existing buildings to promote environmental sustainability. This move by US mayors does not come as a complete surprise, in the latest US Conference of Mayors several green building resolutions were adopted, and mayors of many major US cities have been cited as saying that greening their cities was highly important on their agenda's.

Check out the full article in the LA Times Here
Also, NYTimes wrote a nice piece about it Here

Home Receives Highest LEED Rating and Stays at Market Price

2007-11-02T13:56:00.000-04:00

This home in Cambridge, Mass. is set to get be rated LEED platinum by the USGBC. It has a wealth of green features: bamboo flooring, air-tight insulation, and a combined solar electric and hot water roof. This in and of itself is impressive but here's the real kicker: it's listed at a price that is consistent with the rest of the non-green neighborhood. So much for the increased costs of green construction? I wouldn't go that far, while it's great to see this property listed at market price we have no idea if the builder ate some of the extra costs associated with building green. Either way, I'm glad to see commercial developers going green amidst the current housing market crisis.

Check out the original article.

The Top 5 Legal Issues to Consider on Green Construction Projects

2007-11-01T13:46:00.001-04:00

The people over at greenbuildingsNYC put together this great article highlighting some of the pertinent legal issues that arise when building green. I am sure that we will see more of this type of information because legal disputes are sure to arise if costs run over budget or certification is not granted in expensive specialty projects.

I urge you to read the full article here.

New Book Notice!

2007-11-01T09:39:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post this morning,
Jerry Yudelson, a prominent green building activist, engineer, and consultant announced today that he is releasing his new book, "The Green Building Revolution" at the Greenbuild conference next week. It's not too pricey so if these issues interest you I'd say you might as well pick up a copy.

Pre-order at Amazon!

Tonight's Democratic Presidential Debate

2007-10-30T20:46:00.000-04:00

As the MSNBC Democratic Presidential debate gets ready to begin at 9:00PM Est I find myself wondering one thing. The candidates are going to attack Ms. Clinton tonight on her votes regarding Iraq and Iran, for her health care plan and lack of leadership ability, but where are the super liberals? Ms. Clinton has been at the forefront of the green building movement since it's very beginning. She's authored and introduced the High-Performance Green Buildings Act several years in a row now. Why doesn't someone ask her what she thinks on the issue?

Sure, I get that it isn't as important as health care and foreign policy, but that doesn't mean it isn't important at all. America's schoolchildren stand to benefit the most from increased green building, as they suffer more because of a high bodyweight to air pollutant ratio. Hasn't there been nearly never ending debate on SCHIP in the past weeks? Green building should be a tie in and I'm waiting for someone to say so.

Goldman Eyes the Pot of Gold at the End of the Green Brick Road

2007-10-30T09:04:00.000-04:00

Well, well, well...if Goldman says it then it must be true right? The worlds most powerful investment bank announced about a half an hour ago that they would be investing $25M in the green energy company Optimal Technologies. "Optimal's product suite includes supply side electric power grid optimization and analysis software, called AEMPFAST™ (pron: aim-fast), and a demand side energy efficiency and automation system called SUREFAST™, to be launched in 2008."

This is huge news for anyone who argues that going green isn't market friendly, obviously Goldman thinks it is.

Check it out here

California Schools are the Greenest

2007-10-30T08:49:00.000-04:00

As a college student, one of the harsh realities I am constantly faced with is that where I live isn't the cleanest and where I take classes often times isn't in the newest buildings. Being a student at a private university in Washington, DC I have come to learn that moving forward with campus development almost never includes the "greening" process.

Leave it to the University of California system to leave everyone in the dust and grab hold of this initiative by actively developing green dormitories and classroom buildings. Here's what i want to know, will the UC system still be greenest once the Stanford project is complete?

Check it out here

Green Regulations in the UK Will Drive up Costs

2007-10-29T13:48:00.000-04:00

One of the major fears that most construction professionals have is that building "green" will drive up their costs. Developers, contractors, and architects are shaking in their boots that demand for green buildings will surpass the willingness to pay for the changes and that they will eat the extra cost. Not to mention that keeping all those LEED professionals on the payroll isn't cheap...

Well, in the UK where legislators are trying to push some of the very first green construction mandates worldwide, new information is coming out about the effect this will have on costs. Legislation that has already been enacted has resulted in a 14% increase in costs, and they aren't done legislating yet! If the BRE Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) standards of excellence are met costs could increase 60%

This information doesn't bode well for the American legislators out there who are authoring or who have explored authoring green building laws. This is the most contentious issue in the green building debate, so keep an eye on it.

I also definitely recommend recommend reading the full article here.

University of Minnesota Study Shows Major Overlaps Between Green Building Organizations

2007-10-29T11:05:00.000-04:00

For all of you out there who are already familiar with the power players USGBC and their LEED program I just wanted to let you in on some interesting news. One of their major competitors in the United States, the Oregon based Green Building Initiative, started the US equivalent of the Green Globes in 2005.

But here's the interesting part, a University of Minnesota Study found that 85% of the major points between the two certification processes overlapped and that many projects were doing the same procedures and acquiring dual certification. The only major difference was the price, with Green Globes certification costing significantly less.

So, what i'm eagerly waiting to find out is, will USGBC take the hints from the market and cut prices or are they already too hegemonic to be affected? Only time will tell.

Check out the article here.

People See Green in Sustainability

2007-10-28T19:11:00.000-04:00

Home builders are starting to get the point: people want to buy Green. To meet demand, homebuilders have started slowly adopting energy efficient practices into their new homes. What they're finding: simple changes can often help them sell homes and benefit the consumer down the road.

For example, framing duct work within a house rather than an outside crawl space; any heat lost from the ducts warms the home rather than venting uselessly outdoors.

Even with the stagnant housing market I'm curious to see if the next trend is tagging homes green simply to get out of the red.

Check it out.

Dubai LEED's in Green Building

2007-10-28T15:11:00.000-04:00

HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai today announced that TECOM investments, a subsidiary of Dubai holding was the leader in green building investment in the Middle East region. In 2006, TECOM created the Sustainable Energy and Environment Division (SEED) in an effort to take the lead in environmentally sound and energy sustainable development practices.

The important factor here is that TECOM has grasped hold of the LEED rating system and is now putting almost 70 buildings through the LEED certification process. This could mean big things for the US Green Building Council (USGBC), who developed the LEED certification process. The USGBC has been working hard in the US to assert the LEED system as the best method for designing, building, and construction environmentally sustainable buildings. The adoption of their system by the technologically pioneers in Dubai might be just the catalyst they need to globalize their system.

Read more here.