Culture has been influenced by the sporting world for decades. Throughout the 20th century, fans mobilized around athletes to oppose war, support civil rights and promote disease awareness. The sports industry today is as influential as ever, with 58 percent of Americans self-identifying as sports fans, offering a robust platform for green building education and advocacy. From Nationals Park to American Airlines Arena to Soldier Field, millions of fans visit LEED-certified sports venues every...

Last month, members of the Center for Green Schools team had the opportunity to take a hard-hat tour of 100-year old Cardozo High School in Washington, D.C., which is undergoing renovation as part of the D.C. Education Reform Act of 2007. When the school reopens in August for the 2013-14 academic year, it will feature larger, reconfigured and technologically updated classrooms, a new gym and central staircase, two enclosed courtyards used as a cafeteria and a refurbished auditorium. This...

Last Tuesday was an active day for the USGBC Nevada chapter (USGBCNV) at the state capitol in Carson City. USGBCNV members Kelly Thomas, Louis Helton and myself, along with USGBC Legislative Director Bryan Howard, engaged our State Legislators and Executive Branch Officials to advance legislative solutions that would equip Nevada businesses with the opportunity to invigorate Nevada's building and construction economy, all while reducing operating expenses. USGBCNV joined other members of the...

Committee of private and public sector leaders says LEED is the best green building tool to meet the goals of the Energy Independence and Security Act. WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 3, 2013) – This week, the Green Building Advisory Committee established by the General Services Administration (GSA), officially recommended to GSA that the LEED green building certification system be used for all GSA buildings as the best measure of building efficiency. The committee also conveyed that LEED...

This past month has been a real doozy. We, here on USGBC National’s advocacy team, got wind that Big Chemical was lobbying the Senate Energy and Natural Resources (SENR) Committee to attach a “poison pill” amendment to popular energy efficiency legislation that would ban LEED for use by the federal government. Thanks to the quick action of our chapters and their unrelenting commitment to better, healthier places to live, learn and work, we were able to keep the amendment from...

What happens when you assemble a prestigious group of private and public building industry experts and ask, “How should the federal government build green?” First, they will look at you a bit funny for asking an obvious question with such an obvious answer: “LEED, of course.” We’ve heard this answer multiple times just this year. What happens when you assemble a group of politicians and lobbyists and ask them the same question? Unfortunately, we’ll have to...

Why Kohl’s is One of the Most Sustainable Department Store Chains in the U.S., Triple Pundit. Kohl’s, a LEED Volume Program participant, is pushing the envelope on reducing its environmental footprint, with hundreds of LEED- and ENERGY STAR-certified stores.GSA Committee Recommends LEED, ECOBUILDING Pulse. The General Services Administration’s Green Building Advisory Committee has recommended that the GSA use LEED as its green building standard. How the National Football...

Earth Day has been around my whole life. This year, we celebrated 43 years to the day from the first one, April 22, 1970. What’s changed? And is anything better? Sure, we recycle and more people drive increasingly efficient cars or use public transportation. We buy CFL and LED bulbs and wait for the day that LED bulbs are cheaper. We compost, we garden, we buy local or organic food and we educate about human environmental impacts. But there are more and more people making more and more...

Are you an energy technical solution provider wondering how you can help LEED projects achieve the new Demand Response credit?  Are you a practitioner who wants to know why air testing is valued at two points when the flush-out is valued at 1 point for the EQ: Indoor Air Quality Assessment credit? Or perhaps you're a building owner who wants to know overall how the changes in the water credit category of LEED v4 will effect your existing building's pursuit...

The NSSEA community - thought leaders in the movement to transform schools into healthy, high-performing learning environments - understands the importance of building and renovating schools that will promote healthy living and maximize learning. That's why we're pleased to once again be offering an opportunity for decision-makers at a school, college or university involved in any part of the design, building or renovation of an educational facility to apply for an NSSEA Educational...

USGBC has created a new infographic, "LEED in the World," which lists the current number of both registered and certified LEED projects across the globe by gross square meters in different regions, and ranks the top 10 countries for green building. The numbers show the explosive growth of the green building movement beyond North America, demonstrating the growing global consensus about the worldwide imperative to green the built environment. (Figures are as of April 2013.)

Every once in a while, it’s kinda nice to see that over 300 colleges and universities are taking action based on the work you're doing. That’s exactly what happened last week when the Congressional Green Schools Caucus hosted a reception at the U.S. Capitol honoring higher education institutions featured in The Princeton Review’s Guide to 322 Green Colleges: 2013 Edition. Now in its fourth year of publication, the guide highlights exceptional colleges and universities for...