Good morning, Washington. Today marks the culmination of almost two years of work and thousands of hours of volunteer time to make the District of Columbia, once again, a national leader in better, greener buildings.
The USGBC-National Capital Region Chapter had this to say about the DC Green Construction Code: “This is a landmark achievement in the history of green buildings.”
U.S. federal government agencies were some of the earliest adopters of LEED. Over the years, we have seen the federal government build, retrofit and operate some amazing green buildings. To date, the federal government has certified 1,031 buildings to LEED, and another 3,000-plus projects are in the LEED certification pipeline. But with shrinking budgets and numerous requirements on their plates, these agencies need help to streamline their reporting as much as possible.
In 2013, the Center for Green Schools reached further, leveraged greater and invested more than we ever have. How do we know? We are maniacal about tracking our work – whether it be the number of people we engage, the number of resources we distribute or the way people talk about our work in the media, their social networks or in surveys.
Washington, D.C. — March 17, 2014 — The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has named Heather Joy Rosenberg, an independent sustainability consultant, as its 2014-2015 Mark Ginsberg Sustainability Fellow. In this role, she will provide thought leadership on issues of social equity and the built environment.
To accommodate the expected increase in urban population of 2 billion people before 2030, will require the equivalent of 200 new cities the size of Paris.[1]
The Center for Green Schools at USGBC is proud to announce the expansion of Community Green, thanks to the continued and generous support of the Bank of America Charitable Foundation. Launched in 2012, Community Green partners with community colleges to prepare for careers in sustainability and green building. Community Green is supported by a network of volunteer national chairs, located regionally across the U.S., who work with colleges to implement program benefits and deepen engagement with USGBC.
We know there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Simply put, trust must be earned.
This is where third-party certification comes in. It holds businesses accountable for what they say is true, and it signals to consumers that the product meets certain standards so that they can make educated decisions about what to buy. Third-party seals of approval can communicate other things as well, such as the values of the company or the class of the product.
This week, the House of Representatives took a major step in advancing building efficiency legislation with the passage of H.R. 2126, the Energy Efficiency Improvement Act. This bipartisan bill cleared the House on a vote of 375-36.