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The Easier Way To Find A Green Remodeling Contractor

November 17, 2010 By 4 Comments
Green Contractor

Today's guest blogger is Woodrow Aames, a regular blog contributor over on ReliableRemodeler.com, who put out great articles about homeownership and particularly how to connect with the right contractor for your given project.  Luckily for us, some of their writers have contributed material to this blog before. In this case, Woodrow talks about the business of finding a green remodeler, using a tool we all know and love; The INTERNET! *** Everyone will tell you, the best way to find a … [Read more...]

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Al Gore Speaks About Green Building

November 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Recently, former American Vice-President, Presidential hopeful, and more recent environmentalist speaker and author Al Gore delivered a keynote address to the USGBC Greenbuild Conference. Items he touched upon included green building mandates, the effectiveness of USGBC leadership, calling out greenwashing, and the folly of unsustainable dependency on fossil fuels as a means of stabilizing our economies and ways of life all over the world.  Ultimately though, Gore's perspective is that with innovation … [Read more...]

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Happy World Green Building Day!

September 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

It seems to me that when civilization is on the cusp of a new era, one of the things that hurries it along is International cooperation.  And a big part of that is not just about governments and nations coming together to talk about common legislation.  It's also about inviting citizens to take part in the process, through dialogue and through education, too. The movement toward globalizing green building practices seems to be moving closer and closer into the public eye with the first annual … [Read more...]

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Green Building: Healthy Competition

September 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

What's the best way to drive creativity, to push the boundaries of excellence, to raise the bar in any field?  Well, it's usually by engaging our competitive spirits, with skills pitted against skills, vying for first place and the respect and adulation of one's peers.  Recognizing and encouraging passion helps, too. Well, not only is this true in the world of sports and the performing arts,  it's also true of architecture and design as it pertains to green building.  Maybe this is not such … [Read more...]

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McKinsey Report: Green Building Can Save U.S 1.2 Trillion

July 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The recently published McKinsey report has outlined a significant dollar value attached to green building and energy efficiency; 1.2 trillion dollars.  In addition, the investment in incorporating green building practices has also created tremendous job-creation possibilities.  This is clearly good news in such economically uncertain times.  Yet, the process isn't a simple one. The goal of creating more while using less is not only a logical one, but also one that pays better.  And yet, the … [Read more...]

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Bamboo Homes: Green Building In and Out of the Box

July 27, 2009 By Leave a Comment

To continue thoughts on pre-fab homes and the relationship to green building, I was looking around the interwebs for more examples of pre-fab building with regard to LEED points and sustainable construction. In doing so, I happened across the website of a USGBC member company called Bamboo Living.  This company features modular model homes as constructed entirely of bamboo.  And the homes they build are ICC-ES certified in the United States. For more about the product that Bamboo Living are … [Read more...]

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Green Building Standards Aligned to Your Personality and Goals

July 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

In reading this article about green building, it's hard to disagree with the idea that green building is here to stay.  And as it's been established, this is not just because green building makes sense in terms of a more efficient use of resources.  It also makes financial sense, too. That aside, the eternal question is 'what is green'? Two of the means in measuring it which are becoming known as universal standards are LEED and NAHB, both applying to the whole of a project, not just individual … [Read more...]

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Chasing bad guys the green way!

March 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Apparently, the FBI has gone green.  Or at least, the property where the FBI offices are located in Chicago have been recognized as such by the U.S Green Building Council.  You can read the story here, courtesy of the San Antonio Business Journal. The credit here actually goes to the company from whom the FBI are leasing the property, USAA.  The company was awarded a coveted platinum LEED certification. Perhaps this is another indication that the green building movement is becoming mainstream.  … [Read more...]

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LEED certification means long-term benefits

March 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

In reading about changes to LEED thanks to this article from the Richmond VA based Richmond Times Dispatch,  my mind turned to the idea of green building in the face of our current economic downturn. One of the major changes to LEED recently, says the article, is a greater emphasis on energy conservation and the reduction of emissions that contribute to global climate change.  This of course represents a benefit which isn't exactly an instant pay-off to builders.  And in this current economic … [Read more...]

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LEED 2009: Significant Changes

January 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I think it was the Canadian media philosopher Marshall McLuhan who said: “The only way to keep up is to stay ahead.” These words might apply to LEED building standards. LEED certified professionals (LEED AP) will have some studying to do to get up to speed with proposed changes for LEED 2009, or LEED V3. LEED 2009 will incorporate New Construction, Core and Shell, Commercial Interiors, Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance and Schools. Several significant changes are … [Read more...]

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