The Sidwell Friends School is the first LEED Platinum-rated K-12 school in the world, but what’s incredible is the story behind it.  First, it’s a renovation of a fifty year old facility.  Second, the renovation involved the students, so everyone was able to participate and learn about the benefits of a green building.  Matter of fact, about sixteen 5th – 8th graders studied the building, wrote about its benefits, and recorded an audio feature explaining each green feature.  Feel free to take the green building tour to learn about low-VOC materials, CO2 monitoring, natural light, native plants, the green roof and biology pond, photovoltaic panels, a heat recovery wheel, vertical solar fins, and the settling tank, etc.  This is quite the impressive interactive visual/audio tour.  Seriously, great work. 

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It’s Friday, why not watch a little video?  High quality video content like this is hard to find online, so I thought I would share it.  A lot of people think green building is about saving energy.  It is.  But that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.  Buildings. Use. Water. Materials. Land. Space. Air. And. Money.  Click on over to KQED for some background information on the above video. 

This home isn’t necessarily modern, but it has all the modern conveniences one could ask for: solar panels, small wind, radiant floor heating, air filtration system, and a trombe wall, etc.  Kent and Kathy Lawrence’s custom country home, which was completed in 2005, ended up costing roughly $300 psf.  The wind turbine alone came in at a cool $37,100 (producing 13,000 kwh/year), and that’s without tax subsidies.  And unlike many custom homes that tend to explore new boundaries of profusion, this home is only 2,200 sf.  Not bad.  But the Lawrence’s weren’t just concerned with smart design and energy efficiency.  Currently, they’re removing invasive plant species and planting native flowers, just trying to be gentle stewards of the land they inhabit.  I think this is a rather picturesque setting for a home … much the American Dream. 

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• Vehicle to Grid Technology – Power to the people: run your house on a Prius. 
• Fitter. Happier. Better. Greener.  Science shows sustainable design does more than help the Earth, it makes you feel better, too. 
• AlwaysOn Going Green 100 – a first annual list of the hottest private companies in greentech. 
• There’s a new trend in residential energy: being the first small wind turbine on the block. 
• Aspiring to be America’s greenest city, state commitment helps Sacramento rank No. 2 in energy efficient office space. 

I really like Haworth.  In short, Haworth is a leader in office furniture and architectural interiors.  They do everything with a commitment to appealing aesthetics, thoughtful ergonomics, and sustainability.  I came in contact with some Haworth employees when I was finishing my JD/MBA program in Dallas, and they gave me a personal tour of the super-stylish Dallas showroom (a commercial interiors office display built to LEED-CI Gold standards).  Now, Haworth is working on a major, award-winning overhaul of their Holland, Michigan Headquarters.  The 300,000 sf renovation was designed to meet LEED-NC Gold standards; some of the building’s green features include the following:

• The new facade will have a sun-filled atrium and vegetated green roof, blending the boundary between the structure and natural environment;
• All of the interior 830 workstations will have access to daylight views;
• Over 99% of the existing materials collected during deconstruction and recovery are being recycled; and
• Although the footprint of the building will increase by 20%, energy use will remain at pre-renovation levels due to sustainability improvements. 

Of the green headquarters, Haworth Chairman Dick Haworth said, "The new Haworth Center will be a leading example of change. We’re not just building a better building … we’re building a better future."

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