USGBC Blog

What LEED Means to Us

noreply@blogger.com (USGBC) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 18:38:00 +0000

This entry is cross-posted from the Brewery Vivant blog.

We recently received our LEED Silver (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification at Brewery Vivant and found out at the end of the process that we are the first commercial microbrewery in the United States to do so (or as Mayor Heartwell put it, the first in the galaxy). That is pretty cool. However, we did not go through this process just to have a marketing tool to talk about. We see this plaque that hangs on our wall as a symbol of the way we want to run our business.

LEED design takes more into account than just using high efficiency appliances. It looks at the project as a whole including diverting demolition waste, using earth friendly materials, proximity to public transportation, and creating enjoyable work environments for employees. We see it as a holistic approach to business that weighs how businesses fit into a community. Our intent from the beginning was to build a neighborhood brewery and it all started with the site selection.

It would have been much cheaper and easier to build a pub from the ground up on a new site outside the city limits. But what fun would that be? The atmosphere we have created by utilizing the existing historic architecture is priceless. As far as our brewing facility, it would have been far cheaper to rent some warehouse space for $2 a sq ft in some industrial park. But then we would not be able to give the personal tours of our process to the people that visit our pub. The way we did things creates a whole and unique experience.

The LEED principles also coincide with “triple bottom line” thinking. In this business model, for each decision a company makes there are three areas considered. While the traditional model looks at just the financial profitability, we also consider the environmental impact, and the impact on our neighborhood. For example, if we need to make a widget the traditional business model would say find the cheapest source for the components to make that widget, period. While we do look at lowering the cost of materials when we can, we additionally consider with equal weight if there are environmentally friendly options and if there are local suppliers we can purchase from. If we can make an equal quality product and spend our dollars in the local economy that is a win-win that we may be willing to spend a bit more for. The overall impact may outweigh the short term gain of getting ingredients from overseas. We are not perfect. Sometimes we make decisions we regret or find that we have to get certain ingredients from outside the area to get the results we need. However we do consider such things and we will report on our progress annually in our sustainability report "Beer the Change" which we just published.

We believe a brewery can have a positive impact on a neighborhood. Not only are we a significant employer, but we hire people from right in the neighborhood. We recently figured out that over half of our staff live within walking distance (less than a mile), and three-fourths live within biking distance of the brewery (less than 3 miles). In 2011 we donated over 10% of our net profits to local charities. We focus our energies on supporting charities and groups that have impact in our immediate neighborhood. While there are so many good causes out there, we have found that we can make a larger impact if we narrow our focus and support ones that coincide closely with our principles.

My wife Kris and I took a lot of time to plan this brewery. While taking that time was frustrating at moments, it really helped us focus our business to be exactly what we wanted it to be. We started with the end in mind first. We asked ourselves questions like “Once we are successful, what do we want people to say about our business?" - “What do we want to be known for?” - “What do we want to be best in the world at?” We knew that we wanted this to be our lifetime work. We wanted to be able to look back after being open for 20 years and be proud of what we were able to achieve. Proud of what we have given back to the community. Proud that we had as low a negative impact on our environment as we could manage. And do this all while having fun and making fantastic beer that makes people happy.

We are grateful for everyone that has supported us in this journey so far. We look forward to that 20 year mark of being your neighbor.

Cheers,
Jason

U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker in Ocean Springs to Present Award to Cottages at Oak Park

noreply@blogger.com (USGBC) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Cherie Ward
The Mississippi Press

This article is cross-posted from GulfLife.com.

U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker will tour the Cottages at Oak Park in downtown Ocean Springs at 2 p.m. today and presented the development team with the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Platinum award.

It's the organization's highest level certification of energy efficiency and environmentally responsible construction.

Guests tour the recently finished Cottages at Oak Park
in Ocean Springs, MS during a ribbon cutting
ceremony on Thursday, August 11, 2011.
(Joshua Dahl, Correspondent)

"The Cottages at Oak Park is a great example of how to rebuild after a terrible disaster like Hurricane Katrina," Wicker said. "These cottages are built structurally superior to a typical home, providing a safe place for residents to live and qualifying for lower insurance rates. Affordability is also enhanced by building at the cottage scale in close-in locations and with energy-efficient techniques and materials. It's a winning combination that reduces residents' monthly power bills and transportation costs."

Wicker will be joined by representatives from Gov. Phil Bryant's office, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and the city of Ocean Springs.

Bryant said, "The need for quality, affordable housing on the Gulf Coast grew after Hurricane Katrina, and I am pleased to know that this development will not only help satisfy that need but has achieved LEED Platinum certification."

Bill Brown, MEMA deputy director, said his agency "is very pleased how this Cottage Community came together, and we are excited to see the Cottages at Second Street in Pass Christian, the sister neighborhood to Oak Park open in a couple of weeks."

Joe Cloyd, a member of the Cottages at Oak Park and Second Street development team, said the 2 neighborhoods, "provide examples of how a public and private partnership can work. Through this kind of partnership, residents can live in safe, green, affordable cottages and have the option to walk to surrounding businesses."

In addition to the Cottages at Oak Park achieving LEED Platinum Certification, the neighborhood also became the first in Ocean Springs to be designated as part of the Renaissance Guild.

Kim LaRosa, President of the Gulf Coast Renaissance Corporation, said, "the Renaissance Guild is a collection of developments along the Mississippi Gulf Coast that are walkable, aesthetically superior developments built to ensure the residents have a safe, energy efficient place to live. These cottages meet and exceed the Renaissance Guild criteria."

On Leadership: An Ode to Maverick, Goose and You

noreply@blogger.com (USGBC) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 22:11:00 +0000

Jason Hartke
Vice President, National Policy
U.S. Green Building Council

Even 25 years later, who can forget Maverick and Goose’s memorable exchange? “I feel the need…the need for speed.”

While the green building movement continues to move forward at an incredibly rapid pace, that’s not why I bring up this seemingly non-sequitur reference to Top Gun. The quote, oddly, reminds me of something deep and soulful to the green building movement – the need to lead.

Just think about our movement’s standard bearers – Rick Fedrizzi, David Gottfried, Gail Vittori, Rob Watson, Bill Browning, the late (and very missed) Ray Anderson, and the list goes on. This mantra – the need to lead – is clearly a core and universal driver that excites us, impels us, influences us, sustains us and inspires us.

Photo credit: NY Daily News/Everett

At any given moment, we could take a snapshot of any given layer of the movement and see how the need to lead is propelling us all forward. For example:

I think of the $1.4 trillion net opportunity of green building, an economic driver that would drive enormous energy savings and job creation (See Mathias Bell’s recent blog).
I think of Project Haiti, bringing green building to those who need it most (See Marisa Long’s recent blog on the inspirational project).
I think of a university set to build 5 LEED Platinum buildings.
I think of McGraw Hill’s forecast that green homes will increase five-fold from $17 billion in 2011 to between $87 and $114 billion by 2016.
I think of the 1.5 million square feet of real estate that is certified to LEED each day, the equivalent of three Empire State Buildings a week.
I think of the revival of the innovative financing vehicle of Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Bonds, which could provide “unlimited funds for energy efficiency.” (See Green Technology’s interview with the head of Ygrene Energy Fund, which is advancing a $100 million investment in building retrofits).
I think of the new Green Ribbon Schools Program, a program advanced by Secretary Arne Duncan and the U.S. Department of Education that will recognize schools that save energy, reduce costs, feature environmentally sustainable learning spaces, protect health, foster wellness, and offer environmental education.
I think of all the opportunities the Obama Administration can take right now to advance Better Buildings through Executive Action.

