3/10/10 Green homes face a red light, By Les Christie, CNNMoney.com
Lots of people, especially those trying to battle high utility bills, believe in energy-efficient homebuilding.
But there’s something holding green technology back: It simply costs more to include it than it adds to resale value.
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3/9/10 LEED Wood Credit up for Review….Again, By Joann Gonchar, Architectural Record
Almost since its inclusion in LEED in 2001, the materials and resources credit pertaining to certified wood products has been controversial. The credit recognizes only wood products that meet the standards of one organization—the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). But last week, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) moved a step closer to adopting new credit language that, at least in theory, could open up the rating system to other wood-certification schemes.
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3/9/10 U.S. Directs $36 Million Toward Net-Zero Building Research, By Tim McKeough, Architectural Record
Reflecting the rapidly growing interest in sustainable design and construction technologies, the U.S. Department of Energy has announced new funding to support research on net-zero energy buildings.
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3/8/10 USGBC supports Building Star legislation, By Melissa Hincha-Ownby, Mother Nature Network
The U.S. Green Building Council supports recently introduced Building Star legislation, which will provide incentives for energy efficiency retrofits of existing buildings.
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3/8/10 Society aiming for net zero energy for all new builds by 2030, By Jessica Krippendorf, Journal of Commerce
North American builders going for glamour in new construction might be missing out on lucrative green building opportunities, said Gordon Holness, president of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).
In a series of Canadian talks that wrapped up earlier this year, he said that new builds only account for two per cent of construction activity and 12 per cent of construction dollars spent.
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3/5/2010 Itty Bitty Cities: 22 Models That Miniaturize the World, By Delana, Web Urbanist
Model cities aren’t just the stuff of kids’ toys. They’re used all over the world for urban planning, architectural proposals and research. But while miniature cities are useful, they’re also a unique kind of art. Older models give us a very real glimpse into what cities looked like in past generations, while new models can help us to visualize what our surroundings will look like in the future. And as an added bonus, tiny cities manage to turn even the most jaded grown-up into a kid again, at least temporarily. Their diminutive size lets us pretend and imagine again, just like we did when we were kids.
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3/4/2010 Computer-Aided EcoDesign, By Kenneth Wong, Cadalyst.com
Until recently, building information modeling (BIM) software such as Autodesk Revit, Bentley Architecture, Graphisoft ArchiCAD, and Vectorworks Architect focused primarily on modeling and refining building geometry. To analyze the energy consumption of a building, users relied on third-party software such as Green Building Studio, Ecotect, Hevacomp, and IES . A series of acquisitions in the past few years changed that, however.
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3/4/2010 Three Tips on Good Green Reading, By Leanne Tobias, Greener Buildings
As a recently-minted author, I now understand that you can never receive enough publicity for your new book. And having experienced first-hand how much work goes into creating and marketing a new volume, I’ve resolved to do my part to promote other new books on the sustainable real estate front. Here, then, are some recommendations for insightful green reading.
One of the best green real estate books to have crossed my desk recently is “Value Beyond Cost Savings: How to Value Sustainable Properties,” newly issued by the Green Building Finance Consortium (GBFC). (Disclosure: I am a member of GFBC’s Advisory Board.) Several years in the making, “Value Beyond Cost Savings” is the product of a massive research effort undertaken by Scott Muldavin, his GBFC team, and a roster of outside collaborators.
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3/4/2010 Will U.S. Companies Be Shut Out of Clean-Tech Markets by China and Other Competitors?, By Lisa Friedman, the New York Times
The United States must make long-term investments in clean energy development or risk being shut out of a $2.3 trillion industry, a new report by a liberal think tank has found.
The study (pdf) released today by the Center for American Progress hails Germany, Spain and China as “early winners in the next great technological and industrial revolution” because each imposed policies to encourage low-carbon energy development. Japan, Denmark and South Korea, the authors predict, also will profit handsomely as the industry expands. But the United States, lacking domestic clean energy policies, threatens to be left behind.
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3/3/2010 Museums showcase green building with home exhibits , By Wendy Koch, USA Today
Rooftop gardens, cisterns, windmills and recycled kitchen countertops are featured in green home exhibits at museums in Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
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3/3/2010 A Green Infrastructure Unlocks Several Successful Environmental Initiatives, By JC Winnie, The Energy Collective
Cutting down on carbon emissions has been at the forefront of the Go Green movement. However, some initiatives that target a completely new, green infrastructure have gone unnoticed yet are essential to competitiveness, long-term sustainability, job growth, energy independence and national security.
