Member/Industry News
Member/Industry Green Building News
Learn about green building industry and member company news.
USGBC LA Turns 15!
USGBC-LA is turning 15 years this week! The organization is celebrating over 80,000 LEED projects across 162 countries, including more than 32,500 certified commercial projects, and over 770 v4 projects registered. Stacy Sinclair makes this the theme of her blog post this week - Read more abou...
Renewable Energy Will Be The Cheapest Energy Source by 2020
In recent research done by Morgan Stanley, it has been estimated that renewable energy will be the cheapest resource by 2020. If this pans out, analysts predict that the U.S. will meet the Paris commitment goals regardless of Trump’s withdrawal from the climate agreement. ...
Volvo Announces A Big Commitment to Electric Vehicles - All Models to be Hybrid of Electric by 2019
This week, automaker Volvo made a significant announcement - the company will make all models hybrid or electric by 2019. Volvo is the first major automaker to annnounce such a shift. According to the New York times, "Volvo's move may be the latest sign that the era of the gas g...
Zero Energy Design Project Featured in New Book: "Passive House Details"
Congratulations to Zero Energy Design - ZED's Hollis Montessori School Project is featured in the new book "Passive House Details," by Donald B. Corner, Jan C. Fillinger and Alison G. Kwok. The book, now available for pre-order, profiles top energy-efficient healthy and sust...
Former President Jimmy Carter Leases 10-Acre Site For Solar Farm
Earlier this year, in February, Jimmy Carter launched a solar farm big enough to power over 50% of his hometown of Plains, Georgia. The former president initiated the project by leasing 10 acres of land to SolAmerica, an Atlanta based solar development and construction firm. A long...
Member Viva Green Homes' Founder and CEO will be speaking at US Embassy's Speaker Program
Rate It Green Member, Viva Green Homes' founder and CEO, Kari Klaus, will be speaking in Budapest during the US Embassy’s Speaker Program on July 13. She will be discussing sustainable economic development and sharing her experience and advice for incorporating sustainability in...
Study Finds Green Homes in Texas Show Increase in Value by $25,000
The University of Texas at Austin and the United States Green Building Council conducted a new study that suggests new homes in Texas that are built to meet green building standards such as LEED (Leadership in energy and Environmental Design), are valued higher in resale by an average of $25,0...
France Plans to Ban Diesel and Gas Vehicles by 2040
On Thursday, June 6, France’s environment minister, Nicolas Hulot announced the plan to ban the sale of all diesel and gas vehicles in France by 2040. The decision is a part of the country’s renewed commitment to the Paris Climate deal. Diesel vehicles are to blame for a good ...
Ireland Sets Up Its First nZEB Training Centre in Wexford
In an effort to mitigate the effects of climate change, the 2010 Energy Performance of Buildings Directive required that Ireland develop a plan to make all new buildings near Zero-Energy Buildings (nZEB) by the end of 2020. Additionally, all new public buildings must be nZEB by 2018. To achiev...
Sustainable Comfort, Inc. - Deep Energy Retrofit of Triple Decker in Worcester
Worcester-based Sustainable Comfort, Inc. (SCI), is conducting a deep energy retrofit of the triple decker building at 38 Stanton Street in the Bell Hill neighborhood of Worcester, MA. This is the first project of its kind for SCI in Worcester. Built a century ag...
Johnson Controls Announces Opening of Asia-Pacific Headquarters
On June 22, Johnson Controls announced the opening of its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Shanghai, China. The building is 44,300-square meters and is located in Shanghai’s Chang’ning district. This building is the first in China to earn several top global efficiency awards, some of ...
Green Building Community Affirms Commitment in Reaction to Paris Accord Withdrawal
On Thursday, June 1, President Donald Trump announced that America would withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, an agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) between 196 countries to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Many state and local admini...
groSolar Assists in Operation of New Solar Farm
Rate It Green Member, groSolar, along with companies, JEA, and AEP Onsite Partners, announced the commercial operation of their Northwest Jacksonville Solar Partners solar farm (NWJAX). The seven-megawatt farm includes single axis trackers to track the sun from east to west thr...