The progress and the work that is happening each and every day (i.e., the leadership that you all are showing) makes me want to put on a pair of aviator sunglasses, do my best Tom Cruise imitation and say, “I feel the need…”

Well by now, like Goose, you know the rest of the bit. You live it. And you do it everyday.

Postscript: Yes, this entire blog also serves as a monitory note on the dangers of watching the Sunday Matinee with green building on the mind.

Highlighting Green Homes by Greening the MLS

noreply@blogger.com (USGBC) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:13:00 +0000

Matt Pearce
Campaign Specialist
U.S. Green Building Council

In recent years, there has been a boom in the construction industry and demand for green homes even while the real estate market continues to struggle. This is a clear sign that prospective buyers find value in green homes. Studies show that green home construction is growing, and more and more home buyers are listing green attributes like energy efficiency as a top priority when looking to buy a home. And when homes do sell, green homes sell for more.

But while this trend is very positive, the reality is that most buyers have trouble finding certified efficient, green homes in their area because the real estate infrastructure used by the industry doesn’t allow this information to be shared. The Multiple Listing Service (MLS), the primary platform for listing and selling a home through a realtor, lags far behind the market in most regions in reflecting the energy efficiency and green building information those prospective buyers want to see. Of the 860 MLSs nationwide, less than 100 include searchable green data fields. Such fields include information on things like third party certification standards like LEED for Homes certifications or HERS Index scores.

To address this lack of communication, USGBC launched the Highlighting Green Homes by Greening the MLS campaign with the simple goal of making sure all MLS platforms reflect the leadership of the best home builders in the country through searchable green data fields. We are happy to join other organizations that share this goal like the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of Homebuilders.

This campaign is about finding solutions by bringing people together and including players in the market. It’s not an issue that has a legislative fix, though government involvement certainly can help. To green the MLS, advocates must find consensus and build a winning coalition that develops solutions to better highlight green homes in their local residential listings.

Fortunately, several green MLS initiatives have produced a wealth of material to work off. USGBC Colorado, with the help of the Colorado Governor’s Energy Office, successfully led an effort to green many of the state’s listing services. And LEED for Homes, in conjunction with National Association of Realtors and the National Association of Home Builders, produced up a step-by-step tool kit to Greening the MLS. Both resources were the inspirations for USGBC’s Highlighting Green Homes Campaign.

While there may seem to be many moving pieces to this campaign, it’s a challenge worth taking. By the feedback received on our campaign introductory call, the USGBC advocacy community seems up to the task. There is no better way to drive home the benefits of green buildings in the residential market than through an MLS that contains searchable green data, third party certification fields, and accurately conveys green home leadership to brokers, appraisers, realtors and to buyers from sellers.

How Will You Impact LEED 2012? Third Public Comment Period Opens Mar. 1

noreply@blogger.com (USGBC) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:56:00 +0000

Doug Gatlin
Vice President, LEED
U.S. Green Building Council

Are you an architect? A facilities manager? A building owner?

How about a professional working in a big city high-rise? A father with kids in elementary school? An unabashed shopaholic?

Great, let’s talk LEED 2012.

The third public comment period for LEED 2012, the newest update to the LEED green building program, opens in just five business days on Mar. 1, giving anyone with a stake in our built environment (in other words, everyone) the opportunity to influence the direction LEED takes: seasoned green building pros to college students just beginning their sustainability journey. Building owners to occupants of any kind.

LEED engages and impacts millions (billions?) of people around the world. Its success is in part due to the fact that it is developed by the people who use it. LEED is an ongoing, global project that anyone can join. There’s no other rating system out there that engages the public quite the way LEED does, and we hope you’ll consider voicing your opinion about LEED in the approaching public comment period.

What will happen when you participate in public comment? It’s difficult to communicate just how critical and exciting the public comment periods are for us here at USGBC, but also to LEED users and stakeholders everywhere. It’s hard to describe the huge opportunity they present to people who want to shape the development of LEED. Your input will help us produce a finalized version of LEED 2012, reflecting the voices of stakeholders from across the green building industry. We document and address every last comment – and that’s no small task! During the first two rounds of public comments on LEED 2012 (held November 2010 – January 2011 and August - September 2011, respectively), we received over 13,000 comments. This may seem tedious and daunting to some, but at USGBC, we say the more comments, the better. It makes for an improved, more thoughtful end product.

So what’s the point of all this? Public comment periods are critical steps in a series that lead to balloting—or putting LEED to a public test for approval. Ultimately, this process leads to creating a finalized version of LEED 2012 that will then be applied to commercial buildings, schools, healthcare facilities, retail stores, homes and more. Anyone can participate in public comment, but if you’d like to be a part of the voting process for LEED 2012, scheduled for June 1-30, your employer must be a USGBC National Member in good standing by Mar. 1 and maintain your membership through the balloting period.

Your employer can become a member today.
Ensure your organization’s current USGBC membership is in good standing and stays that way through June 30.

If you care about the impact of the LEED rating system—if you want to make sure it continues to facilitate big change in the world in a meaningful way—the public comment process is the way to show it. We look forward to hearing from you in March.

Have questions about public comment? Want to hear more about LEED 2012? Join our CEO, Rick Fedrizzi, for a live Twitter chat on Mar. 8 at noon ET. Follow @RickFedrizzi and use hashtag #LEED2012 to join in.

Unreasonably BOULD: A Social Enterprise for Affordable Homes and Green Building Education

noreply@blogger.com (USGBC) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 20:47:00 +0000

Shane Gring
Co-Founder + Director of Operations
BOULD

Imagine a world where potential is not governed by what we're told to be, the only fear is not giving enough, and business-as-usual, is a little more...unreasonable.

As a USGBC Emerging Professional, Colorado Chapter member, and young social entrepreneur, this is the world I’m working to create.

After a year serving Flatirons Habitat for Humanity (Boulder, Colorado) as an AmeriCorps VISTA, I approached a fork in the road. Do I confirm my acceptance to graduate school and pursue my Masters of Architecture? Or, do I pursue a slightly less conventional path: one filled with incredible potential, but also substantial uncertainty?

Two years later, after the completion of 17 LEED-registered affordable homes, the training of 115 now-qualified LEED Professional exam candidates, and fundraising of $20,000 for affordable housing builders, you will see that I chose the latter.

In 2010, at age 23, I co-founded a social enterprise, called BOULD, with the ambitious mission to eliminate substandard housing through green building education.

BOULD staff, Brian Brunsing in action at a LEED Platinum seeking Habitat for Humanity home in Boulder, Colorado

Here’s how it works. First, we train local affordable housing builders (AHBs), like Habitat for Humanity, to transform housing projects into structured, green building classrooms for career developing professionals and students. Our program, EverbuildPRO, provides leadership opportunities at all phases of a project: from design development to LEED documentation to on-site construction. Upon program completion, participants have the project experience they need to qualify for LEED accreditation, the world’s preeminent green building credential. Then, in return for the opportunity, professionals pay a tuition fee that is shared between BOULD and the AHB, making “green” affordable and accessible for all.

LEED Gold seeking home and partner family, built by Fort Collins Habitat for Humanity

Take one of our recent partnerships: the Howard family home, built by Fort Collins (Colorado) Habitat for Humanity. This home is currently under review for LEED Platinum certification and annually, will save the homeowners 40% on utility bills and reduce carbon emissions by 10 tons. Not to mention, the project itself was a living laboratory, where nine local professionals learned LEED by applying LEED – and are now qualified for LEED accreditation.

Since our launch, we’ve been blessed with uncommon success, with programming now running in Colorado, Michigan, Alabama, and North Carolina,with many more locations going live this year. Now, our uncommon pattern is transitioning to an "unreasonable" one, as we compete with other social enterprises to earn new resources and support for BOULD through the Unreasonable Institute.

