Haymarket plan gets backing

WORLD-HERALD BUREAU LINCOLN -- Eleven current and former Lincoln City Council members turned out Tuesday to voice support for a $340 million plan to redevelop the historic Haymarket district, including building a $168 million arena to house Husker basketball, concerts and other public events. They said the project will help Lincoln grow and will end its reputation as a "status quo" city.

"If you stop growing, you start dying," said Joe Hampton, a real estate developer who served on the City Council from 1977 to 1998. Read More at the OWH website.

New USGBC Webinar Series: The Keys to Green Affordable Housing

Join USGBC for an important, free educational program – bringing you the tools you need to understand the intersection between green building and affordable housing.

Introducing The Keys to Green Affordable Housing: A Guide for Existing Multifamily Properties, a new online training designed to address key issues in the affordable housing sector, including: green multifamily retrofit projects, sustainable operations and maintenance of affordable housing buildings, and financial and incentive aspects of affordable projects. Register today for the three-part online training series, The Keys to Green Affordable Housing.

What You Will Learn
Join us as leaders in the field provide you with the lessons tools to:

• Identify cost effective strategies and key sustainable facility management measures – as well as incentives and financing opportunities – for green multi-family retrofits.
• Define key strategies to create healthier housing while ensuring long term durability and keeping cost down for building owner.
• Employ effective resident education and foster changes in resident behavior.
• Evaluate the costs, benefits, and potential savings of building green affordable housing.
• Discover the tools to aid in data collection and analysis.
  
  Register Today »

Energy ALERT Alliance Invites Nonprofit Organizations to Apply for Energy Efficient Lighting Grants

VistaBright Lighting, a national supplier of energy efficient lighting products, has announced a new nationwide grant program to provide qualifying nonprofit organizations with cash allowances and services for the purpose of installing new energy efficient lighting systems. Grants will be issued on a weekly basis until the March 31, 2010, program deadline. For more information, click here.

Let's make some noise for Google!

via Greater Omaha Young Professionals: Google recently announced plans to build and test ultra-high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the county. We want Google to select the Greater Omaha, Council Bluffs, Carter Lake metro as a site for their test!

According to Google, the Internet speeds would be "100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today." In fact, the projected speed is 1 gigabit per second.

Community support is very important to persuading Google to choose our area. What you can do: Become a fan of the Facebook page, then post comments and videos explaining why you want Google Fiber then Tell Google how you would utilize this ultra-high-speed Internet.

Video: LEED AP Credential Maintenance

For anyone who's wondering what to do now that they've opted into the new LEED AP + System, LEEDuser has a great video entitled "LEED AP Credential Maintenance—Cracking the Code". Check it out at http://www.leeduser.com/strategy/video-leed-ap-credential-maintenance.

There's also a GBCI streaming webcast available. The “I’m enrolled. Now what?” webcast is available to watch at http://lists.usgbc.org/t/1042398/27750436/2969/0/.

Energy Rescue Hosts Rick Brock of Omaha & Anne Trumble from New York

Today, Friday March 19th from 2-3:30pm at The Neighborhood Center (115 South 49th Avenue, Omaha, NE). Come and hear about the exciting plans to Climb Up the Silos 100 Feet! Experience a Confidence Course, Gardens & Rain Barrels, Effective Landscaping for water runoff, Amphitheatre for Outdoor Concerts & MOVIES and more, Bike and Walking Paths that Connect Our City

Enjoy a Special Presentation from Anne about Our Planet and Sustainability that Helps Our World! Contact: Tonya Ward @ Energy Rescue, Inc. - 402-238-1221, www.energyrescuenebraska.com

In U.S., Many Environmental Issues at 20-Year-Low Concern

Worry about all eight measures tested is down from last year
by Jeffrey M. Jones

PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans are less worried about each of eight specific environmental problems than they were a year ago, and on all but global warming and maintenance of the nation's fresh water supply, concern is the lowest Gallup has measured. Americans worry most about drinking-water pollution and least about global warming. Read the whole story on the Gallup website at http://www.gallup.com/poll/126716/Environmental-Issues-Year-Low-Concern.aspx

5) Energy Code Training, Compliance and Enforcement

If you missed NASEO’s February webinar for state and local officials on the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) and the specific provisions, under Section 410, related to Energy Code Training, Compliance and Enforcement – you can get more info and watch it now.

In addition to providing guidance on compliance with Section 410 of ARRA relating to building energy codes, the webinar delivered practical information to help states and municipalities improve their knowledge of building energy use, code development and implementation, technical assistance and training, code enforcement and compliance verification.

