Green Building Blog - Jetson Green

Green Construction Starts Could Reach $140 Billion by 2013

Over the last month, I’ve seen several reports on green building, and we’ll try to address them all in due time.  With reports like this, though, we have to spread it out – this is geeky stuff, it’s not leisurely eye candy or anything like that.  But we like to follow the numbers in anticipation of future trends.  In that regard, the Green Outlook 2009: Trends Driving Change report by McGraw-Hill Construction has some interesting information.  According to the report, the value of green building construction starts was up five times from 2005 to 2008, with values escalating from $10 billion to $36-$49 billion.  Also, by analysis, the report estimates that construction starts could triple over the next five years and reach $96-$140 billion.

Green Blogs and the Environment

Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to sit on a Greenbuild panel with four other respected and popular bloggers: Lloyd Alter of Treehugger, Willem Mass of Green Home Guide, Stephen Del Percio of Green Buildings NYC, and Leigh Stringer of The Green Workplace (moderator).  In preparation for the panel, we sent out a survey and the basic results of that survey are embedded above.  Click through it, you may see some interesting information.  The panel raised several interesting issues, and some of those have been discussed below.  I also wanted to clarify my thoughts on things like Twitter and PR because I think my perspective may not have come through adequately.  First, let's check out the interesting survery stats:

Photo Tour: FROG Zero Classroom

The classroom of the future was on display throughout Greenbuild 2008 and it's safe to say that attendees were impressed.  Project FROG built the classroom using their FROG Zero system of modular construction -- a zero-energy building system.  What's interesting, though, is that the contractor, Fisher Development, assembled and finished it in six days.  And it's beautiful inside and out.  The company has received venture funding and can sell their classrooms for 25% cheaper than the competition.  Soon enough, we'll all be able to watch the proliferation of healthy, architecturally-designed learning environments. 

Top 10 Tidbits from Greenbuild 2008

Although not really a convention-type person, I must say that Greenbuild 2008 was quite enjoyable.  By official count, it appears that 29,752 people attended, which is absolutely phenomenal.  There's seriously something, I don't know, magical, for lack of a better word, about being surrounded by such diverse people with a similar interest in green building.  I spent the entire time talking with and learning from those around me -- which is why I certainly plan to attend next year.  If you weren't able to attend, you'll be able to catch some videos on Greenbuild365 in the future.  In the mean time, I've listed a few news tidbits that you may find interesting:

2008 Top-10 Green Building Products

For the seventh year in a row, BuildingGreen has just announced their list of Top-10 Green Building Products.  The products, as you will note, have various and multiple environmental attributes.  BuildingGreen culls the ten products from new additions to the GreenSpec Directory, a print and online guide that organizes green products according to LEED credits.  Although the GreenSpec Directory has over 2,000 products in total now, BuildingGreen is selective in choosing those that get in.  As a result, Top-10 selections are regarded as the cream of the crop.  Without further ado, here they are:

Thoughts on Al Gore's Five-Part Plan to Repower America

I've always been kind of irked by the fact that President Reagan, after having the White House's leaky roof fixed, never replaced the solar hot water panels installed by President Carter.  But it's hard to judge him because I was barely crawling at the time -- I have no idea what was going on in the collective conscious of that generation.  I mean, Al Gore mentions in Sunday's Op-Ed in the NY Times that President Nixon established Project Independence 35 years ago with a goal to, in seven years time, develop the potential to meet our country's energy needs without having to rely on any foreign energy sources.  Yet, that never happened and Reagan's act, the way I see it, symbolically shut the door on the possibility of American energy self-reliance.  At least for the time being. 

Live The Box Multifamily Container Proposal Winners Announced!

A combination of various groups, including AIA Newark, Skanska, and Young Architects Forum, put together the Live The BOX competition to find innovative, visionary, and compelling proposals for container constructed, multifamily, mixed- use projects.  The competition received tons of interesting container design entries, but only three won (with three more Honorable Mentions).  Designs had to use standard shipping containers of 8'-6" height and either 20' or 40' length as main building blocks for the structure.  Make sure to check out the winners below ... Also, I'll update this article as I find better images. 

Kevin Rose, Al Gore Get Current [Video]

Kevin Rose sat down with Al Gore in a collaboration between Digg Dialogg and Current to talk about various crowd-sourced issues and topics.  Other than some of the questions about marijuana, ManBearPig, and Futurama, I found the interview pretty interesting.  Gore was impressively adroit, astute even, in his responses, showing a deep understanding of environmental issues and how they're all interconnected.  I've listed the questions below, in case you're looking to hear Mr. Gore talk about a certain topic of interest.  It's a short, twenty-six minute video, so make sure to give it a view and enjoy. 

FROG Zero Classroom to be Greenbuild School of the Future, Today

Update: 11/22/08 - Photo Tour: FROG Zero Inspires Greenbuild 2008

We're going to be on the scene at Greenbuild this year, are you?  If you are, get ready for Project FROG's "FROG Zero" classroom, which will be on display as part of the "School of the Future, Today" demonstration.  The 1,282 sf structure is the company's new, zero-energy building that's intended to raise the bar for green classrooms.  Project FROG, an acronym for Flexible Response to Ongoing Growth, manufactures high performance, modular, green building systems that are rapid to deploy, affordable, and sustainable.  Units can be purchased as individual classrooms or in combination to create campuses.  The one on display at Greenbuild will include some of the following eco-friendly features:

13 Innovative Green Building Designs, Lifecycle Building Challenge Winners!

Yesterday the EPA announced winners of the second annual green building competition known as the Lifecycle Building Challenge, or LBC2.  The challege issued a proposal for designs and ideas that support cost-effective disassembly and that anticipate future use of building materials.  It was open to architects, reuse experts, engineers, designers, planners, contractors, builders, educators, environmental advocates, and students in three main categories: (1) Building, (2) Innovation, and (3) Outstanding Achievement Awards.  The winners have been selected and listed below with a quick image.  There's seriously some excellent thinking at work here, so congratulations to everyone ...