Green Building : Jetson Green

What Makes a Green Home "Green?"

This is the question: What do you consider to be the single most important factor in determining if a home is 'green?' 

According to the results of a study performed by Synovate and commissioned by FreeGreen (the semi-free house plan provider that's designed Tiny Houses, Smart Boxes, View Boxes, and more), American homeowners collectively feel that in terms of a home's greenness, energy efficiency and environmentally friendly materials rank higher on the list than healthy materials and location.  Here's how homeowners answered:

How to Unlock Energy Efficiency as a National, Low-Cost Resource

Unless you live in a cave, you've probably heard about McKinsey & Company's new report called Unlocking Energy Efficiency in the U.S. Economy.  Starting in 2008, a research team from McKinsey began working with companies, experts, agencies, and NGOs to (1) understand the net present value (NPV) positive potential of energy efficiency gains, (2) identify barriers to realizing these gains, and (3) outline practical solutions to unlock the potential energy efficiency gains.  This comprehensive report documents that effort.

Timberlake's Mirimichi Golf Course Receives Top Ecological Designation

So the question is: "Is it possible for a golf course to be 'green?'"

In October 2008, we discussed celebrity Justin Timberlake's green plans for Big Creek Golf Course, and last week, some of these plans came to fruition.  At the press conference on Friday, Timberlake discussed his experiment to green a golf course, and decided that it can successfully be done (see video below).  Located just north of downtown Memphis, the newly renovated, par-72 course is now called Mirimichi, which means "place of happy retreat," and features 7,400 yards of play. 

PNC Brands Headquarters with Largest Living Wall in North America

Update 9/22/09: Largest Green Wall in North America is Complete!

In a recent press release, PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC) announced plans to install a 2,380 square-foot, soil-based living wall on the southerly exterior of the company's Pittsburgh headquarters building, One PNC Plaza.  The living wall, pending municipal approval and installation in September 2009, will be the largest green living wall in North America.  Produced by Green Living Technologies and designed by Mingo Design, a careful arrangement of locally-sourced plants will brand the building with PNC's logo. 

Reburbia Your Exurban Suburbia

We usually like to leave the competition news to Bustler, but our friends at Dwell Magazine and Inhabitat have an interesting Reburbia Design Competition in the works.  It's a competition to re-envision the suburbs -- a call to all future-forward architects, urban designers, renegade planners, and imaginative engineers.  You can submit up to five (5) images and a statement about your design proposal.  Entries will be judged on clarity of idea, usefulness of design, and visual/aesthetic appeal of renderings. Here's a little more:

Beyond Platinum City Hall Proposal

According to the Union-Tribune, a $432 million project is making its way to San Diego City Council for consideration as the new San Diego City Hall.  Although still in early stages, developer Gerding Edlen indicates that the design is beyond LEED Platinum, and according to some, it could be one of the greenest buildings on the West Coast if built.  The 23-story building, with a design that kind of resembles a large sail, has some of the following green elements:

The Concept of LEED De-certification

LEED Version 3 has some new aspects, and the green building community is trying to understand the ins and outs.  One aspect has been talked about strenuously in the past week, and I thought we should ground ourselves a little bit.  Let’s take a step back and look at Minimum Program Requirements (“MPRs”), the concept of de-certification, or certification revocation, and whether this all means that projects can lose certification if they do not perform as designed.

Greener Jobs: Build It Green, LEED Linc, and Green Key Real Estate

We just opened up a free, beta service for readers at Greener Jobs this week.  The response has been great, and the site has three new job listings already.  If you're a company and you want to step out in front of smart, green talent, we'll try to help you out with our free listings.  If you're the smart, green talent, don't disappoint us.  Check these positions out:

• Event Project Manager, Build It Green, Berkeley / Bay Area, CA
• LEED AP Sales Exec, LEED Linc, Great Barrington, MA
• Real Estate Agent, Green Key Real Estate, SF / Bay Area, CA

Also, follow @greenerjobs on Twitter for more green job listings.

A Smart Green Living Zero Home

This is the Living Zero Home, which was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy and built by All American Homes.  The home was on display in Chicago last weekend and will move to about fifteen other destinations throughout the year, including Louisville, Greensboro, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Dallas, Phoenix, and Denver, among other cities.  The modern demonstration home features a Smart Living System -- both an energy management and home monitoring tool -- which helps owners save money and provides an alert for potential problems, such as a water pipe leak.  The home includes a number of other green elements, too:

New Service: Green Building Jobs

You may have noticed in Saturday's Week in Review, but we're now rolling out a free, beta green building jobs service.  We've added a link to the navigation above and already published a couple great looking job opportunities.  The market can be tough on all of us -- whether you're a company in need of remarkable employees or an employee in need of remarkable opportunities -- make sure to use Greener Jobs.