Johnson Controls Partners with World Green Building Council
Rate It Green Member, Johnson Controls, has entered into a partnership with the World Green Building Council as the first partner of the newly formed the Americas Regional Network. The Americas Regional Network represents nineteen national Green Building Councils with thousands of membe...
Harvard University, Snøhetta, and Skanska Technology Announce The HouseZero Project
Harvard University, Snøhetta, and Skanska Technology have announced The HouseZero Project, a collaboration to retrofit an 80-year old timber-framed former house in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Purchased by the University in 2011, the building serves as the headquarters for the Harvar...
Unbelievable but True: US Withdraws from the Paris Accords
Just before 4pm today, President Trump announced that the US will with draw from the Paris Climate Accords. The agreement, ratified by 194 other countries, limited average global temperature change to below 2 degrees Celcius. Only Nicaragua and Syria had not ratified the Agreement ...
ZeroEnergy Design Receives Fine Homebuilding's 2017 Award for Best Energy-Smart Home
Congratulations to ZeroEnergy Design for winning Fine Homebuilding's Best Energy-Smart Home 2017 Award! Rate It Green Member ZeroEnergy Design has been awarded the 2017 Award for Best Energy-Smart Home, along with Thoughtforms Corpporation, for a Net Positive Farmhouse in Lincol...
Appraisal Institute Updates Green and Energy Efficiency Home Tool
The Appraisal Institute has updated a resource first released in 2011 called the "Residential Green and Energy Efficient Addendum." The Addendum is designed to help appraisers and real estate professionals better analyze and clearly report on data related to sustainable and ene...
Pledge Your Support for Vehicle Emissions Standards - Climate Reality
Put simply, the President's effort to roll back vehicle emissions standards makes little sense. As Climate Reality points out, these standards "will prevent about 6 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions and save over 2 million barrels of oil a day and $1.7 trillion in fuel...
Alliance to Save Energy Campaigns - To Support Energy Star and to Support Energy Efficiency Standards
Posted by: Allison Friedman // Rate It Green Admin There are two Alliance for Energy petitions/campaigns open right now that relate to green building and energy efficiency. Add your voice! These camaigns are highly professional. Protecting the environment should be a biparti...
Petition in Support of the EPA's EnergyStar Program
The Alliance to Save Energy has a petition you can sign in support of the EPA's EnergyStar program. It can be difficult to sign some petitions at times due to not agreeing with all the positions or the extreme language that is often used, but this is very reasonable and I e...
We should be INCREASING the EPA Budget, not Decreasing it.
The above image suggests an EPA budget of $10billion in 2016. According to the Washington Post, the current budget is approximately $8.1 billion headed to $5.7 billiont, with a projected loss of about 3200 jobs. If the Trump budget is passed. The suggestion alone that th...
Executive Order: Dakota Access and Keystone Pipeline To Move Forward?
On January 24th, President Trump made a statement by signing off on the continuation of two major oil pipelines that have made headlines in the United States: The Dakota Access and Keystone XL. One of the documents signed invites the company behind Keystone XL, TransCanada, to resubmit a propo...
Should the Green Building Industry Be Worried about a Trump Administration? (Yes)
Should the Green Building Industry Be Worried about a Trump Administration? (Yes) Some (ok, MANY) in the green building industry are worried about a pending Trump Administration, as reported by Construction Drive recently: http://bit.ly/2hXLpHo. While it may be affirming that you aren...
Tesla Unveils Revolutionary Solar Panels
On October 28th, tech tycoon Elon Musk unveiled a new product that could revolutionize the household implementation of solar energy. With the aid of SolarCity, a solar company that merged with Tesla earlier this summer, Musk has developed a new brand of solar panels, one that in many ways chal...
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