*WIR = Week in Review; a Saturday showcase of excellent links.
The AIA has been publishing some interesting analysis of U.S. green building programs, which I wanted to share with all you enthusiasts. In their report, Local Leaders in Sustainability, the AIA looked at 661 communities, or cities with a population greater than 50,000 people, and conducted research of each communities’ green building programs. The AIA spoke with planners and other officials from 606 cities, getting a 92% response rate. They found that 92 of the 606 responding cities had green building programs — or to put that in perspective, over 42 million people live in cities with green building programs. The report also elaborated on program trends and includes case studies of programs in Portland, San Francisco, Scottsdale, Chicago, Austin, and Atlanta.
[+] Top Five American Green Buildings [Building]
[+] Leading Ecoblogger Reveals Top Green Picks [Building]
As we noted here a few weeks ago, the draft for a new version of U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program was released for public comment and review. In general, as a LEED Accredited Professional, what I saw in the program looked good. The changes that are proposed will make improvements to the system. Below is a discussion of changes we can look forward to in the next generation of LEED.
Just a little over a year ago, on May 4, 2007, Greensburg, Kansas was smashed by a tornado that pretty much decimated everything. Since that time, the city has made news all over the world for its ambitions to rebuild everything in an environmentally-friendly way. City buildings larger than about 4000 sf will be LEED Platinum, etc. So this building, 547 Arts Center, is an example of the green reconstruction process going on in Greensburg. 547 Arts Center is the first building certified as LEED Platinum in Kansas and has some incredible green elements — not to mention three small wind turbines twirling away above the roof line.
Project Profiles
