Top 5 Videos of the World’s Greenest Homes

By Vicki Zambito

I just hit green gold surfing the Internet last weekend. PlanetGreen.com features a play list of videos all highlighting what it bills as “the world’s greenest homes.” I clicked down the list, engaged by the images of some very cool earth-friendly dwellings. Below are links to five of my favorites. I hope you enjoy as much as I did!

1. Hong King Space Saver – Check out this ultra hip 330 square foot apartment which features a futuristic sliding wall system.
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/videos/worlds-greenest-homes-hong-kong-space-saver.html

2. Texas Candy Land - The style is whimsical and fun, but the technology is totally green.
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/videos/worlds-greenest-homes-casa-neverlandia.html

3. Grass Roof Bungalow - The deck is made from recycled milk jugs, there's grass on the roof and different types of solar panels saves this family around $800 a year on the electric bill.
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/videos/worlds-greenest-homes-the-grass-roof-bungalow.html

4. Energy Saving Straw House - Features include a saltwater swimming pool, and a cooling tower inspired by Middle Eastern architecture.
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/videos/worlds-greenest-homes-the-arizona-straw-bale-house.html

5. Beachside Power Saver - It took only six hours for a traditional-looking, pre-fab home to be assembled in one of the most sought after areas of Toronto.
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/videos/worlds-greenest-homes-toronto-prefab.html

For more videos, visit http://planetgreen.discovery.com/videos/worlds-green-homes/.

Green Jobs Provide Silver Lining to Economy Blues

By Vicki Zambito

Wired Magazine recently published an article on the emergence of what it calls “smart jobs” or innovative middle-class jobs that scramble the line between blue-collar and white-collar. It’s an interesting article. But what struck me most when reading the piece was the accompanying graphic which showed an off-the-chart (literally) gain in jobs in the category of “Renewables and the Environment”. It just seems to be another sign that as we continue to look for ways to improve the economy, we should focus on innovating in the area of green and sustainability. Check out the chart below. Or read the article here: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/05/ff_jobsessay/

Green Building Boom: Southeast’s Top Green Contractors

By Vicki Zambito

Engineering News Record (ENR) recently published its list of the Southeast’s Top Green Contractors. The publication’s report found that despite the tough economy, income from green projects has increased notably, specifically showing a 14% improvement over a year ago. BE&K Building Group out of North Carolina is at the top of the list. To see the complete rundown of 60 firms, click on the link below to visit the ENR article.

http://southeast.construction.com/southeast_top_lists_construction_firms/2011/GreenContractors/001-100.asp

Global Green Rating Systems: 5 Programs that aren’t LEED

By Vicki Zambito

LEED, LEED, LEED. In the United States you can’t discuss green building rating systems without focusing on the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating program. But it’s not the only party on the block—nor was it the first.

The first environmental certification program—the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM)—was created in 1990 in the UK. Since then, a variety of assessment programs have been developed around the world. Different rating systems apply differently in different climates and geographical conditions. Here’s a look at five other programs taking hold around the globe.

1. The First. The Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) in the UK touts itself as the world’s foremost environmental assessment method and rating system for buildings, with 200,000 buildings certified: http://www.breeam.org/index.jsp


2. Doing Good Down Under. The Green Building Council of Australia’s Green Star program has registered or certified more than 12 million meters of space in Australia and transformed the country’s property and construction market: http://www.gbca.org.au/


3. Hong Kong Goes Green. The Building Environmental Assessment Method (BEAM) used in the world’s most vertical city provides standards for building assessment, performance improvement, certification and labeling: http://www.beamsociety.org.hk/general/home.php


4. LEED’s Biggest U.S. Competitor? Green Globes® is a revolutionary green building guidance and assessment program that offers an effective, practical and affordable way to advance the overall environmental performance and sustainability of commercial buildings: http://www.thegbi.org/green-globes/default.asp


5. LEED India. Okay, this is still LEED, but it’s specific to India. LEED-INDIA launched in 2007 and provides building owners, architects, consultants, developers, facility managers and project managers the tools they need to design, construct and operate green buildings: http://www.igbc.in/site/igbc/tests.jsp?event=22869

Happy Birthday LEED v3!

by Jeff Nippes

Depending on who you talk to, LEED v3 is either just about to turn two or just turned two. LEED v3 was actually released in April 2009 but the new version of the test did not start until June of 2009. In either case, LEED v3 has reached the two-year mark.