One thing is for sure: As green builders, sustainability enthusiasts, or Emerging Professionals, we have incredible power to spread our message, even if it's on an unconventional path. How will you harness it?

Congressional Members Introduce Building Efficiency Measure

noreply@blogger.com (USGBC) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:16:00 +0000

Bryan Howard
Legislative Director
U.S. Green Building Council

Yesterday, Representative Charles Bass (NH) and Representative Jim Matheson (UT) introduced bipartisan legislation that deploy energy efficiency programs across many sectors of the built environment.

H.R. 4017, “The Smart Energy Act,” picks up on the bipartisan work of Senators Jeanne Shaheen (NH) and Rob Portman (OH), by enhancing financing options for building efficiency at the Department of Energy (DOE), as well as boosting energy conservation within the federal government by expanding the use of private financing tools to pay for energy-efficient building upgrades and consolidating federal energy data centers.

In a statement, Congressman Bass helped demonstrate the need for action to advance energy efficiency by saying:

"The federal government spends $7 billion annually to heat, cool, and operate its 445,000 buildings. Given our nation's fiscal constraints, a common-sense place to save taxpayer dollars is by improving the energy efficiency of the hundreds of thousands of federal buildings across the country."

In a letter to the sponsors, USGBC Vice President of National Policy Jason Hartke applauded the introduction of the bill, saying:

“Programs like these offer significant opportunities to leverage private financing to deliver real utility savings to school districts, municipal governments and expand investment opportunities for private commercial real-estate.”

While this bill is far from being sent to the President for his signature, the introduction of this bipartisan legislation is an important first step in the process of increasing our nation's energy efficiency.

Senate Efficiency Champions Advance Elements of Recent USGBC Report

noreply@blogger.com (USGBC) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:13:00 +0000

Bryan Howard
Legislative Director
U.S. Green Building Council

As members of the House and Senate tax writing committees continue to negotiate over the extension payroll tax cut and other tax incentives, six senators of the Senate Finance Committee, spearheaded by Olympia Snowe (ME) and Jeff Bingaman (NM) sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Acting Director Department of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Jeffrey Zients urging them to advance policies to improve energy efficiency and continue to support clean energy incentives.

Specifically, the letter calls on Treasury and OMB to improve the guidance on the 179D Energy Efficient Commercial Building Tax Deduction.

“…as authors of the Energy Efficient Commercial Building Deduction (U.S.C 179D) we support the Administration’s Better Building Initiative to reduce energy consumption in the commercial building sector. Consistent with the President’s announcement on December 1, 2011, we encourage the Administration to issue guidance for partial deduction pathways for the building envelope as well as the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system. In addition, we strongly support the effort to simplify the 179D tax deduction, especially for existing buildings, and look forward to working with you in this effort.

For the second time in two years, the U.S. Green Building Council has convened a diverse group of 15 businesses and organizations to help develop a series of green building policy recommendations that could be achieved via executive action. The report, Better Buildings through Executive Action, includes a recommendation on updating guidance on the use of Section 179D, the deduction for investment in energy efficient commercial buildings

“To encourage uptake of the partial deduction outside of lighting upgrades, IRS/DOE should issue guidance that avoids expensive performance modeling but rather instructs which particular pieces of high-efficiency heating, cooling, and building envelope materials and equipment should be installed that would meet existing savings targets already announced for those systems.”

We are happy these recommendations are being reviewed by policy makers throughout the federal government and hope that the Department of Treasury acts on this important recommendation since they have firsthand knowledge that green building sits at the nexus of saving people money, saving energy and creating jobs.

For more information on 179D, read our post "Encouraging Energy Efficiency: A Tax Fix Everyone Can Get Behind"

Who’s Benefitting from Project Haiti?

noreply@blogger.com (USGBC) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 22:47:00 +0000

Marisa Long
External Relations Manager
U.S. Green Building Council

As part of the USGBC community, you’ve been introduced to Project Haiti over the past year. You’ve heard us talk about rebuilding this orphanage and children’s center in Port-au-Prince that was destroyed in the earthquake that devastated the region just over two years ago.

You know that Project Haiti is set to achieve LEED Platinum and the impact that will have – from creating jobs and teaching local Haitians how to “build back better” to providing a resilient model for rebuilding that all countries can learn from and replicate. As Roger Limoges, Project Haiti lead and vice president of organizational development at USGBC says, “If we can build LEED Platinum in Haiti, we can do it anywhere.” Project Haiti is a powerful symbol of what’s possible in the green building movement and its impact will be vast.

Marisa Long with children at the Crèche at Lamardelle

But it’s of course more than that. What you haven’t heard us talk much about is Fondation Enfant Jesus (FEJ), the beneficiaries of Project Haiti. It wasn’t until last week, when I traveled to Haiti myself, met the amazing people from FEJ and spent time with the children and staff at their facilities, that I fully understood the impact this project will have on FEJ and the communities it unselfishly serves.

Traveling with Roger and HOK’s lead architect on the project, Thomas Knittel, I spent time with our wonderful hosts Gina and Lucien Duncan, founders of FEJ, a couple who has dedicated their lives to humanitarian work and creating a future for Haitian families. Gina describes FEJ’s work best when she says, “we are creating a model to educate entire communities, especially women and children, to create a change in the culture and to break the cycle of poverty.”

USGBC's Marisa Long and Roger Limoges

This is a model that began more than 25 years ago when Lucien’s mother – Lucienne Duncan, best known as “Manmie” – opened a non-denominational church in Lamardelle, a small village community on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. A school opened a few years later, followed by a clean water drinking program, electricity generation, agriculture programs, a healthcare clinic and education on health, hygiene, nutrition and finance for the community population of 20,000.

After several years, Gina and Lucien Duncan founded Fondation Enfant Jesus as a way to build upon and expand the services at Lamardelle, create additional humanitarian programs in other locations and to begin operating orphanages, also known in Haiti as “crèches,” in Lamardelle and Kenscoff as well as a crèche in Port-au-Prince, the one that was completely destroyed by the earthquake. FEJ is one of Haiti’s most respected foundations, and the Duncan’s are proud of its impeccable reputation for how they handle adoptions. Gina is quick to note that “FEJ finds parents for children, not children for parents.” In a country plagued with children in need of loving homes, putting the young ones’ well being and emotional needs first has been her mission.

I had the opportunity to stay at the Kenscoff crèche, which is located high up in the mountains of Haiti, accessible only by a long, winding road that’s paved intermittently near the top and takes nearly two hours to get to from Port-au-Prince. There are about 35 children at this location, ranging from two-months to around 10 years old. The caregivers are wonderful, and the kids are amazing, but it was an emotional experience as several of the younger children raised their arms in competition to be embraced from the moment we arrived. I was reassured to learn that most of the Kenscoff children have been adopted and are going through a transition process. The children at the Lamardelle location have a future more uncertain, but after being orphaned and abandoned, and far too often handicapped, sick or malnourished, they are finally in a caring and safe environment thanks to FEJ.

Marisa Long with more children from the Crèche at Kenscoff

By rebuilding the Port-au-Prince location into a brand new LEED facility, Project Haiti doesn’t just become a victory for the green building movement. This building is providing new hope and resources to FEJ and the Haitian community, ensuring many more families can be helped through FEJ’s services. Perhaps the most important element of Project Haiti is that through your support, the rebuilt Orphanage & Children’s Center in Port-au-Prince will take the burden of rebuilding off of FEJ, allowing them to focus on what they do best – improving communities, educating women and finding homes for the children who need them most.

We need your continued support, as we are about $250,000 shy of our $1 million goal to complete this project. Please visit www.usgbc.org/haiti and make your contribution today.