Nation’s First Set of Model Codes and Standards for Green Building in the U.S.

The International Code Council (ICC), the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES) today announce the launch of the International Green Construction Code (IGCC), representing the merger of two national efforts to develop adoptable and enforceable green building codes.

For decades, ICC and ASHRAE have worked to develop codes and standards that become the industry standard of care for the design, construction, operations and maintenance of residential and commercial buildings in the U.S. and internationally. In coordination with the efforts of ICC and ASHRAE, USGBC has been leading a nationwide green building movement centered on the LEED Green Building Rating System since LEED was launched in 2000. The convergence of these efforts in the IGCC is perhaps the most significant development in the buildings industry in the past 10 years.

Leveraging ICC’s unrivaled delivery infrastructure to reach all 50 states and more than 22,000 local jurisdictions and ASHRAE, USGBC and IES’s technical strengths, this partnership will accelerate the proliferation of green building codes and standards developed jointly by ICC, ASHRAE and USGBC and IES, across the country and around the globe. The newly launched International Green Construction Code (IGCC) establishes a previously unimaginable regulatory framework for the construction of high performance commercial buildings that are safe, sustainable and by the book.

The launch of this set of congruous green building codes and standards – that are both distinct and complementary to the role of green building rating systems in driving the market forward – is an exciting development for USGBC’s Codes Community.

For more information, read USGBC’s press release.

Members sought for ASHRAE committee

Members are being sought and changes proposed for the new standard for the design of high-performance green buildings published in January.
Source: ASHRAE -- Consulting-Specifying Engineer, 3/8/2010 10:11:00 AM

ANSI/ASHRAE/USGBC/IES Standard 189.1, Standard for the Design of High-Performance, Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, is the first code-intended commercial green building standard in the United States. The standard provides a long-needed green building foundation for those who strive to design, build, and operate green buildings. It covers key topic areas of site sustainability, water use efficiency, energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and the building's impact on the atmosphere, materials, and resources.
Under ASHRAE's continuous maintenance procedure, which allows requests for change to any part of the standard to be made at any time, changes have already been proposed [www.ashrae.org/publicreviews].

Open for public comment are addenda a and b. Addendum a makes the daylighting definitions and criteria consistent with changes recently proposed to Standard 90.1, which sets requirements for energy efficient buildings. Addendum b reduces the space limitation for daylighting requirements. Rather than requiring daylighting in space larger than 1,000 sq ft, the proposal would require it in spaces larger than 250 sq ft.

Members also are being sought for the committee developing the standard with slots opening July 1. The deadline to apply is March 31. For more information on membership, contact standards.section@ashrae.org

For complete information on the standard, visit www.ashrae.org/greenstandard.

Web-based Display Tracks Campus Energy Use

Harvard Medical School has debuted a new tool that allows members of the community to monitor energy consumption across campus in real time.

The interactive energy display, available at https://facilities.med.harvard.edu, allows users to choose which utilities to view—such as electricity, cooling or heating—and what units to view them in. The website receives continuous updates from a database that collects information from meters located in buildings around the HMS campus. Readings can be viewed for the entire campus or building by building. A historical usage graph displays usage patterns by the hour, day, week or month, which can be compared with the previous hourly, daily, weekly or monthly usage.

GBCI streaming webcast available

“I’m enrolled. Now what?” webcast is available to watch. Watch it now! Total running time is approximately 58 minutes. Questions: www.gbci.org/contact.

Greening the Heartland Early Registration

Early Registration Incentive Ends March 15. Only one week left to register at the early bird rates for Greening the Heartland 2010 featuring Green by Design to be held May 19 to 21 at the Minneapolis Convention Center! The conference seeks to provide key partners in all areas of the green building industry the opportunity to increase their knowledge base and network with others.

Greening the Heartland 2010 offers:

• 40 outstanding workshop sessions with a wide range of green building and design topics. (Conference hosts are applying for continuing education credits for GBCI CE Hours, AIA, Corporate Real Estate, AICP and more!)
• A robust and interactive exhibit hall with over 100 exhibitors showcasing green products and services. (Exhibitor stage speaking slots, exhibit booths, and sponsorship opportunities are still available!)
• Pre- and post-conference workshops and tours (including tours of Target Field, TCF Stadium, and other Twin Cities LEED developments).
• Social events and networking opportunities with the estimated 1,000 attendees from across the Midwest.
• Keynote speaker Cameron Sinclair of Architecture for Humanity. Sinclair is not only an architect, but an author, humanitarian, and world-class visionary.

Click here to view the full conference agenda and session descriptions. Click here to register online now! Students please forward a copy of your student ID to Don Giroux to receive the student rate.

Top 10 Green Building Bills Presented to Congress

The USGBC Board of Directors joined USGBC advocacy and executive staff Feb. 24 to deliver the USGBC message to the 111th Congress at the U.S. Capitol, releasing a top-10 list of green building policies. Please consider passing along the list, and if you are in touch with your senators or House representatives who have supported USGBC in the past – or who are sponsoring these leading bills – we encourage you to send them a thank you note. Please help us manage our relationships with the U.S. Congress and let Bryan Howard, manager of congressional affairs, know about any and all communications. Read more about the Top 10 List in a press release here and review the list itself here.

Greening the Heartland 2010 Early Bird Registration Ends March 15

The May 19-21 event will be held at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Co-hosted by the USGBC Minnesota Chapter and Minnesota Green Communities, the conference seeks to provide partners in all areas of the green building industry with educational and networking opportunities. The conference offers more than 40 sessions and tours, an exhibit hall and keynote speaker Cameron Sinclair of Architecture for Humanity.

To register, click here. Early bird rates end March 15.

Office building owners compete to cut the most energy

Source: The Seattle Times -- Consulting-Specifying Engineer, 3/3/2010 7:58:50 AM

According to a story in The Seattle Times, office buildings throughout the Puget Sound are going on a diet-an energy diet known as the "Kilowatt Crackdown."Now in its second year, the competition scores energy usage and identifies ways to save more. Last year the 53 buildings entered in the contest conserved enough energy to power 1,000 homes for one year, according to Rodney Kauffman, president of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) of King County. Read the full story.

Beyond Green awards recognize high-performance buildings

Source: Sustainable Buildings Industry Council -- Consulting-Specifying Engineer, 3/1/2010 9:16:15 AM

The Sustainable Buildings Industry Council (SBIC) has announced the results of its 2009 Beyond Green High-Performance Building Awards. The event was held in partnership with the High-Performance Buildings Congressional Caucus Coalition (HPBCCC) and showcased high-performance buildings and initiatives. The event also kicks off an educational outreach program for policymakers, building trade professionals, and the general public.

The 2009 Beyond Green High-Performance Building Awards attracted more than 40 entries from projects across the country. Entries were judged based on the eight design objectives which define a high-performance building: Sustainability, Accessibility, Aesthetics, Cost-Effectiveness, Functionality, Productivity/Health, Historic sensitivity, and Safety and Security.

The highly rigorous competition challenged public and private sector practitioners to demonstrate the successful application of the whole building approach by showing how they integrated the eight design objectives into their projects. The program is open to both SBIC members and nonmembers.

Submissions were entered in two categories: High-Performance Buildings and High-Performance Initiatives. High-Performance Building entries included commercial, government, institutional, residential, and school buildings. High-Performance Initiatives included policy programs, educational initiatives, consumer awareness efforts, research product development, and new construction processes.

SBIC's 2009 Beyond Green High-Performance Building Award Winners

Category A - High-Performance Buildings
First Place
Empire State Building, Integrated Energy Efficient Retrofit, New York, NY. Submitted by: Rocky Mountain Institute, Jones Lang LaSalle, Clinton Climate Initiative, Johnson Controls

Citations
Emerson's Energy-Efficient Global Data Center, St. Louis Innovative Solution for a Niche Market Application Submitted by: Emerson Electric Company

Charlotte Vermont House, Charlotte, VTUnique Regional Design Response Submitted by: Pill - Maharam Architects

Kroon Hall, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CTIntegrated Design ProcessSubmitted by: Centerbrook Architects and Planners

Category B - High-Performance Initiatives
Citation
Water Independence in Oregon's Buildings, Portland, ORStewardship of Water ResourcesSubmitted by: SERA Architects & Interface Engineering

The recognized projects will be featured on SBIC's web site, described in depth as case studies on the Whole Building Design Guide, and integrated into a variety of SBIC educational programs.

City Sustainability Coordinator to Speak at GBC Meeting

From the Green Omaha Coalition: Kristi Wamstad-Evans, the city of Omaha’s first sustainability coordinator, will speak at the March GBC meeting. She will inform guests about the city’s sustainability activities since she was hired last September, including the development of the comprehensive Energy Efficiency Master Plan to create and guide energy consumption policies and practices going forward. She will also discuss how the city plans to administer the $4.3 million in Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant funds.

When: March 24, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
Where: Whole Foods, 10200 Regency

The meeting will be followed by the always popular Green Drinks in the same location.