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  • Seattle 2030 District: The NEXT Big Thing in Green Building

    The green building movement has made great strides in recent years, but it’s not enough. In order to put up a good fight against ever-increasing environmental and economic pressures, we need a united front of the public and private sector, and to approach issues at the city — or district — scale.

    District sustainability currently experiences the same limited level of awareness that individual green buildings did a decade ago, when the U.S. Green Building Council announced its first 12 LEED Certified projects, of which there are now over 11,000.

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  • USGBC Explains Who’s Who at COP17 for Green Building and Climate Change

    When our delegation of green building council representatives arrived in Durban for the COP 17 climate conference, we hoped we had what it took to help change the world. The diverse group seemed to possess that peculiar mixture of naiveté, enthusiasm and focused passion that can distinguish successful from merely aspiring troublemakers. Through participation and attendance at a variety of different events I was, as usual, impressed with the astounding effort on the part of various individuals and organizations to bring to scale energy efficiency and green building solutions.

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  • Learn Green Schools Conference and Expo Recap

    On November 11, the Learn Green Schools Conference and Expo and Lessons Learned Workshop took place at the Dreyfoos School of the Arts, attracting over 900 attendees from all over the state of Florida and the country. There were 90 presenters, 88 exhibitors in addition to administrators, teachers, vendors, architects, engineers and others within the construction industry. The presenting sponsor for the event was the Solid Waste Authority.

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  • A Year of Chapter Advocacy Efforts: Green Schools

    As we at USGBC wind down 2011 – and gear up for a promising 2012 I am pleased to have the opportunity to reflect on what an incredible year it’s been for green schools. With the help of our seemingly tireless volunteer and chapter network, the Center for Green Schools at USGBC has had a first year that has exceeded many expectations. Even heading into a time of year when things typically seem to slow down, USGBC’s volunteers continue to be hard at work on behalf of green schools.

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  • Higher Education Green Schools: An Intern’s Perspective

    After an invaluable six month run with the U.S. Green Building Council as an intern, it was time to publish my final podcast. Though I’d produced podcasts with USGBC before, this was the first time I was able to use my unique position as a University of Florida student. Having spent three months at USGBC’s headquarters in Washington D.C., the time had come to head back to school in Florida and continue the internship via telecommute.

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  • Q&A: Rep. Ron Kind on Healthy Kids Outdoors Act

    Representative Ron Kind (WI), alongside Senator Mark Udall (CO), recently introduced the Healthy Kids Outdoors Act. This bill would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to carry out programs and activities that connect Americans, especially children, youth, and families, with the outdoors. We asked Rep.

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  • A Year of Chapter Advocacy Efforts: Part Two – Green Schools

    As we at USGBC wind down 2011 – and gear up for a promising 2012 I am pleased to have the opportunity to reflect on what an incredible year it’s been for green schools. With the help of our seemingly tireless volunteer and chapter network, the Center for Green Schools at USGBC has had a first year that has exceeded many expectations. Even heading into a time of year when things typically seem to slow down, USGBC’s volunteers continue to be hard at work on behalf of green schools.

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  • Governor’s Action Defies Logic and Economics

    Last Friday, I went to work just like any other day at my firm, Fore Solutions, here in Portland, Maine. I fired up my computer, but instead of the normal updates on projects and industry newsletters, I was greeted with eye-popping subject lines. “Maine bans LEED!” was just one example. Thinking that can’t be right, I opened a few to find that Maine Governor Paul LePage issued an Executive Order banning LEED on state capital projects to satisfy out of state industry interests.

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  • A Year of Chapter Advocacy Efforts: Part One

    Despite the long list of challenges that governments face today – the down-economy, which drives budget constraints, which drives partisan politics, which drives gridlock, which fails to deliver basic government services, which can impact the economy… – our green building conversation continues to resonate with diverse audiences. In August, USGBC released a report detailing some of the conversations that took place in 2011 and how these conversations translated into real world policy impact.

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  • Green Retrofits on the Rise: LEED for Existing Buildings Surpasses New Construction Projects, Echoes Industry Shift

    The U.S. landscape is covered by more than 60 billion square feet of existing buildings, many of them hogging inordinate amounts of resources and energy due to outdated infrastructure. The potential to green this building stock is vast, and more importantly, the potential is being realized: We announced last week that LEED-certified existing buildings are surpassing new construction projects by 15 million square feet, cumulatively.

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