To view more photos from Haiti, please visit our Facebook page

House Bill Puts Transportation Programs in Reverse

noreply@blogger.com (USGBC) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:49:00 +0000

Bryan Howard
Legislative Director
U.S. Green Building Council

Next week, the House is expected to debate H.R. 7 “American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act.” The bill is the long awaited legislative product to reauthorize a number of federal highway, transit, rail, planning, trail and other programs. Unfortunately, H.R. 7 doesn’t look to be long term solution to our nation’s surface transportation problems.

H.R. 7 provides roughly $260 billion over five years for transportation needs including roads and bridges, bus and rail, and other programs. Regrettably, the proposal removes the small funds from transit in the motor fuel tax and redirects it into highway spending. This means that projects to support or expand bus, light rail and other transit efforts would no longer have a predictable funding source. Projects like these would be subject to yearly funding battles in the appropriations process that would pit programs against each other for funds. This is a sad development that would likely yield minimal investment in modes of transportation that help to ease congestion on our already crowded streets.

Congressman Earl Blumenauer with the USGBC staff and the board of directors at the Capitol Visitor Center in 2010

USGBC joined more than 75 national organizations — including the Transportation for America, the American Public Transportation Association, American Society of Civil Engineers, and the National Association of Counties— and a list of other individuals and state & local groups urging the House Ways and Means Committee to reject policies that would undermine investment in transit programs, but unfortunately this effort largely fell on deaf ears.

Transit advocate Congressman Earl Blumenauer (OR) summed up the bill with pinpoint accuracy. “Rather than taking a serious approach to strengthening our transportation system, this bill will make it more difficult for local communities to have the flexibility and support necessary to build and maintain transportation systems that serve all of their citizens, to offer transportation choices, and to encourage economic development.”

For more information on how to voice your concerns click here.

Obama Budget Charts Bold Course for Green Building Priorities

noreply@blogger.com (USGBC) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:09:00 +0000

Bryan Howard
Legislative Director
U.S. Green Building Council

On Monday, President Obama released an ambitious $3.8 trillion budget for fiscal year 2013 that seeks to pump billions of dollars into the economy through clean energy and infrastructure improvements, while seeking to eliminate existing incentives for oil and gas and ending tax cuts for those making more than $250,000.

As part of the Better Buildings Initiative, a 10-year initiative to make non-residential build¬ings 20 percent more energy efficient, the budget aims to re-design the cur¬rent tax deduction for commercial buildings 179D to a credit, and change the eligibility program to cover other taxable entities such as real estate investment trusts (REITS). This budget proposal mirrors a 2012 request made by the Obama Administration, which has yet to get traction on the hill. USGBC has been working with others in the real estate and environmental community to advance solutions to improve the existing 179D so it is encouraging that the Administration continues to show support for improving the deduction.

The budget also includes billions of dollars to modernize at least 35,000 schools across the country, including energy-efficiency upgrades and comprehensive, green retrofits. This proposal was included in the President’s American Jobs Act last year but has yet to be considered by Congress.
Some additional highlights include:

Approximately $100 million increase for the Building Technologies Program at the Department of Energy (DOE). The program accelerates innovative, efficient building technologies and practices through applied research and development, and advances the use of energy-efficient and technologies and practices in residential and commercial buildings
A $10 million increase for the Energy Information Administration (EIA) at DOE. EIA is the home of consumption surveys such as the Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) and the Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS), which is specifically charged with revitalizing the energy consumption data program to include benchmarking and performance measurement of energy efficiency
A $50 million increase at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for the Choice Neighborhoods/HOPE VI program, which leverages private sector dollars to transform existing blighted public housing into vibrant and livable communities

While it isn’t all good new and it is too early to know how Congress will act on the budget, it’s good to see that there is an effort to rebuild our communities and our economy while making long-term investments in innovation and infrastructure in core 21st century technologies.

Project Haiti IV

noreply@blogger.com (USGBC) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 22:30:00 +0000

Sally Gimbert
Structural Engineering Technician
HOK

This entry was cross-posted from MetropolisMag.com.

USGBC's close collaborators in Project Haiti, global architectural firm HOK, have published a series of blog entries on their efforts to design the first LEED Platinum orphanage and children's center in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Their pro-bono design efforts have been met with great enthusiasm, but also unique challenges. Read more about the design process for Project Haiti on HOKlife.com.

Early in the Project Haiti process, our team decided to meet the design requirements of the ICC 2009 International Building Code—also encouraged by the Haitian government for new construction since the 2010 earthquake. We were already familiar with the code and so we believed it would provide the best opportunity to create excellent design. Selecting a code was also a means by which we could ensure the safety of occupants.

HOK has never worked in Haiti before. Our partner, the U.S. Green Building Council, is focused on adapting to a new global perspective in sustainable design. These two factors made for a project with unique challenges. And, we knew at the outset that we’d have difficulty following codes written for consumer-based, resource-rich nations.

Amidst the chaos in the earthquake’s aftermath, an underlying sense of self-enforced order supports the Haitian desire to own and operate at a Western standard. They, too, are looking to build fiscally sound, structurally stable, and economically progressive projects. The difficulty? Haiti has very little infrastructure to support these goals. As we work with the code here, three items continually demand our attention: constantly checking on the realistic cost of building to code, developing an educated workforce to achieve code-compliant design, and the acquisition of materials in a resource-poor country.

The residential streets of Port-au-Prince. (image courtesy of HOK).

It is easy to make assumptions about infrastructure in the U.S. An engineer working in St Louis, for instance, can have confidence that when she/he specifies a high-strength structural bolt, it will be available domestically, with little to no lead time, and at a reasonable price – all saving time and money while easily meeting the code. This is not the case in Haiti. Port-au-Prince only recently acquired such basic things as garbage trucks – a welcome site for residents living on streets lined with goat-eaten trash and building debris.
How can our design team ethically move forward, given these circumstances? Do we scrap the code because construction costs too much? Should we assess the design by what we feel is good professional judgment? The answer is, clearly, No. The lack of local code is exactly why Haiti is in “rubble trouble” and why it continues to struggle to improve.

One big factor to influence the success of building in Haiti is the education of the local workforce. I, we, understand that time costs us money. In Haiti, time costs us people. After visiting the site in Port-au-Prince, we understood that we were not only designing a building but also needed to seriously consider the construction process and how to train the workers to assemble the building to code. Daily on site instruction for the workers would be required to ensure correct detailing and erection methods are performed. The dire need for shelter, for good buildings to be built, is subverted by the daily patterns of Port-au-Prince: Workers will quickly move on to look for new work, whenever there’s a delay on a construction. This leaves us with the possibility of losing an entire set of newly trained individuals and the need for constant supervision, since workers will almost never move past an intermediate skillset. Under these circumstances construction is slow, time-ridden, and constantly at threat for error.

Satellite image of the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic showing the severity of deforestation. (image courtesy of www.thefullwiki.org/Haiti)

Our greatest challenge has been identifying material sources that meet structural and fire protection codes and can be sustainably harvested. Obviously, importing materials is counterproductive to providing a sustaining and financially resourceful economy for Haiti. We want our design to reflect Haitian culture and emphasize the use of locally available materials and industries that can support the growth of a skillful local economy.

Unfortunately, misdirected socioeconomic policies have depleted Haiti of wood, its most structurally sound and locally-available material. When available, it’s a highly sought-after commodity, liken it to gold. There is absolutely no control over its growth or use. If we wanted to use wood, we would need to import it – an expense Haitians can rarely afford. Surprisingly, rebar is not much better. It is used – old and new alike – for concrete construction and repair. Its condition for use, whether rusted, ribbed or smooth, is irrelevant because the Haitian construction worker lacks the knowledge to identify good, workable rebar for reinforcement.

