Green Building

Nalco providing essential expertise for water, energy and air, announced today that its global corporate headquarters building in Naperville, Ill., outside Chicago has earned the U.S. Green Building Council’s Gold Certification for Existing Buildings. More than 800 Nalco employees in various administrative, supply chain, finance and marketing departments work in the 417,500 square foot complex. “We are proud to become one of a handful of buildings in the Chicago area to have achieved LEED Gold certified status,” said Mary Kay Read more ⇒

The green building pioneer’s newest initiative serves as the center of dialogue, policy development and innovation for green schools Today, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announces its newest initiative, The Center for Green Schools at USGBC. There are nearly 140,000 schools, colleges and universities in the United States; no one has ever counted the buildings, but thousands are barely built to code. The Center for Green Schools is how USGBC is working toward the ambitious goal of ensuring everyone Read more ⇒

Best Green Building Practices in Developing Countries The January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti destroyed or severely damaged an estimated 200,000 homes, 30,000 commercial buildings, and 180 government buildings. Since the earthquake, building practices and guidelines in Haiti have been a topic of global discussion with many organizations inside and outside the country hoping to rebuild a more sustainable Haiti. But the topic of sustainability in Haiti raises some challenging questions. What does sustainability mean in Haiti? What frameworks, green Read more ⇒

Behind every green building is an architect. A recent survey conducted by Lance Hosey for Architect magazine asked 150 green building experts, including architects, what they thought were the five most important green buildings constructed since 1980. The top vote-getter, with 13 votes, was the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies in Oberlin, Ohio. The Lewis Center, which was completed in 2001, is on the campus of Oberlin College & Conservatory. The zero-energy building has classroom and office space, Read more ⇒

As this year’s Habitat for Humanity homebuilding campaign gets under way, the organization based in Greater Stark and Carroll Counties will continue its leadership contributing to the international aim of building 5,000 energy-efficient, environmentally sustainable homes. Local leaders this year launched the “Habitat Grows Green” initiative to raise public awareness about the viability of earth-friendly building methods and materials. The group is out to demonstrate that when it comes to building a new home, the best of “green” and “affordable” Read more ⇒

Think the trend of businesses making green office renovations is just a passing fad? Not according to the latest issue of EL Insights, which reports that the U.S. green building market value will balloon from $71.1 billion now to $173 billion by 2015. Commercial green building is expected to grow by 18.1% annually during the same time period from $35.6 billion to $81.8 billion. In this case, green building is defined as building with resource use and employee productivity in Read more ⇒

One of NASA’s most ambitious new projects isn’t in space, but on the ground. The agency is planning to build its most environmentally-friendly building at its Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. The structure, to be called Sustainability Base, will likely be the “greenest” building in the federal government, said Steve Zornetzer, Associate Center Director at NASA Ames. The ceremonial groundbreaking on the $20.6 million building is set for Aug. 25, and construction is expected to be complete around Read more ⇒