Green Building : Jetson Green

Google Trends Offers Insight into the Direction of Green Building

Google Trends has been on the radar of software techies, research junkies, Google aficionados, and the otherwise internet-obsessed since the summer of 2006.  It’s a tool for tracking the search popularity of high traffic terms.  For anyone wanting to keep their finger on the pulse of green building, this is a quick, although certainly not definitive source of information on where the curious live, who still needs to be clued in, when the tipping point occurred for various green ideas and products, and what – in general – is the direction of interest in green building.

The Greening of Southie [Giveaway]

We have four DVDs of this movie to randomly giveaway to commenters below, so if you'd like to win one, make sure to say something before midnight on Friday, January 16, 2009.*

Finally!  A full-length feature for all us green building junkies!  The Greening of Southie is an award-winning film that documents the journey of a green condo building from the idea of a legacy Boston developer all the way to the jungles of Bolivia, from the steel mills of New England to LEED Gold certification.  The Macallen Building Condominiums, a sexy piece of contemporary architecture on the border of Boston and South Boston, was completed in 2007 by a committed team of builders.  They submitted their process to scrutiny via the cameras of budding filmmakers Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis of Wicked Delicate Films. 

State of the Green Building Union, a USGBC Report on the Numbers

Last month USGBC posted Green Buildings by the Numbers, a three-page, bite-size State of the Green Building Union that simply brings together some useful stats.  This palatable little report helps a person wrap their head around the realities and opportunities for green building.  The authors seem to have attempted a sort of realistic optimism with a series of facts and percentages that say ‘there’s been progress in gaining market share for green buildings and buildings stand to make huge gains in the struggle to create a more sustainable human existence, but we’re not there yet.'  Included are a couple of specific statements on the expectations for green building market penetration (see one of the more intriguing quotes below), but the authors shied away from detailing market penetration thus far.

BD+C White Paper Takes a Hard Look at Green Building, Climate Change

Last month, while everyone was still coming down from presidential election frenzy and ramping up for Greenbuild, Building Design + Construction offered up another distraction: their annual white paper on the State of Green Building.  This is the sixth in an annual series that was initially inspired by the success of Greenbuild 2002.  While reports from the early years included remarks on the chances for the green building movement to keep rolling, the editors get a little more definitive this time around, starting on page four: "...no matter where you stand personally on the social, economic, political, or environmental issues related to climate change, you will soon have no choice but to factor it into your professional work."