Failed columns showing little reinforcement that once supported the parking structure at the famous Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince. (image courtesy of HOK)

A promising material in Haiti is bamboo. It is beautifully finished, easy to build with, generously strong in tension, and rapidly renewable. At this time, there exist no technical studies on the structural properties of the particular bamboo species currently found in Haiti. We would like to move through an ICC-approved testing process to understand the material’s properties, specifically for this species. However, the project’s quick timeframe and the cost and logistics of this effort outweigh the benefits of using the species in any sort of structural manner.

The inability to use fly ash is another example of how meeting our standards is proving difficult. Using the waste product as a low embodied energy cement substitute in concrete is arguably one of the most common sustainable structural strategies in the U.S. To date, we have not found a supplier of fly ash in Haiti. We are exploring the possibility of using burnt rice husks, but like bamboo, the process of acquiring and controlling the quality of this substitute is a logistically challenging, time-dependent – and therefore expensive – strategy.

Concrete and quality blockwork seem to be the solution, but they present problems of their own.

As a material, concrete brings with it fear since so many people perished under its weight in 2010. In addition to the weigh of the concrete, the collapse had to do with the way the material was reinforced, if at all. In some ways, enforcing a code can prove to be an education about the means and methods of construction. While in Haiti rebar is used, there is little understanding about why it is placed and where it should be correctly located to increase the strength and ductility of the concrete, or the masonry, not just as a material but as a structural system. We continue to explore code-compliant ways to use the concrete rubble, now a bountiful resource.

Gabion walls? Yes, but with caution. The culture’s voodoo frowns on using materials taken from a structure where someone has perished. Crushed cement powder for new concrete? In some circumstances, this may be acceptable. It’s been widely suggested that in order to crush and recycle rubble for re-use in new concrete, one must first determine the level of impurities in the old concrete to assess the strength of the new concrete. Certainly, one can assume the concrete is low in strength with impurities; however, in our case, this mix would most likely not support our three-story building listed under Seismic Category D and classified as a life-saving structure.

Making of low-strength blockwork on the streets of Port-au-Prince. (image courtesy of HOK)

Our standards are written as guidance in the pursuit of good design, and good design surely does not discriminate, right? It seems unjust that it should be so difficult to provide quality construction in Haiti. For Haitians the saying, “dye mon, gen mon,” reflects their perseverance, no matter that “beyond the mountain is another mountain.” Similarly, Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing, unless it means effort, pain, difficulty.” And so we move forward with creativity and a sense of humility, for the higher purpose of making something good for Haiti.

Sally Gimbert, LEED AP BD+C, is a structural design technician at HOK, where she is active in the leadership of HOK IMPACT, HOK’s firm-wide social responsibility program. She is a member of ASCE’s Structural Engineering Institute Sustainability Committee with interest in LCA and disaster resilient design strategies. Australian-born, Sal graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a professional B.A. degree in architecture and an M.S. in architectural engineering, focusing in structures. She led the 2007 Penn State team to a fourth-place finish in NREL’s International Solar Decathlon.

Self-Reliance Becomes a Movement

noreply@blogger.com (USGBC) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:51:00 +0000

Rick Fedrizzi
President, CEO & Founding Chairman
U.S. Green Building Council

Read Rick's entry on Huff Post Green.

By now, most of you know the cautionary tale of the old railroad barons, those filthy rich guys who, nearly a century ago, made the tragic mistake of thinking they were in the business of trains. Can you imagine how things might have gone differently for those complacent and ridiculously misguided yahoos had they realized they were actually in the people-moving business?

That's why I continue to get frustrated when people try to put narrow, self-important labels on our green building movement. Unlike the train business of 100 years ago, our movement is not self-defining. It is not limited in scope. And it is not linear.
Despite what you read to the contrary, our movement is not just about energy efficiency or improved bottom (and top) lines. Nor is it just about those horribly overused and hopelessly devalued phrases such as climate change, or conservation, or resource management. Hell, in the strictest sense, it is not even just about natural resources.

Every one of those phrases and a thousand others try to put our movement into a neat little box: A box that's way too limiting, way too narrowly defined, and way too small in scope. Not to mention way too politically polarizing.

What the green building movement really is is a people-protecting movement. A life-enhancing movement. That's something so much bigger, something this country once had in spades. It's a collective spirit we've somehow let slip through our fingers as we've continued to grow, to urbanize, and to compartmentalize our problems and their small solutions. America desperately needs to rekindle that spirit again.

That rekindling -- that's what the green building movement is about: Green building the "noun," to be sure. But maybe more importantly, the collaborative, people-centric act of green building as a "VERB."

A few generations ago, before we discovered such things as credit cards and floating debt, our parents, grandparents and those who came before us were remarkably resourceful people who worked with their hands, who helped their neighbors, and who didn't believe in wasting anything of value.

They were people who taught themselves and their children to do a little bit of everything because that's what it took to get by, and because that's what allowed them to use their hard-earned money on the more important things in life. Like a future.

Green building is not just about conserving resources, or recycling, or achieving Platinum certification. Rather, it's the universal ideals of independence and interdependence, of self-reliance and self-less collaboration that are at the core of our movement, and that have attracted such incredible support. From all professions and walks of life, from men and women all across the political spectrum, from the young and the old, from places up and down the economic food chain: People want to be part of our movement.

Because the things we are fighting for and believe in are not fueled by politics, nor are they vulnerable to political rhetoric. They are the things that will make this country stronger and better, and they lay the groundwork for a present that nurtures us and a future that honors the generations yet to come. That's the movement we should all be signed up for.

Making Benchmarking Mainstream

noreply@blogger.com (USGBC) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:12:00 +0000

Matt Pearce
Campaign Specialist
U.S. Green Building Council

In January, USGBC launched its second advocacy campaign of 2012, Mainstream Benchmarking. Through this campaign we will advocate for policies that will bring the benefits of energy benchmarking to all commercial buildings.

So why benchmarking? Why now?

The answer is simple. The green building movement has made many technologies and processes standard practice by building new LEED buildings and by retrofitting existing buildings; however, many spaces are not considered energy efficient. There are low and no cost opportunities to stop this energy waste still abound.

Benchmarking is the process of quantifying a building’s energy consumption and comparing it to a standard to see how it is performing. The process shows whether or not a building is using too much energy comparatively or if it is a leader in energy performance. Without benchmarking, those low and no-cost opportunities to save energy will never be found. We have the free tools available to start making benchmarking part of standard building operation.

That’s why we are asking our advocates to start a conversation in their area about benchmarking. Many leading cities have launched benchmarking initiatives, and are already beginning to reap the benefits. In the past few years, several local and state governments currently have codified benchmarking policies. Momentum around benchmarking is growing.

One example is New York City. The Urban Green Council worked closely with the Mayor’s office and the commercial real estate industry to help iron out the details of Local Law 84 requiring benchmarking and disclosure of energy use in New York City’s commercial buildings. This law is a cornerstone of PlanNYC and is a great example of how USGBC advocates can work with local governments to effect positive change through education, advocacy, and support. Visit Urban Green’s benchmarking site for more information and check out the benchmarking section of their blog.

The Mainstream Benchmarking campaign comes on the heels of USGBC’s first campaign roll out of 2012 – Leadership with LEED. Both campaigns highlight the leadership roles policymakers play in promoting better building practices. On one side, governments can adopt policies that ensure all public buildings are designed to be more efficient, saving taxpayer dollars. On the other, governments can push commercial buildings to benchmark so that energy waste is eliminated.