Why is that significant? Because everyone credentialed under LEED v3 has credential maintenance coming due. If you are a LEED Green Associate or LEED AP with Specialty, you have 15 or 30 hours of credential maintenance coming up, respectively. If you are a Legacy LEED AP and you opted to upgrade to a LEED AP with Specialty, you would have 30 hours of prescriptive credential maintenance coming due.

Don’t get caught scrambling at the last second trying to figure out how to get your credential maintenance hours, what activities count, or how to report your hours.

Here are some tips:

1. Consult the Credential Maintenance Guides that are available on www.gbci.org. These guides are the law when it comes to figuring out what activities count and what limitations there are for various activities. Bonus Tip: Taking approved professional development courses have no limitations.

2. Check to make sure that the courses you take are approved. All approved courses will show on www.usgbc.org under education  Find Courses tab. Select advanced options and you can search by providers.

3. Don’t let your credential maintenance deadline sneak up on you! Go to the GBCI site under ‘My Credentials’ and your due date will show. The last thing you want to do is try to cram in 15 or 30 hours at last minute.

4. Consult the professionals. If you are still uncertain about how many courses you need or you just simply don’t have the time to figure it out, call someone who knows. At RedVector, we have educational advisors standing by every day to help you navigate your requirements. We have more than 50 USGBC-approved courses including plenty of LEED-specific options. We also have 30-hour Prescriptive Credential Maintenance packages that will have everything you need to upgrade to a LEED AP with Specialty without retesting.

Happy Birthday LEED v3 and good luck with your credential maintenance!

Blue is the New Green: 3 Water Conservation Sites You Wanna Check Out!

by Vicki Zambito

According to the EPA at least 36 states will face water shortages by 2013, which means the need to conserve water is becoming more and more critical. Everyone in the design and construction industry—as well as consumers—should take steps to reduce water consumption and increase sustainability. Below are three websites devoted to helping you learn how to save water.

WaterUseItWisely.com has a list of 100 ways to conserve water. And it deserves to be said that each way begins with you! The site also has a cool widget you can add to your own website. The Conservation Tip Widget displays a new tip each day of the month, so your site visitors can keep up with ways to save water.

http://www.wateruseitwisely.com

Kohler’s Save Water America website is presented through a partnership with Habitat for Humanity. The site includes a list of water-saving resources, a 90-second quiz to see how water smart you are, and an interactive map of the U.S. It also keeps a running count of all Kohler’s water-saving product donations to Habitat for Humanity.

http://www.savewateramerica.com

H2OConserve.org is an online source of tools and information that enables you to make water conservation part of your everyday life. It includes a water footprint calculator that calculates the amount of water you use in and around your home throughout the day, including the water you use directly and indirectly.

http://www.h2oconserve.org

Wanted: Clean Energy

by Jeff Nippes

Earth Day is just around the corner. How are you planning to celebrate? Earth Day is held annually on April 22, and this year’s theme is “A Billon Acts of Green”. That is a great theme, and a billions acts of green would certainly be a tremendous accomplishment. However, until we get serious about clean and renewable energy, it will remain little more than a novelty on a global scale.

Call it coincidence or irony or just bad luck, but Earth Day again coincides with an environmental disaster. Last year as we were celebrating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, we were also creating the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. The Deepwater Horizon oil rig had just exploded, and though we didn’t know it yet the gulf was about to absorb the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.

It seems as our technology increases, the danger we present to our planet increases as well. This year we have an ongoing crisis in Japan in the form of a potential nuclear meltdown. This disaster is a little different, since it was created as a side effect from a massive earthquake and not just carelessness or faulty equipment. Still, the common theme is energy. We need clean energy, we need safe energy. Drilling 10,000 feet below the surface and nuclear fission are both dangerous businesses. Oil is a fossil fuel and nuclear energy produces toxic byproducts and harmful nuclear waste that takes centuries to degrade. Our nuclear byproducts literally are a ticking time bomb.

Here on Earth we have the technology, but we need vast improvements in safe, clean renewable energy. We need solar, wind, biofuels, and tidal power. Humans have made some headway, but our renewable energy programs are still just a drop in the bucket compared to how much we spend on developing and researching traditional, non-renewable energy sources such as oil and coal. In the immortal words of Chief Brody, we’re “gonna need a bigger boat”.