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3/2/2010 Obama Unveils ‘Cash for Caulkers’ Rebates for Energy-Efficient Retrofits, By Jennifer Goodman, Eco Home
President Obama today announced the details of “Homestar,” a Cash for Clunkers-like rebate program designed to entice Americans to make their houses more energy efficient.
Under the proposal, homeowners could be eligible for up to $3,000 in rebates for purchases of efficient product upgrades or whole-house audits/retrofits. Obama wants the program, dubbed “Cash for Caulkers” and first mentioned in his January State of the Union address, included in a jobs package being drafted by Congress.
The administration hopes the incentives will boost demand for building products such as insulation, efficient windows, and roofing in the same way car sales skyrocketed last year when consumers were offered rebates for trading in their gas-guzzling autos for more fuel-friendly models. The White House says the program would create “tens of thousands” of jobs, cut energy bills for families by $200 to $500 per year, and reduce the nation’s dependence on oil.
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3/1/2010 How’s the environment doing? Ask the buildings, By Nicolai Hartvig, CNN
Imagine that you could double the size of your apartment as a reward for saving electricity, water and gas. It’s an idea proposed by the Seoul-based design collective Randomwalks and architect Lee Min-soo for the green redevelopment of Incheon, outside the South Korean capital.
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3/3/2010 Detroit a hotbed of cool art? Ah, yes , By Siri Agrell, The Globe and Mail
Artists, attracted by cheap property and the blank canvas of abandoned buildings, are moving in to the dying city. They just might be its saviours
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3/2/2010 New Libraries Revitalize Cities, By Jonathan Lemer, Miller-McCune
A mixed-use, multimedia complex that is meant to foster social interaction and creative ferment as much as reading and research, the library of the future is also intended as an engine of city-center rejuvenation. Examples have gone up in dozens of places around the world, including Salt Lake City; Vancouver, B.C.; Chongqing, China; the Spanish island of Tenerife; Delft, the Netherlands; Brisbane, Australia; and Cardiff, U.K. Versions are planned in Philadelphia; Oslo; Turin, Italy; Amsterdam; and other cities large and small. These library buildings incorporate a constellation of nontraditional and even non-library uses, like cafes, shops, theaters and auditoriums, galleries, classrooms, conference centers, meeting rooms, recording and broadcast studios, government offices, even housing. Some are placed adjacent to theaters, concert halls and museums to form cultural campuses; others are joined to schools or even hotels.
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3/1/2010 Grant’s Focus is Saving Energy, By Rusty Dennen, Fredericksburg.com
Saving energy, especially during the winter months when electric meters are spinning full-bore, is a challenge for homeowners.
But there’s some help on the way.
The George Washington Regional Commission received a $1 million grant to develop a regional home energy efficiency and conservation pilot program.
The grant, from the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy, is the largest of 26 Virginia Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants approved by the agency. It was announced on Friday.
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3/1/2010 Postal Service: Stop! We’ll help you recycle that mail, By Wendy Koch, USAToday
The U.S. Postal Service may seem so last century, burning fossil fuel to deliver paper mail, but it’s increasingly going green. Its latest endeavor: more lobby recycling bins.
It’s adding these bins to encourage customers to “read, respond, recycle” their P.O. box mail while still in the post office lobby, instead of throwing the paper away at home.
The number of post offices with recycling containers will increase 2,435, bringing the total to 8,064, an increase of 150% since the lobby recycling program began in 2005, the U.S. Postal Service announced last month. That’s still, however, a fraction of the 27,161 post offices it operated last year.
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3/1/2010 Getting a green job isn’t so easy, By Anne Fisher, Fortune
Dear Annie: I lost a pretty good job as head of the training department at a financial-services company a few months ago and, rather than look for another similar position, I want to change careers. I’m passionate about the outdoors and would like to do something related to protecting wildlife and the environment. But I’m having trouble figuring out where to focus my search. Can you point me to some good sources of information about green jobs? — Boston Birdwatcher
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2/25/2010 Obama Speech to Business Group Leaves Greenhouse Gas Issues Up in the Air, By Joel Kirkland and Christa Marshall, The New York Times
A speech by President Obama to top CEOs yesterday left some climate experts and energy industry lobbyists searching for stronger clues about White House policy preferences as members of the Senate struggle to come up with a fresh proposal for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
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