Check back for updates on our residential advocacy efforts through the Highlight Green Homes Campaign, next to be unveiled. To find out more about these and all our 2012 campaigns, visit www.usgbc.org/campaigns. As always, if you want to get involved in USGBC advocacy, let me know.

UN Panel Names Cities as a Vehicle for Sustainable Development

noreply@blogger.com (USGBC) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:33:00 +0000

Maggie Comstock
Associate, Policy
U.S. Green Building Council

Last week, the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability released a report of recommended outcomes for the Rio+20 conference in June. The report, Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing, outlines both long- and short-term goals for governments, civil society and the private sector. These recommendations address all facets of resiliency, including climatic, economic and social. Below are a few of the UN Panel’s key recommendations that align with the goals of sustainable communities, many of which are already being addressed by the green building industry.

“Cities and local communities have a major role to play in advancing a real sustainable development agenda on the ground.”

As we already know, cities are a key to the success of the sustainable development agenda. Cities have the political will and flexibility to implement development goals more easily and quickly than national governments. Cities also have greater influence over the construction of buildings and infrastructure within their borders and can aid or incentivize the use of sustainable strategies. Past experience will also show that cities are leading the way by implementing innovative policies. See the World Green Building Council’s Government Leadership Awards publication for case studies of the leading green building policies in the world.

“Many argue that if it cannot be measured, it cannot be managed. The international community should measure development beyond gross domestic product (GDP) and develop a new sustainable development index or set of indicators.”

Countless organizations are dedicated to developing sustainability indicators. For example, the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Green Building Rating System has been implemented in over 120 countries and promotes a sustainable built environment through five credit categories that addresses different aspects of sustainability—site selection, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources and indoor environmental quality. Other programs around the world are advancing the benefits of energy and resource efficient buildings. The World Bank’s Tool for Rapid Assessment of City Energy (TRACE) offers measurement tools for each sector that contributes to a sustainable city, including transport, buildings, public lighting, water and wastewater, power and heating, and solid waste. These indicators allow cities to pursue energy efficiency strategies which reduce costs and contribute to climate change mitigation goals.

“Governments should adopt and advance “green jobs” and decent work policies as a priority in their budgets and sustainable development strategies while creating conditions for new jobs in the private sector.”

An additional benefit of green buildings and sustainable cities is the creation of adequate, long-term jobs, which improve quality of life and support a resilient economy. This goal can be met through investments in clean technologies and infrastructure construction. The maintenance of these strategies provides stable employment and enables cities and countries to remain competitive within a globalized economy.

The UN panel’s recommendations for Rio+20 outline specific and tangible steps for meeting the conference’s goals of sustainable development and the amplification of the green economy. Cities are instrumental to the implementation of these strategies, but require financial and technical assistance. All sectors are thus called to action to increase investments in capacity building, green infrastructure and sustainable energy.

The green building industry is paving the way toward meeting the UN’s sustainable development goals. Through international cooperation in Rio, we will be a major step closer to our shared goals of a healthy planet for future generations.

While Pundits Debate Green Jobs, We’re Busy Putting America Back to Work

noreply@blogger.com (USGBC) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:54:00 +0000

Maggie Comstock
Associate, Policy
U.S. Green Building Council

Even though I live in D.C., I often wonder, “What is Congress even fighting over?” It seems like everyone else in the country is asking the same question. This is especially true when our elected officials endlessly debate “jobs.” Aren’t jobs universally supported? Why would anyone be against putting Americans back to work, especially in the industries we know we need to remain competitive? How can everything simultaneously “create millions of jobs” and still be a “job killer”?

In a perfect example of the type of debate I find so confusing, Gregory Korte’s USA Today article explains that House Republicans are expanding their investigations into the Administration’s job programs. They are decrying these programs by pointing to the Department of Labor’s audit results showing that training and job creation numbers are short of their goals as justification to pull the plug.

The Assistant Secretary of Labor, Jane Oates, defends the President’s job program, saying that the numbers used in the audit were out of date and that the program was never designed to yield immediate results. She continues, "It's like coming to me three days after I join Weight Watchers and yelling at me because I didn't lose 62 pounds yet."

The news surrounding green jobs isn’t entirely negative. Reuters found that one of these jobs programs, the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) created the second highest number of jobs among Recovery Act programs. By December 2011, the weatherization program had completed 600,000 upgrades, a target met three months ahead of schedule. In addition to jobs and the stimulation of local economies, it is estimated that these 6000,000 homes saved more than $320 million in energy costs in the first year!

Now, let’s return to the unwarranted argument against green jobs programs, and claims that they are not creating enough jobs fast enough. Anything that is too good to be true usually is. If the President’s jobs creation program immediately yielded an astronomical number of jobs, the numbers would likely be unsustainable. We’re looking for long-term, stable employment, not a jobs “bubble.” Contrary to naysayers’ claims, green jobs investment programs are on target and should not be abandoned. Congress needs to stand up for jobs, technology and innovation by facilitating investments in energy efficiency, clean energy and green buildings.

Army to Congress: LEED Doesn’t Cost More

noreply@blogger.com (USGBC) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:06:00 +0000

Note: This blog was cross-posted from BuildingGreen.com

The Army is still going for Gold and Platinum despite recent legislation calling a halt to LEED spending.

The federal government has been one of the biggest supporters of LEED certification in the last few years, with the General Services Administration (GSA) requiring basic LEED certification for all federal buildings starting in 2003 and then upping that requirement to LEED Gold in 2010.

The military has been on the cutting edge of green building from the beginning. The Navy adopted sustainable design principles before LEED even existed, as we reported way back in 1998. The Army embraced LEED in 2006 and recently began the much more radical work of moving all its installations to net-zero energy, water, and waste. As Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the Army for installations, energy, and the environment, put it to EBN earlier this year, "Energy security is mission critical."

Fort Carson is piloting net-zero energy, water,
and waste--and expects to meet that target by 2020.

It doesn't cost more

We feared that might all change when we saw that the most recent military appropriations legislation requires explicit justification for any spending on LEED above the Silver level. What's worse, this decision pretends to be about money but appears to have been made over certified wood credits. (Watch this space for in-depth coverage of the "wood wars" in coming weeks.)

Hammack is having none of it. In a call with reporters yesterday, she reiterated the Army's commitment to net-zero and LEED and gave an update about some of the progress that's already been made. "We're finding it does not cost more to design and construct to LEED" standards, Hammack said.

Read the full article on BuildingGreen.com »

DVGBC Rocks the House!

noreply@blogger.com (USGBC) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:20:00 +0000

Natalie Beckwith
Membership & Outreach Director
Delaware Valley Green Building Council (DVGBC)

On Jan. 25, members of the three USGBC Chapters in PA (Delaware Valley Green Building Council, Green Building Alliance and USGBC Central PA) went to Harrisburg for Advocacy Day. While we were there, members spoke to their representatives about green building and green schools, with a focus on House Bill 193, an act requiring state-owned buildings to comply with energy and environmental standards. Five schools from around the Commonwealth displayed green schools information in the rotunda.

The day was a smashing success. House Bill 193 was approved in the House the next day by a vote of 170-18, helping to cut energy and water use, reduce air and global warming pollution, make our public employees more productive and save taxpayers money too!

Two legislators, on the fence before our meetings, voted in favor of the bill.

After the day, we got great reviews from Pennsylvania Representatives. Representative Todd Stephens wrote: "thanks for taking the time to meet with me to educate me on your initiative. Congrats on passage of the bill too!" And Representative Justin Simmons wrote: "HB 193 passed the House today. I voted in favor. Thank you for meeting with me yesterday."

