Green Certified Floor Space to Increase 900% by 2020

BOULDER, Colo.—Space recognized as "green" by building certification programs will increase from 6 billion ft2 (557 million m2) in 2010 to 53 billion ft2 (4.9 billion m2) worldwide in 2020, according to a recent report by Pike Research. By 2020, 80% of certified buildings will be in the commercial sector, up from 73% currently. The report says most commercial green certifications will be retrofits of existing buildings, while in the residential sector most certified buildings will be new construction. Lower building operating costs, government regulations mandating greener buildings, and corporate social responsibility initiatives are cited as drivers of the trend.Click here to read the Pike Research report.

DOE Funds Projects to Increase Building Energy Efficiency

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded more than $76 million in stimulus funding to support advanced energy-efficient building technology projects and training programs for commercial building operators, auditors and technicians. The funding will be split among 58 projects to make buildings more energy efficient and cost-effective. More than $22 million will go to net zero energy building projects; another $22 million to develop improvements in envelope and window technologies to improve energy efficiency; and nearly $6 million will go to projects to improve analysis, design and technical tools.Read more

Washington State Delays Building Energy Mandates

SEATTLE—Washington state's new energy efficiency building standards were to become effective July 1, but have been delayed by at least three months. Earlier this month, the governor asked the State Building Code Council for a nine-month delay. She said it was needed to help the construction industry stabilize. The council responded by delaying the new building energy code by three months and will consider this fall whether a delay of nine months is needed after holding public hearings. The Building Industry Association of Washington sued the state in U.S. District Court in May, saying the standards exceed federal requirements. Read more

Scholarship for LEED APs/Associates: Distance Learning Degree in Green Building

There is a new extended scholarship discount for LEED APs, associates and members of the USGBC: Master of Science in Green Building and Sustainable Design Degree from the San Francisco Institute of Architecture (SFIA). If you missed the first discounted tuition deadline, a new scholarship discount that is still extremely generous has been arranged: $1,950 for LEED APs, associates and members of the USGBC, through July 7, 2010. To enroll: http://www.sfia.net/D6113-R19.msgb

Draft FY 2011-2015 EPA Strategic Plan Available for Public Comment

In accordance with the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is releasing its Draft FY 2011-2015 Strategic Plan for public review and comment through July 30, 2010. Comments on the Draft Strategic Plan may be submitted at www.regulations.gov (Docket ID: EPA-HQ-OA-2010-0486). All comments received will be carefully considered as the Agency moves forward to transmit the final FY 2011-2015 Strategic Plan to the Congress by September 30, 2010.

EPA also welcomes your ideas and input on the cross-cutting fundamental strategies contained in the Draft Plan through a discussion forum available at https://blog.epa.gov/strategicplan. The Agency will use the feedback provided through this discussion forum as it implements the cross-cutting fundamental strategies and takes actions to tangibly change the way the EPA does its work.
Any questions regarding the Draft Plan may be forwarded to Strategic_Plan@epa.gov.

NREL Evaporative AC Could Reduce Energy Use by 50%–90%

GOLDEN, Colo.—The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has invented a new air-conditioning process that it claims has the potential to use 50% to 90% less energy than the most efficient current units.

The Desiccant-Enhanced evaporative air conditioner (DEVap) uses membrane technology to combine the efficiency of evaporative cooling and the drying potential of liquid desiccant salt solutions. "The idea is to revolutionize cooling, while removing millions of metric tons of carbon from the air," said NREL mechanical engineer Eric Kozubal, Associate Member ASHRAE, one of the inventors of the DEVap. NREL plans to eventually license the technology to industry. Read more.

Live Webcast - Meeting of the Minds, June 16 - 18

Via Lincoln Green by Design:
There will be a live webcast of this week's Meeting of the Minds 2010 conference. Click here to view the live webcast.

Meeting of the Minds website
Meeting of the Minds agenda
Meeting of the Minds speakers

Meeting of the Minds 2010 is two-plus days of intensive exchange for leaders creating more sustainable cities using smarter design tools, sounder environmental practices and cleaner energy systems. Hosted by the Joslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities in partnership with the Urban Age Institute, Meeting of the Minds is the premier leadership summit for sustainable cities in the United States.

