2nd Virginia GoGreen Forum and Awards Ceremony, April 20th
Friday, April 20th, 2-5pm at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens (map)

Free and open to the public (RSVP required by Wednesday, April 18th), the Forum will include the JRGBC High Performance Building Grant winner announcements and presentation of the winning projects from this years GoGreen Competition. Light refreshments will be provided along with the opportunity to see and talk about Virginia's greenest built and un-built projects!
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Governor Kaine Signs Executive Order to Improve Energy Efficiency in State Government
Governor Timothy M. Kaine today issued Executive Order 48, setting a goal for executive branch agencies and institutions to reduce the annual cost of non-renewable energy purchases by at least 20 percent by fiscal year 2010.
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City of Richmond Forges Ahead to 2030 Challenge!
If representatives of business, finance, and government have their way, Richmond will be participating in the attempts to reverse global warming sooner rather than later. On March 30, representatives from the business to organization sectors developed viable options for the city to explore and, in subsequent meetings, will refine those ideas into a list of alternatives for the city’s use. The information and recommendations developed at these meetings — held at the Virginia Center for Architecture (VCA) in Richmond — will be disseminated to other localities throughout Virginia for their use as well.
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Earth Day Richmond, April 21
Richmond's Earth Day will once again be held Saturday, April 21 in the Manchester neighborhood, between the south end of the Mayo Bridge, along Hull street, up to Art Works. Environmental exhibits, non-profit demonstrations, music, art, education, activities and entertainment will fill the day. Admission is free.
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Chesterfield County's Second Annual Environmental Fair, April 21st
Chesterfield Towne Center, Richmond
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Earth Week Charlottesville
Earth Week Charlottesville (EWC) is the premier Earth Day event of Central Virginia. A network and cooperative effort among many area grass-roots clubs, agencies and organizations, EWC puts together the Earth Week events every year for either the 3d or 4th week in April, whichever most closely corresponds with Earth Day, April 22.
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Envirofusion: Earth Week 2007 at Virginia Tech, April 15-21
Envirofusion is a week-long event at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. It will bring together professionals, educators, and students in order to increase public eco-awareness. Guest speakers from fields such as architecture, energy, and public policy will be featured throughout the week.
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Symposium: The State of High Performance Schools in Virginia
May 3, 2007 • 9 am to 4:30 pm
Supervisor’s Board Room • Henrico County Western Government Center • 4301 East Parham Road • Richmond, VA

The Virginia Sustainable Building Network is presenting a Symposium to include:
A Special Report on "Greening America's Schools: Costs and Benefits," from Capital-E;
The new LEED® for Schools Guidelines from the US Green Building Council; Best practices for new school design and building retrofits; and Green buildings as learning opportunities for students.

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Carmax Becomes First Virginia Company with a LEED Silver Certified Corporate Headquarters
CarMax, the nation's largest retailer of used cars, announced on March 27 that its home office in the Richmond, Virginia area has received LEED-NC Silver Certification by the USGBC. CarMax is the first company to construct a LEED Certified building in Virginia as its corporate headquarters. CarMax's 250,000 square foot home office building is located on 130 acres of land in Goochland County, just outside of Richmond in the West Creek Industrial Office Park. The building features bright colors in a vibrant, informal and non-hierarchical layout. Environmental features include the preservation of the trees, wetlands, and natural areas; the natural enhancement of daylight inside the building; and the use of recycled materials. The CarMax home office was completed in 2005 and was the focus of the April 2006 JRGBC tour program.
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HB2618 passed both houses of the General Assembly and was signed into law by Governor Kaine
This legislation allows the governing bodies of any county, city, or town to assess lower property tax rates for energy efficient buildings.
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Carter Woods II earns EarthCraft Virginia certification
The Better Housing Coalition opened Carter Woods II in Richmond, Virginia as the first EarthCraft Virginia certified, multi-family project. The Better Housing Coalition has committed to green building to provide community members with healthy, durable homes that are also better for the environment. EarthCraft Virginia is a new certification process for multifamily projects that serves as a blueprint for healthy, comfortable homes that reduce utility bills and protect the environment. EarthCraft Virginia is a partnership between Virginia Community Development Corporation and Southface Energy Institute.
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William & Mary Rec Center Receives LEED Certification
The center received high marks from USGBC for its access to alternative transportation, the installation of a treatment system to filter out sediments from water runoff, use of water-efficient landscaping, reducing water usage through the installation of water-efficient plumbing fixtures and use of low-emitting adhesives, sealants, paint, carpet and composite wood materials. The project also was recognized for recycling 52 percent of the project construction waste and the fact that 24 percent of the material for the remodel by cost was manufactured within 500 miles of the site.
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