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Topic Page: Green Building
While subdivisions may have driven the housing market of the 90s and 00s, the 10s are all about how to build green, and Planet Forward members know how! Have an idea in Green Building? Tell us
Related Categories : | Architecture | Engineering | Green Gov | Green Living | Policy |
Webisodes
Building Green for the Future
This week, we take you into the classroom and look at how some organizations are hoping that kids will be “sustainability natives.”
An Innovative Approach to Water Conservation
THIS WEEK: Our rapidly increasing consumption of water is creating concerns about what the world would be like without any! One team, however, created an innovative solution to the planet’s quickly disappearing water. Check it out in this week’s webisode!
Empowerhouse: Community-Based Sustainable Living
THIS WEEK: How to turn a Solar Decathlon house into a home. GW students Melissa Turley and Jon Fenech followed Team Empowerhouse through the Solar Decathlon. Their innovation? Making it affordable enough to be a Habitat for Humanity home.
WATCH!
A Solar Conversation with Secretary Chu
THIS WEEK: In this week’s webisode, Planet Forward’s Frank Sesno interviews Secretary of Energy, Dr. Steven Chu at the 2011 Solar Decathlon! Chu talks about the coolest innovations, and even wonks out a bit on r-values and building materials.
SD2011 Trend: Green Roofs
Check out this week’s webisode where Planet Forward’s host Frank Sesno speaks with Don Ferrier of the National Association of Home Builders at the Solar Decathlon about the costs and benefits of green roofs.
Bringing Experts to the Innovators
Innovators need feedback to make their great ideas even better. So, we try to connect experts with our PF innovators every chance we get. In our WEBISODE this week, a top architect gives feedback to 3 ideas — green urban rooftops, hemp-based building materials and large-scale passive solar. Bill Worthen, the National Director and Resource …Read More…
ICLEI’s Martin Chavez On Sustainable Growth & Smart Cities
This week, Planet Forward host Frank Sesno sits down with Martin Chavez, Executive Director of ICLEI. The focus? Smart cities! Learn what your city can do to grow and adapt to a changing planet. More>>
LEEDing after Disaster: AIA Architect on Why You Should
Can your community turn tragedy into opportunity? Bill Worthen, American Institute of Architects’ National Director and Resource Architect for Sustainability, sits down with us to talk about LEED certification and how disaster can provide opportunity to build back better.
Raise the Roof!
In this week’s webisode, we bring you an idea from the National Science Foundation about the benefits of green roofs. Also hear from a Planet Forward member who shows us her small business of painting roofs white for an environmental benefit.
The Phantom of the Outlet
Students at the University of Nebraska are developing technology to combat vampire energy and we want to know if you think it’s a good idea. What are your thoughts on these smart houses?
Get Charged Up for Project Get Ready, a Planet Forward Nominee
There is a lot of talk surrounding electric cars at this years’ auto show, but until charging stations are readily accessibly, will drivers really feel comfortable with the idea of a battery-powered vehicle? Project Get Ready is trying to allay that concern and is one of Planet Forward’s nominees.
Solar Artist Sculpts with Renewables
Environmental artist Rein Triefeldt calls on more than just stone to make his sculptures. In this week’s webisode, we look at his innovative way of making solar beautiful. Sorry Garden Gnome, these front lawn ornaments aren’t just pretty decoration, they produce energy too. Watch>>
TV Segments
Creating Eco-Friendly Cement
Researchers at Drexel University are trying to lower cement’s carbon footprint by using technology of the past to build sidewalks the future.
Automakers Use Greener Plants, Production Techniques
If cars are polluters, than car plants are even worse, right? But some car makers are going green. Planet Forward GW students Sara Snyder and Bridget Lynn got a close-up view of the new VW plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Solar Innovations at the Solar Decathlon
Lean green design teams from around the world produced some winning ideas at this year’s Solar Decathlon. Maryland won DOE’s top prize, but we staged our own vote. From Vermont, Middlebury College got the nod.
Watch
Innovations at the Solar Decathlon
Planet Forward host Frank Sesno tours the Solar Decathlon with Don Ferrier, home builder and President of Ferrier Custom Homes. Take a look at some of the top innovations at the SD2011!
Amphibious House (Your Loss, Hurricane Irene)
As the east coast picks up after Hurricane Irene, ask yourself this: would you invest in a house that can float only when it needs to? Planet Forward host Frank Sesno, brings you the story for this month’s Nightly Business Report segment.
Solar Decathlon: The Race to Build the Most Efficient Solar Home
Peek into the solar powered house designs from Middlebury College in Vermont and University of Maryland. It’s all for the Solar Decathlon competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Building a Green Community
When Greensburg, Kansas was devastated by a tornado in 2007 the residents took it as an opportunity to rebuild as an environmentally friendly town. Watch our latest piece from PBS’ Nightly Business Report.
Demand Response: Enernoc Applies Social Media Tech to the Power Grid
Social networks have the power to link cultures across continents. See how energy demand response companies, such as Enernoc, wired their networks to fend off this summer’s heat waves, which scorched communities from New York to Texas.
Home Energy Saving Device
Can researchers find an easy button that will get Americans to save energy? Some experts say we waste 40% of our energy in our homes. Could this be the gigantic energy reserve, hidden right under our doorsteps, that we need?
Planet Forward on Nightly Business Report: Innovation at one of New York’s Iconic Structures
How many windows are in the Empire State Building? Watch our Nightly Business Report segment to find out and learn about the building’s innovation retrofit.
Leasing the Sun: An Innovative Business Model from Sungevity
Last month we test drove Nissan’s Leaf…this month, we show you one way you may be able to afford solar panels with zero upfront costs. Check out our piece on PBS’s Nightly Business Report and let us know what you think of Planet Forward member Danny Kennedy’s business model.
Articles From the Blog Related to Green Building
Introducing the Green Apple Day of Service
Last week, I was able to visit one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to make an exciting announcement, recognizing the Green School in Bali as the Center for Green School’s “2012 Greenest School on Earth.”
The Center for Green Schools and Princeton Review Release Free Guide to 322 Green Colleges
By Kristin Simmons Ferguson Higher Ed Associate, Center for Green Schools For the third year in a row, we at the Center for Green Schools are pleased to celebrate today’s release of The Princeton Review’s Guide to 322 Green College: 2012 Edition. This year’s guide profiles 322 institutions of higher education in the United States and Canada that demonstrate …Read More…
One Small Button for Man, One Giant Leap for Data Access
15 million Americans to start getting easy access to their energy data. What does this mean for green building? USGBC explains.
Green Building Materials
It’s a brick, er earth, house…and it’s letting it all hang out!
This week’s newsletter focuses on ideas submitted by the Planet Forward community on green building materials. What could your future house be made of?
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Low-carbon Cement Paves a Development Path
By Miranda C. Spencer, The Daily Climate Cross-posted from Climate Central. PHILADELPHIA — The source of 5 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions is hiding in plain sight, in the sidewalk beneath our feet. It is cement, a key ingredient of concrete, the most widely used building material on the planet. And manufacturing conventional “Portland” …Read More…
Top 10 States for LEED Green Buildings
Ashley Katz Media Manager U.S. Green Building Council Today, USGBC released its top 10 list of states with the most LEED-certified building square footage per capita. The District of Columbia leads the nation, with more than 31 square feet of LEED-certified space per person in 2011, and Colorado is the leading state, with 2.74 square …Read More…
Every Penny Counts: Tracking Building Performance to Save Money and Resources
Lauren Riggs, LEED AP Manager, LEED Performance U.S. Green Building Council This post originally appeared on FacilitesNet. In today’s economy, every penny counts. And as building owners and facility managers know all too well, every penny adds up. When the lights in your 30-story office building are left on an extra hour each day, or …Read More…
Help this New England Church Become More Efficient
Recently, a Planet Forward member emailed me to ask how her church should become more energy efficient, especially considering their tight budget. I’m opening up the question to you, our community of experts.
Green Building in Schools could save $20 billion in 10 years
Here’s a puzzler. Right at the time of day when some kids are most likely to get into trouble, most schools close the door and turn off the lights. Seems silly, doesn’t it? That disconnect, along with a slew of other good reasons, has helped give birth to the community schools movement. It aims to …Read More…
Center for Green Schools and UTC Announce New Findings on Green Schools
At the annual Greenbuild Conference Expo in Toronto, the Center for Green Schools and United Technologies Corp. held a press conference to announce findings from a new independent study conducted on green schools, as well as initiatives the Center will be taking in 2012. The results of the survey brought light to the fact that Americans are concerned about …Read More…
The Raft House
Coastal communities are facing increased threats from sea level rise, but this idea will help homeowners rise above it. Check out our photo gallery!
Initiating Innovation at the Solar Decathlon and EPA P3
The 2011 Solar Decathlon officially ended on October 2nd when director Richard King sent a warm thank you to everyone involved. But the Solar Decathlon happens every two years, and King ended his thank you like a starter cuing off a race. “I can’t wait to do this again!” he wrote with refreshing sincerity and energy.
But it’s true, we all can’t wait to do it all over again. But, what’s next? Why do government agencies take on competitions like these? PF’s Anthony Cefali takes a look>>
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