USGBC South Carolina Greens Veterans’ Homes With Energy Efficient Homes for Heroes Program

noreply@blogger.com (USGBC) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:42:00 +0000

Energy Conservation Corps members pose with Leon McFaddin and Melissa Le Roy in front of Mr. McFaddin’s weatherized home.

By engaging Mr. McFaddin and local citizens, the Energy Efficient Homes for Heroes program educated the homeowner and other community stakeholders on the benefits of energy efficiency and its role in sustainable living.

To learn how to get involved with Energy Efficient Homes for Heroes or start a similar program in your region, contact Melissa Le Roy, USGBC-SC Executive Director, at (843) 329-3121 or execdir [at] usgbcsc.org.

USGBC South Carolina Greens Veterans’ Homes With Energy Efficient Homes for Heroes Program

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Easton) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:24:00 +0000

Melissa Le Roy
Executive Director
USGBC South Carolina Chapter

This fall, USGBC South Carolina launched Energy Efficient Homes for Heroes, a community engagement program that aims to reduce energy demand in the homes of local veterans through weatherization. In households where utilities account for three percent of monthly income, improved insulation means significant reductions in heating and cooling costs.

In the program’s first endeavor, USGBC-SC partnered with the Sustainability Institute, University of South Carolina Service Day volunteers and Energy Conservation Corps to green the home of Vietnam veteran Leon McFaddin in Columbia, SC. Supported by Lowe’s Home Improvement, the weatherization will provide a projected annual savings of $480.

By engaging Mr. McFaddin and local citizens, the Energy Efficient Homes for Heroes program educated the homeowner and other community stakeholders on the benefits of energy efficiency and its role in sustainable living.

To learn how to get involved with Energy Efficient Homes for Heroes or start a similar program in your region, contact Melissa Le Roy, USGBC-SC Executive Director, at (843) 329-3121 or execdir [at] usgbcsc.org.

Leading with LEED

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Easton) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:31:00 +0000

Matt Pearce
Campaign Specialist
U.S. Green Building Council

Earlier this month, USGBC launched its first of seven 2012 advocacy campaigns initiatives. The aim of the kick-off Leadership with LEED campaign is to grow green building and expand the use of LEED.

Why?

Shouldn't all government buildings, funded with taxpayer money, be built or retrofitted to a higher standard? Aren't buildings that are less costly to operate, longer lasting, and beneficial to the communities in which they're located a priority?

We sure think so, and we believe the best tool for the job is LEED. While building green helps advance the conversation, LEED is the tool understood by the market place and the building industry. That is why Leadership with LEED is the vanguard campaign of USGBC's 2012 advocacy agenda. With the simple purpose of making green buildings the market norm, the campaign was unveiled with a clear set of campaign priorities, specific policy proposals and legislative asks.

Through this campaign, USGBC advocates will receive strategic resources, materials and support to advance the conversation about LEED in city halls, state houses, and with federal representatives. Government plays a tremendous role in encouraging leadership, by creating incentives for private sector development, implementing speedier zoning regulations, or committing to LEED in public buildings.

Many cities, states and agencies in the federal government already realize the benefits of LEED-certified buildings: Currently, 34 states and over 400 municipal governments have embraced the benefits of building green. While this is no doubt impressive, there is still work to do. Decision makers across the country, at every level, need to be educated and asked to be a leader with LEED by advancing green building policies that work with their specific locality.

Look for more information on the USGBC blog about current and forthcoming campaigns, covering everything from green schools to affordable housing - and join in the effort to advance green building in your area today. Contact one of USGBC's 79 local chapters across the country to get involved, or contact me to get updates about the issues and campaigns we will be working on in 2012.

From Devastation to Development: How Cincinnati is Working to Change the Haiti Conversation

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Easton) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:14:00 +0000

Myron J. Rivers
Executive Director
USGBC Cincinnati Regional Chapter

There are certain times and events throughout history that can be described with one word or phrase and require no further explanation. These words instantly evoke a deep sense of meaning, knowledge and even emotion. Words and phrases like: Challenger space shuttle, 9/11 and Columbine all bring to mind catastrophic events that have unfolded right before our eyes. Another word that stirs the emotions of many is Haiti.

As you know, two years ago this month, Haiti was ravaged by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake 25 miles west of Port Au Prince. This earthquake left in its wake more than 300,000 dead and one million homeless. There are reports that more than 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings were destroyed by the earthquake and numerous after-shocks in the days and weeks following. This single event has taken so much from this small Caribbean country and left greater amounts of poverty and despair.

When USGBC launched Project Haiti, the USGBC Cincinnati Regional Chapter, led by our emerging professionals, pledged to raise $50,000 to help with the rebuilding of this orphanage. Their dedication has led to a collaboration with former NFL player, Dhani Jones, and his organization, Bowtie for a Cause. Bowtie for a Cause provides an avenue for others to support a cause they believe in, and a unique bowtie has been created for Project Haiti that our chapter is selling with all proceeds going toward Project Haiti.

In addition, there is a local healthcare construction summit that attracts more than 500 attendees annually, and the organizers of the summit have agreed to charge a donation fee of $10 from this normally free event to benefit Project Haiti. This project has fostered the creativity of our Emerging Professionals who volunteered their time to wrap gifts over the holidays at a retail outlet to raise additional funds. These are just a few ways that the members of our chapter are reaching out and getting the larger community involved in our efforts.

Our hope is that Project Haiti will have transformative value in Port-au-Prince AND Cincinnati! Our energies have already attracted the help of many supporters, from professional athletes and local politicians to friends and family. For the first time, we are having conversations not only about the good that will come from Project Haiti, but how we can implement LEED in greater practice in our own city. LEED is a great tool in lessening our negative impact on the environment, and those of us in the industry understand the life-long benefits that sustainable buildings have on people and our communities. For those outside of the green building community, these conversations are not regularly found and at times harder to convey.

We don’t want to go at this alone. We are encouraging the green building community across the country to consider ways to get involved to raise money For Project Haiti. If you haven’t already, I urge you learn more about the project and follow that knowledge up with action.

If we all act and do our part, it’s not too late to change the feelings and meaning surrounding the word Haiti from devastation to development and from impossible to triumphant. We have the ability to make Haiti the face of sustainable design and green buildings and to forever change the way our communities and the world look at LEED.

Do your part AND someone else’s. GET INVOLVED TODAY!

Chicago Can Share Best Practices for a Green Economy

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Easton) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:42:00 +0000

Doug Widener
Executive Director
USGBC Illinois Chapter

Rio +20 presents an opportunity for cities to listen, learn, and forge pathways for a more sustainable built environment

Chicago: Home of the Cubs, the Blues Brothers, deep-dish pizza, and more LEED-certified municipal buildings than any other city in the U.S.(Not to mention Chicago ranks #1 in total square footage of LEED space, and the entire state of Illinois ranks third in the country on a per-capita basis).

Surprised? Chicago is known internationally for its iconic culinary delights, arts, culture and landmarks; less so for its leadership in sustainability. This week, I joined a group of businesses and city officials in an effort to change all that - because when it comes to talking about the Green Economy, Chicago has a lot to say.

The USGBC Illinois Chapter partnered with USGBC, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD) to host a forum “Exploring the Role Cities and Buildings in the Green Economy” – one event in the series Road to Rio +20. The goal of this collaboration is twofold: To share with global citizens models of success and to underscore the economy-wide benefits of pursuing green building strategies as the world gathers this June at Rio +20 to chart a new pathway for the environment.

As we heard from Chicago’s Chief Sustainability Officer Karen Weigert, Chicago has an ambitious Climate Action Plan that outlines a path toward economic and environmental sustainability. Improving the energy efficiency of our buildings and our transportation system are two of the major strategies for achieving the Plan’s goal of reducing emissions by 25% below 1990 levels and creating 25,000 jobs by the year 2020, combined with smart grid technology, green roofs, and renewable energy supply.

