Last week, the formation of the new International Green Construction Code was announced through the partnership of several organizations already deeply connected with green building efforts. The preliminary version of the model code is now available for public review and comment.
If you work with LEED, you’re familiar with FSC, and if you read good books and magazines, you’ve probably seen both SFI and FSC. FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative) both certify and provide labels for wood and paper products. Consumers look to these for comfort with regard to environmental impact and sustainable harvesting of wood, but after you read Monte Paulsen’s five-part series on the topic for The Tyee, you may not be so sure about what’s going on.
The Fourth Annual Green Building Survey, published by Allen Matkins, CTG, and Green Building Insider, was just released. It’s quick and to the point with some interesting perspective on the attitude of design and construction professionals. That is, green construction and design remains a top priority, while LEED certification may not necessarily carry the same weight. The survey was conducted in February 2010 and received over 1,600 responses.
Yesterday, President Obama toured a training facility at Savannah Technical College and took the opportunity to outline more detail on the proposed HOMESTAR Energy Efficiency Retrofit Program. The program has been called "Cash for Caulkers" due to similarities with Cash for Clunkers, but we're going to stick with the HOMESTAR terminology. Here's some additional detail.
A few weeks ago, we mentioned the strong flat pack prefabs designed by Andrés Duany for Haiti. That effort is moving forward, and we've been able to catch a photo of a built prototype (see above). InnoVida Holdings, LLC, manufacturer of the lightweight fiber composite panels used to build the prototype, today announced plans to build a factory near Port-au-Prince and donate 1,000 of these houses to Haiti. It's a massive endeavor that could lead to the production of 10,000 homes per year and 250 direct jobs in the country.
If you had the chance to catch 60 Minutes on Sunday, you saw their exclusive on Bloom Energy. The company has been in stealth mode for some time, but all of that appears to be over. As reported by Lesley Stahl, which you can view in the video embedded below, Bloom makes a fuel cell that will be used to power homes (in the future) and commercial buildings (right now).