Help Save the Industrial Arts Building

via Lincoln Green by Design - At the June 8th Lincoln Green by Design meeting, Diane Walkowiak gave a presentation on efforts to save the Industrial Arts Building located on the site of UNL's Innovation Campus. A letter of support was written by W. Cecil Steward, FAIA, president of the Joslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities, for Diane to present to the Board of Regents at their meeting Friday, June 11, 2010. If you would like to add your support, you can sign an online petition that will also be presented to the Regents at a later date. To sign the petition, find other ways to help, or for more information visit http://savetheiab.com/default.aspx

Free GBCI CE Hours: Educational Webcast Series for Members

USGBC’s network of third-party Education Providers offer LEED Professionals a unique opportunity to round out their professional development and are a great supplement to USGBC’s core LEED curriculum. Through the end of the year, we are happy to offer all employees of USGBC member organizations a series of Education Provider webcasts, all free and all qualified for GBCI Continuing Education (CE) hours toward your LEED Professional Credential maintenance.

June 17, 3 p.m. ET: 123 LEED-NC Certification: How to Be a Hero & Deliver Great Post Occupancy Performance
Offered by Leonardo Academy Learn more and register now »

July 15, 3 p.m. ET: Technologies for Sustainable Streets: Building Livable Communities
Offered by Ron Blank & Associates, Inc Learn more and register now »

Aug. 17, 3 p.m. ET: Light Control and LEED: How Light Control Helps Achieve LEED in New Construction
Offered by Lutron ElectronicsRegistration to come; stay tuned to Member Update and the Member Webcasts & Podcasts page.

Sept. 1, 3 p.m. ET: Understanding Green Schools
Offered by Environmental Design + Construction MagazineRegistration to come; stay tuned to Member Update and the Member Webcasts & Podcasts page.

Sept. 15, 3 p.m. ET: Solid State Lighting: A New Tool in Your Toolbox
Offered by Energy Center UniversityRegistration to come; stay tuned to Member Update and the Member Webcasts & Podcasts page.

Oct. 18, 3 p.m. ET: Minimum Program Requirements of LEED
Offered by Green Education ServicesRegistration to come; stay tuned to Member Update and the Member Webcasts & Podcasts page.

Nov. 9, 3 p.m. ET: Biomimicry – Emulating Nature’s Genius
Offered by BrightworksRegistration to come; stay tuned to Member Update and the Member Webcasts & Podcasts page.

Dec. 8, 3 p.m. ET: Introduction to Corporate Social Responsibilty, Sustainability & Green Business
Offered by UC Irvine ExtensionRegistration to come; stay tuned to Member Update and the Member Webcasts & Podcasts page.

These webcasts were selected by you, our members, in last month’s Member Survey. Each webcast is eligible for 1 GBCI CE hour, and because these webcasts have been reviewed by USGBC, a GBCI-approved Education Reviewing Body, they may be reported to GBCI under the unrestricted “professional development” activity type for LEED Professional Credential maintenance.

USGBC Heartland Award Winners

The USGBC Heartland Chapter Awards Jury is thrilled to announce the results! It was a very tough decision. All of these award winners submissions could be duplicated, if not in totality at least in part, by every chapter.

Grand Prize (*Prize: $500 from Mohawk – Special Thanks to Mohawk)
USGBC Nebraska Flatwater Chapter : Extremely innovative advocacy idea that will have a ripple effect across USGBC chapters as a best practice for green schools. This impacts not only our current generation but the future membership.

1. First Place (*Prize: Five USGBC Reference Guides) USGBC Illinois Chapter: The Urban Open community garden project is an exemplary community engagement and urban renewal project, with a very critical urban youth mentorship program. A notable tidbit: This project stemmed out of the Greening the Heartland 2005 Legacy Project.

2. Second Place (*Prize: Three USGBC Reference Guides - $450 value) The Chicago chapter received a grant from the Victoria Foundation for a regional green building case study. This project is one of the first post-occupancy studies to employ such a broad scope of metrics. It is also among the first to collect multiple years of post-occupancy data and provide ongoing analysis of initial participants while adding additional projects in subsequent years.

3. Third Place (*Prize: One USGBC Reference Guides - $150 value) – St. Louis Chapter recognized that clear and effective guidance on LEED CMP was needed and convened an Education Task force to get information out to their members. The chapter provides additional tools on their website and had great participation in their educational events.

4. HONORABLE MENTION (*Webinar of their choice delivered directly to their chapter by National Chapters Department)
*St. Louis High Performance Building Initiative and Higher Education Luncheons
*Minnesota Chapter Getting a Return on Green and Sustainable Communities Forum
*Central Plains Sustainable Communities Bright Futures, Kansas City Climate Sustainability Center Visioning, Greater Kansas City Plug-in Readiness Task Force and Government Policy Subgroup, and Green Impact Zone

Honeywell and DuPont Announce Joint Venture to Manufacture New Automotive Refrigerant

Low-Global-Warming-Potential Alternative Meets New European Environmental Regulations

MORRIS TOWNSHIP, N.J., and WILMINGTON, Del., May 20, 2010 – Honeywell (NYSE: HON) and DuPont (NYSE: DD) today announced a manufacturing joint venture to produce a new refrigerant for use in automotive air conditioning systems. The new refrigerant has 99.7 percent lower global warming potential (GWP) than the current refrigerant.

