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.

Iconic Dubai Anara Tower Looking Forward to LEED Silver Certification

Developer Tameer Holding has another iconic tower in the works for Dubai called Anara Tower.  Designed by Atkins, the 600 meter (~1969 feet) tower won't be as tall as the world's tallest tower, Burj Dubai, which is ~707 meter (~2,320 feet), but it's not too far behind.  With 125 stories, Anara will have office space, 300 residential apartments, 250 hotel keys, and all sorts of other luxury amenities, such as pools, shops, and sky gardens every 27 floors. The design was inspired by the minaret, tall spires near Muslim mosques, with a purpose of being instantly recognizable worldwide. 

Green Trailer Maxes Out Sustainability

This is the McCownGordon Construction Green Trailer.  Pretty nice, right?!  It was designed to use a fraction of the energy typically used by jobsite trailers and still provides a modern user experience on the inside.  The interesting thing about this trailer is that it was designed using Autodesk Revit to get everything just right: the panels were placed at the best angle to capture energy and clear overpasses, the composting toilet was modeled to show exterior vents, and the interior was modeled to perfect the wood patterns and overall design.  Plus, according to Brad Hardin, BIM Director for the company, this jobsite trailer is positive energy!

California Finds the Missing Piece of the CO2 Emissions Puzzle

This article was written by Charles Lockwood, a green real estate authority and consultant based in southern California and New York City.  His articles have appeared in the Harvard Business Review, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Barron’s.

California—the state that invented freeways and suburban sprawl—has become a trendsetter again, and not a moment too soon in our new age of global climate change.  In October 2008, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law SB375, which was supported by environmentalists, homebuilders, and cities and counties.  SB375 will limit the state’s CO2 emissions by curbing suburban sprawl and increasing transit-based development through various incentives. 

If a community plans walkable, mixed-use, transit-oriented growth that reduces automobile use and greenhouse gas emissions, for example, it gets moved to the front of the line for state and federal transportation funds.  If a proposed building is located near a transit line, it will have an easier environmental review process.  Why is SB375 important?

Evo Green Condos Looking for Silver

If you live in LA, you've probably heard about Evo and the rest of the newly planted green buildings in the South Park neighborhood (official referred to as "South").  Evo is expected to receive LEED Silver certification, joining its neighbors Luma and Elleven -- California's first LEED Gold condos.  At some point, we'll take the opportunity to talk about both Elleven and Luma as well, but since Newsday published these pictures of the model unit in Evo, we thought it'd be fun to take a look inside. 

EcoLogic Lofts Winds Up Green Chicago

This is the initial rendering for a project called EcoLogic Lofts in the Bucktown neighborhood of Chicago, a project that developers plan to break ground on in early 2009.  Shooting for LEED Silver certification, the 7-story, 94-unit condo building will source two percent of its power from rooftop wind turbines that look like those made by Aerotecture International (and which are also on Near North Apartments).  Located at Bucktown, Lakeview and Lincoln Park, EcoLogic Lofts will have one and two bedroom units with prices ranging from $239k - $499k. 

Blu Homes Moving Forward with Modern, Green, and Affordable Homes

When we first brought news of Blu Homes in July, the company was on the cusp of something interesting.  Since our first article, they've been busy with plans to design and build innovative, sustainable homes.  They've also been crunching the numbers and working on ways to design and build prefab homes that are legitimately affordable.  And with all the talk recently about prefab and affordability, we thought it'd be interesting to revisit a couple development projects of Blu Homes.  They have two homes in the pipeline that, I think, illustrate the case for affordable, modern, and green homes.

Will There Be One Global Green Building Standard to Rule Them All?

This article was written by Phil Clark who blogs about green building and development in the UK at Zerochampion.  Make sure to come back after visiting his site ...

Will there ever be one green building standard to rule them all?  It’s an interesting question given the explosion of new ones that are emerging around the globe: in the past month news has reached us over here of a new standard planned by the recently German Sustainable Building Council (this was discovered by Building Sustainability columnist and U.S. expert Jerry Yudelson, a reference of which is in this article) and of a new guide for eco-friendly projects in New Zealand.

Three Junipers Off-Grid itHouse Project

Earlier this year, we mentioned the high desert, off-grid itHouse by Taalman Koch Architecture and readers loved it.  Now, Taalman Koch has launched their new itHouse website and announced news of their Three Junipers development project.  Three Junipers is a planned community that will have three, 5-acre properties for pre-sale.  The properties come with a building pad, foundation, and plans for a 1600 sf, 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom itHouse.  At Three Junipers, itHouses will be off-grid and powered by both solar PV and solar thermal systems.  Plans include a Poliform chefs kitchen, covered dining patio, outdoor solar heated Plunge pool, suspended indoor Fireorb fireplace, outdoor courtyards with fireplaces, and covered 2 car carports. 

IndigoMODERN Green Townhouses

There's something about modern townhouses that I'm just drawn to.  Like these here in a community called IndigoMODERN.  IndigoMODERN is being developed in two phases with a total of 22 residential units.  Phase one had eleven units and nine are gone already.  The remaining two are being sold in the $299 - $350k range.  Better hurry (if you can get a loan)!  Designed by Rob Paulus Architect, these 1800 square-foot homes are uniquely green.  Make sure to check the photos below: