Member/Industry Green Building News

Landmark Kigali HFC Deal to Amend Montreal Protocol – Aims Reduce Global Warming a Critical .5 degrees Celsius

Following great celebration over the ratification of the Paris Climate Accords, 170 nations reached a new binding deal this October on the reduction of global hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) use. HFCs are common chemical coolants used in air-conditioners and refrigerators, and are a particularly power...

Post-Brexit: The UK Must Continue The Fight for Environmental and Climate Progress

Ever since the term Brexit, the decision of whether the UK should leave the European Union or not, was coined June of 2012, green groups have been warning voters that the decision to leave will have disastrous environmental consequences. Their arguments are not without evidence, as these group...

The COP21 Paris Agreement - Where Do We Go From Here?

As the negative impacts of climate change become more imminent and dire, it becomes necessary for all countries to band together in the fight against climate change. The 2015 COP21 convention gives us hope that nations are willing to agree to take a stand on key climate issues, compromising an...

BREEAM Brings Competition to the US Green Building Certification Market

BREEAM, the leading UK green-building rating system, has recently crossed the pond, looking to take on its US counterpart LEED in the market for green building. Over the last 24 years, the international Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology, BREEAM, has...

Smart Home Client Service Disaster - Help Encourage Google and Nest to Make a Better Decision about the Revolv Home Hub Shut Down!

Don't turn out the lights on loyal smarthome clients! Providing good customer service sometimes seems difficult and maybe even costly, but in the long run, doing the right thing can help grow trust for a company and for a growing market. I am hoping we can convince Google and its subs...

COP21 World Buildings Day - USGBC Commits to Scaling LEED Green Buildings to More Than 5 Billion Square Feet Over Five Years

As a part of World Buildings Day at COP21, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced on December 3rd that it will commit to scaling green buildings to more than 5 billion square feet (478 million square meters) over the next five years through the LEED and EDGE green building rating sy...

Demand for Green Building Expected to Continue Fast-Paced Growith

Contributed by NSchepis.   The United States Green Building Council's (USGBC) 2015 Building Economic Study reports that green construction spending is expected to grow 15.1 percent each year. Annual spending is expected to reach $224 billion in 2018. This boom in sustainable c...

Top Trends in Green Home Construction for 2016

Contributed by NSchepis.   More and more residential construction projects are ‘going green’. According to green building elements (http://greenbuildingelements.com/), green building activity is growing and continues to double every three years. Clients and tenants are...

Operator Consortium to Launch for Environmental Product Declarations Market at Greenbuild 2015

It's great to see green building organizations working together to increase clarity in product ingedient and impact reporting.  From PR Newswire:  (ASTM International, ICC Evaluation Service, NSF International and Sustainable Minds) will launch the first Program Operator Cons...

Sustaining Solar Industry Growth - We need to Support and Create Forward-Thinking Policies

What can be done to sustain solar industry growth? We need to focus on the political and regulatory environments of the solar industry. One significant answer is in forward-looking policies, existing or new, that create incentives and limit obstacles or restrictions for people to reduce their ...

UN Announces Ambitious Sustainable Development Goals, Asks for Help in Spreading the Word. Now, What's Next?

This September, after three years of negotiations, the United Nations adopted a slate of 17 Sustainability Goals (with 169 specific targets for action), also known as Agenda 2030, to replace the Millennium Development Goals from 2000.  The goals include eradicating extreme poverty, fighti...

The Real Fallout from the Volkswagen Disaster: TRUST (What we need to transition to a green economy)

Reports are emerging that Volkswagen suppliers and employees had been raising concerns about emissions “evasion” as far back as 2008 and 2011.  In fast, an emissions testing software "defeat device” in the form of a secret code subroutine arrived in the US with 2009...

10 Years Later: New Orleans Deserves a Real, Fair, and Green - and Successful - Recovery

Ten years after Hurricane Katrina devastated parts of New Orleans, it would be nice and appropriate to be hearing more and summary success stories.  But something doesn’t feel or sound quite right. A review of some recent articles and news suggests that some communities and people h...

Energy Efficiency Progress: What We’ve Gained in 35 Years and Where We Are Going

I posted recently in a discussion filed under Studies/Surveys after reading an article about a study analyzing what has happened in the sector of energy efficiency in the past 35 years called, “Energy Efficiency in the United States: 35 Years and Counting by the American Council for an E...

The Start of Something Great? Green Mountain Power Prepares to Sell Tesla's Powerwall Battery to Homeowners this Fall

In an exciting home energy develoment, Green Mountain Power and Tesla have announced a plan for Green Mountain Power of Vermont to sell Tesla's Powerwall home battery to customers starting this October.   Offering a home back up battery makes tons of sense and is a win-win, allowi...

WalMart and Claims of Inaccurate "Made In the USA" labeling- What's the Real Situation?

What is the situation with Walmart and Made In the USA Claims?  And why does this matter?   I am a big believer in Made in the USA and in local manufacturing generally. Why?  As much as I believe in many cases in the power of efficiencies and the global economy, it’s a...

A G7 Promise to "Decarbonize" the Global Economy

This week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that the the G7 has promised to phase out fossil fuels and to end extreme poverty and hunger by the end of the century.  As reported by TheGuardian, leaders also agreed to target a limit of 2C increase in global temperatures over pre-in...

What's Your Health Worth? (Formaldehyde)

There has been an ongoing battle in Washington DC over how to regulate formaldehyde, a common chemical used in foam insulation and adhesives, often in flooring and furniture.  Formaldehyde became more widely known as a health risk when many people living in temporary trailers after Hurric...

Who cares about #Bees anyway? (Hint: You should)

It may seem like just another one of "those environmental efforts," all this buzz and noise about bees lately.  But everyone should be paying attention to this issue.  Any species seemingly and abruptly dying off should be reason for concern as we hear more about climate ch...

Green Building Standards and Certification Collaborations - A Promising Industry Development in Recent Years

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) recently announced a decision to recognize energy and water requirements from the Living Building Challenge green building system within the LEED green building program.  The collaboration and recognition is an exciting development, as the chan...

Just a Name Change or Much More? GBCI becomes "Green Business Certification, Inc."

In what may be a pretty clever and seemingly subtle name change, GBCI, formerly known as the "Green Buiding Certification Institute announced on April 16, 2015 a name change to The Green Business Certification Inc.  The intials won't change, but the clientele might.  GBCI wa...

The Original Rainwater Pillow Selected to Green Builder Magazine's Hot 50 2015

Submitted by: The Original Rainwater Pillow

Congratulations to The Original Rainwater Pillow for being selected as one of Green Builder Magazine's top 50 Green Building Products for 2015!  To read more:  http://www.greenbuildermedia.com/hot502015-products/rainwater-collection-solutions-the-original-rainwater-pillow

What's up with Florida? We all need to be on the same "Climate" Team.

John Kerry had it right when he recently said that "‘We literally do not have the time to waste debating whether we can say 'Climate Change.'" Indeed some news coming out of Florida seems hard to believe.   First, it appears that Governor Rick Scott a...

State of the Union: Will this be "a Breakthrough Year for America” and for the Planet?

The President was right in his State if the Union address:  As a nation, we are united by the notion that you can get a head if you work hard and take responsibility.   And right now, too many people are working hard but are not getting ahead and seeing the results of The American Dr...

LEED v4 Requirement Extended to Oct 31, 2016

LEED users will be able to regster projects under the existing LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) 2009 ratings system until October 31, 2016, an extension from the original planned date of June 15, 2015.   There are some vocal complaints that this means LEED 2009 wil...