Under the agreement, DuPont and Honeywell will share financial and technological resources with the intent to jointly design, construct and operate a world-scale manufacturing facility for the new refrigerant, known as HFO-1234yf. The product meets European Union regulatory requirements for lower GWP refrigerants for automobile air conditioning systems. DuPont and Honeywell developed the product jointly but will market and sell it separately.

Read more at http://www51.honeywell.com/honeywell/news-events/press-releases-details/10_0520_Honeywell_Dupont.html

"Sustainable Hospitality: Improving Energy Efficiency and Reducing Costs with ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager" Webinar

When: Tuesday, June 22nd from Noon-1:30pm EST

EPA Region 4 and ENERGY STAR® present this FREE Webinar to explore the concept of energy management, discuss the financial and environmental reasons why hotel operators should be paying attention to their energy performance and demonstrate how to benchmark your hotel using the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tool. Hear from a peer hotel operator who is using Portfolio Manager to track energy, identify opportunities for improvements and set reduction targets. To register for this session, please visithttps://energystar.webex.com/energystar/k2/j.php?ED=137292552&UID=1132246762&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D&FM=1.

Educare of Omaha at Indian Hill Elementary Achieves LEED Silver Certification

Omaha Public Schools, Educare of Omaha at Indian Hill Elementary and RDG Planning & Design, announce the Educare of Omaha at Indian Hill Elementary has been awarded LEED Silver Certification established by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI). This project is the first Educare facility in the nation and the first OPS-affiliated facility to be rewarded with a LEED standard for highly sustainable design and construction.

Sponsored by the Omaha Public Schools and the Buffett Early Childhood Fund, Educare of Omaha at Indian Hill Elementary facility serves 200 children and their families. The facility offers a state-of-the-art early childhood education program for economically disadvantaged children from birth to age five as well as early childhood resources for parents and the Omaha Community. Completed in 2009, the facility, having achieved LEED Silver Certification, can help create awareness and teach the community to incorporate money-saving techniques into their own homes through the various examples of sustainable strategies used throughout the building.
From natural light and indoor air quality to environmentally responsible materials, this facility incorporates design decisions that benefit children and staff. Providing a healthy and sustainable learning environment gives resident children and their parents a greater awareness of environmental responsibility.

To provide a healthy environment and aid in the process of teaching children at a young age about sustainable practices, RDG used several key elements throughout the project to enhance the buildings sustainability standards. Items such as a highly effective building envelope that serves as a thermal blanket, covering the building to keep heating and air conditioning costs to a minimum, as well as the installation of efficient heating and air units designed to further reduce the energy use in the building, said Brian Spencer, Architect for RDG Planning & Design.

Use of recyclable materials was another element that helped the building achieve LEED Silver Certification. The steel frame of the building is composed of over 95% recycled steel, and many of the playground components contain post-consumer recycled plastic materials such as milk jugs, plastic bags, etc, said Spencer. Other products containing recycled materials are carpet and drywall that were used within the building. In addition, concrete and asphalt removed as waste from area construction sites was ground and incorporated to help form the parking lot and sidewalks for the facility.

The project used locally-manufactured materials wherever possible to contribute to sustainability goals as well as gain additional cost savings for the Educare center. Bricks for the building came from within this region, and aggregate, used in the concrete and asphalt mixes was provided by area rock quarries. Concrete for the project also contained fly ash, a bi-product captured from the chimneys of coal-fired power plants. “Fly ash is a cost-effective resource when used in place of cement and improves concrete performance,” said Spencer, “Its use reduces the need for cement production – a major energy user and source of greenhouse gas emissions.”

Other items that contribute to the efficiency of the facility are: dual-flush valve toilets, low-flow sink faucets, individual temperature controls in the classrooms, and highly efficient lighting fixtures combined with ample day-lighting in the corridors. When planning this facility for children and considering their health, it was important to provide adequate circulation to improve air quality, and select materials that are free of harmful chemicals. “We used low VOC paints, flooring and other materials to minimize the emission of harmful fumes,” said Spencer. We also chose materials that are easy to maintain and keep clean, since children at this young age are so active, he said.