In large part due to the leadership of the Public Building Commission (PBC), the Chicago government is setting an example through its own commitment to green new and existing city buildings. The PBC currently has 72 LEED-certified or registered projects, and is also embarking on a multi-agency procurement program for Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) which has the potential to save $9 million in energy cost savings over a 15 year period per building – all with no up front costs to the taxpayer.

Chicago is displaying exactly the type of government leadership we need in order to make the transition to a Green Economy. USGBC-Illinois and our network of leaders in the business community are supporting implementation and continuing to drive best practices in green building and city planning. Rio +20 represents an opportunity for Chicago and other cities to share our success stories and our obstacles and to learn from one another, in order to drive transformation faster and further.

At our Road to Rio +20 Event, we also asked stakeholders to consider barriers to achieving more resource-efficient building and cities and the types of policies and partnerships that could be forged in Rio to overcome them. Here are some things we heard:

Programs and activities to raise awareness and advance education about the benefits of green, energy-efficient buildings are desperately needed to address market barriers.
Governments could consider building-sector targets as part of their Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as committing to develop a certain number of LEED for Neighborhood Development projects by 2020, or, taking on the 2030 Challenge.
More discussion is needed on standardizing metrics-- global goals must respect there is no “one size fits all” approach, yet we must measure, monitor, and verify across all stages in the building life cycle in order to truly realize the benefits of green building.

These are a just a few ideas from Chicago on the Road to Rio +20 – what are yours?

An America Built to Last: The Five Wins for Green Buildings in the SOTU

noreply@blogger.com (USGBC) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:50:00 +0000

Maggie Comstock
Associate, Policy
U.S. Green Building Council

This week I watched the President’s State of the Union address with a notepad of buzzwords ready to take down some tallies. I’m certainly not the only person who keeps track keywords mentioned by the President in his annual speech. Not surprisingly, the President mentioned “jobs” more than 40 times in the 90 minute speech. I was also pleased that he referenced “energy” 20 times. Keeping track of my favorite hot topics became overwhelming only 30 minutes in, but in this case, too much of a good thing is a good thing.

I’m going to take some artistic license with the President’s SOTU title and emphasize the word “built.” Everything that we do to promote a sustainable built environment supports the long-term economic and environmental health of the nation. We cannot support our society if we deplete our natural resources at an unsustainable rate. We cannot maintain economic prosperity and resiliency without long-term, high quality jobs.

The ideas presented in Tuesday’s address were summarized in an eight page action plan titled, “Blueprint for an America Built to Last.” Another building allusion is very appropriate given the compatible goals of the President’s action plan and long-term benefits of green buildings. Many of these action items and goals are things that we are already doing with great success. The green building industry is already shaping an America built to last.

Finally, I’ve compiled a list of five wins for green building from the President’s prepared remarks:

“Join me in a national commitment to train two million Americans with skills that will lead directly to a job.”
“Building this new energy future should be just one part of a broader agenda to repair America’s infrastructure. So much of America needs to be rebuilt. We’ve got crumbling roads and bridges. A power grid that wastes too much energy.”
“In the next few weeks, I will sign an Executive Order clearing away the red tape that slows down too many construction projects. But you need to fund these projects. Take the money we’re no longer spending at war, use half of it to pay down our debt, and use the rest to do some nation building right here at home.”
“There’s never been a better time to build, especially since the construction industry was one of the hardest-hit when the housing bubble burst.”

And last but not least...

“Of course, the easiest way to save money is to waste less energy. So here’s another proposal: Help manufacturers eliminate energy waste in their factories and give businesses incentives to upgrade their buildings. Their energy bills will be $100 billion lower over the next decade, and America will have less pollution, more manufacturing, and more jobs for construction workers who need them. Send me a bill that creates these jobs.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

At Treasury, Green is Our Favorite Color – But We'll Take (LEED) Gold!

noreply@blogger.com (USGBC) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:40:00 +0000

Note: This blog was cross-posted from the U.S. Department of the Treasury Blog and the White House Blog.

When you think about a “green” building, you probably don’t picture a centuries-old National Historic Landmark that’s lined with columns and made of thousands of tons of granite.

Well, maybe that’s about to change. I'm pleased to announce that the Treasury Building – which dates back to the 19th century and is located right next door to the White House – received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) at a ceremony today in our historic Grant Room.

According to the USGBC, the Treasury Building is believed to be the oldest building in the world to receive LEED certification. The fact that the home of much our nation’s financial history has achieved this distinction for environmental leadership really adds new meaning to the term ‘green’ building.

LEED is a leading international standard for the design, construction, and operation of high-performance green buildings. The Treasury Building received its LEED Gold certification based on a number of green construction and operation features, including:

Increasing the use of natural day lighting to reduce energy consumption
Establishing sustainable cleaning and landscape programs
Developing and implementing advanced control and management of the heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems
Conducting waste stream audits to benchmark recycling programs and identify opportunities to maximize material conservation
Creating a green procurement program for materials, equipment and services purchased
Increasing occupant space utilization
Augmenting alternate transportation means
Establishing enhanced utility metering for improved systems management

These improvements are paying big dividends. Not just for the environment, but also for the Department’s bottom line – because going green saves green for taxpayers. Project results, which are producing an estimated $3.5 million in energy and lease cost savings annually, include:

A 43 percent decrease in the use of potable water
A 7 percent decrease in electrical usage
A 53 percent decrease in the use of steam
The addition of 164 additional workstations within the building

The fact that we’ve been able to achieve those types of results is particularly significant given the unique historical and architectural features of the Treasury Building.

The Treasury Building is more than two city blocks long and was constructed over a period of 33 years between 1836 and 1869. The east and center wings – which comprise the oldest portion of the structure – were designed by Robert Mills, architect of the Washington Monument, and were built between 1836 to 1842. It’s the third-oldest federal building in Washington D.C., after the White House and the U.S. Capitol, and was named a National Historic Landmark in 1972.

We’re proud of the improvements we’ve made around the Treasury Building – both big and small – to help reduce our environmental footprint and save taxpayer dollars. They’re part of a broader Administration-wide effort, which includes President Obama’s recent $2 billion commitment to energy upgrades of federal buildings using long term energy savings to pay for up-front costs, at no cost to taxpayers.

But Treasury’s environmental initiatives represent just a few of the steps we’ve taken to cut waste and improve efficiency.

We’re continuing to transition to electronic payments for federal beneficiaries and retirees, which will save more than $500 million over the first five years. That also has a significant environmental benefit by converting approximately 135 million paper check payments to electronic payments per year.
Last week, Vice President Biden and Secretary Geithner announced that the United States Mint is suspending production of surplus Presidential $1 Coins for circulation, which will save at least $50 million annually over the next several years.
The Department’s work to increase e-filing of tax returns will save more than $100 million over five years.
A set of projects we’re implementing to consolidate IT services will save an estimated $125 million over five years.
Earlier this year, Treasury received “green” ratings across-the-board on its energy and sustainability scorecard from the Office of Management and Budget and White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Of course, we’re not satisfied with those initiatives alone. And, moving forward, we’ll continue to work to identify additional ways to save money for taxpayers and improve our Department’s environmental efficiency. (As you might be able to tell, we’re pretty competitive when it comes to our environmental sustainability efforts here at Treasury.)

For now, though, receiving LEED GOLD certification is a certainly welcome achievement and represents the culmination of a lot of hard work by a number of dedicated public servants here at the Department.

At Treasury, green is our favorite color – but we’ll take gold!

Dan Tangherlini is Assistant Secretary for Management, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Performance Officer, and Director of the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.