Sustainability, by the numbers:
-Energy Savings – Electricity 15.8%, Natural Gas 53.4% over comparable building based on cost
-Water Savings – 36.7% over the average code compliant building based on gallons used
-Recycled materials – 25% of building materials
-Regional materials – 32% of building materials from regional sources

The LEED plaque representing the certification of this facility will be presented to the OPS Board of Education during the June board meeting on June 7th.

Building on the success of the Educare of Omaha at Indian Hill Elementary facility, RDG is working with Omaha Public Schools to incorporate sustainable design principles into other current OPS projects. The addition to North Omaha High School Science Center is in its final stages of construction to be ready for students next fall. Also in the design phase is a new elementary school near 42nd & V Streets with construction anticipated to begin in October of this year. Both projects are on track to achieve LEED certification through the USGBC.

New USGBC NFC Chapter Sponsor

Welcome and thank-you to Kiewit (Gold Level) for their generous sponsorship of our chapter!

Earn Recognition as a Bicycle Friendly Business

Check out the invitation from RDG below...

New Opportunity to Order Additional ENERGY STAR Plaques

The ENERGY STAR is the mark of superior energy performance and identifies a building as one of the most efficient buildings in the nation. Each building that earns the ENERGY STAR receives a plaque to display that publicly demonstrates an organization’s environmental leadership and commitment to superior energy performance.

To provide you with more opportunities to commemorate the achievement of earning the ENERGY STAR, you may now purchase additional plaques for display. Beginning June 1, 2010, an order form to purchase additional plaques will be included with the plaque you receive from EPA. For your convenience, three methods of ordering will be made available. To order, please note certain information, including the Building ID Number found on the Statement of Energy Performance, will be required to complete the purchase.

If you have questions, please contact 1-888-STAR-YES.

Assessors Begin Examining Buildings in Building EQ Pilot

Engineers across the United States have begun assessing the energy use of selected buildings as part of ASHRAE's Building Energy Quotient (Building EQ) program. The pilot program was launched in December 2009. Seventeen provisional assessors will assess energy use in participating buildings. The findings will then be provided to building operators as a scale that conveys the building’s energy use in comparison to similar buildings. One assessor is Matthew Dwyer P.E., Associate Member ASHRAE. "After spending time onsite, we then work with the building owner to understand the building systems and provide goals and suggestions on future improvements," said Dwyer. "The intent is to create a path so that more and more buildings can move from a low grade to a top grade.” Read more

Green Roof Industry Grew 16.1% in 2009

TORONTO—The North American green roof industry grew by 16.1% in 2009, according to Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC). The organization has published its 2010 Industry Survey, which includes a ranking of the top 10 cities in terms of green roof installations. Chicago ranked first in the list, with more than 500,000 ft2 (46 000 m2) installed. Washington, D.C., was second. According to GRHC, an estimated 10 million ft2 (929 000 m2) of green roofs are installed in North America. Read more

BofA tower gets top green-building rating

Originally Published: May 20, 2010 9:04 AM
Modified: May 20, 2010 11:32 AM from Craine's Real Estate
950-foot tower earns first LEED-Platinum honor; tower designed to use two-thirds less power, save 7.7M gallons of water and please more tenants.

By James Comtois
New York's second tallest building is now its first high-rise commercial building to receive LEED-Platinum certification, the highest "green" building rating for environmental performance.
The 54-story, 2.1 million-square-foot Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park, at Sixth Avenue and West 42nd Street, was certified under the LEED Core & Shell designation for providing occupants with cleaner air and more natural light, while conserving energy and other natural resources within the building. (Read More at the link above).

UNMC Receives $8 Million in Stimulus Funds for Major Renovation of Cancer Research Facility

The University of Nebraska Medical Center has been awarded $8 million in stimulus funding for major renovation of its aging Eppley Cancer Institute building. The grant is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Center for Research Resources under the provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The grant, which is one of the largest stimulus funding awards in Nebraska to date, brings the total UNMC stimulus funds to $20.2 million. About $2.7 million from Nebraska Legislative Bill 605 will supplement the renovation. The bill was passed in 2006 to allow the university to renovate older buildings in need of repair.

The project will replace antiquated, inefficient and deteriorating building systems and space in the nearly 50-year old building. The renovation will substantially improve practically every facet, including mechanical, electrical, plumbing, heating, cooling and windows. A fire sprinkler system also will be installed. Fixed laboratory equipment will be included.
Construction is scheduled to start after bids are received in February 2011 and is scheduled to be completed in June 2012. Project design is underway. Read More here.

Submit an Event

Have an event you'd like listed on the USGBC Nebraska Flatwater events calendar? Check out our new 'Submit an Event' form at http://usgbcne.org/?Get_Involved:Submit_an_Event.