After years of anti-LEED lobbying, the American Chemistry Council says it wants to work to make LEED better. This story originally appeared on BuildingGreen.com. It looked more like a headline from BuildingGreen’s April Fool’s issue than one from an official press release: “USGBC and ACC to Work Together to Advance LEED.” Nonetheless, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the American Chemistry Council (ACC) have confirmed the news is real—so what’s going on behind the scenes? Combining expertise“Obviously, we had some concerns with LEED v4 and the building materials credits,” Anne Kolton, ACC’s vice president of communications, told Environmental Building

The U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED standard, long synonymous with environmentally conscious construction in the U.S., is being forced to share some of its limelight, first with the Living Building Challenge, which has only certified a handful of buildings since its 2006 launch but is steadily gaining momentum since its 2006 launch, and now with Green Globes. Photo © Jill Richards Jerry Yudelson, president of Green Globes The rating system, which advertises cheaper and faster certification, is winning some important backers. In October the U.S. Government Services Administration (GSA) recommended, for the first time, that federal agencies consider Green Globes

New York City’s adoption of new green building codes are expected to result in reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 5% and saving $400 million by 2030, says a recently released report from the Urban Green Council, the U.S. Green Building Council’s New York chapter. The codes are also expected to divert 100,000 tons of asphalt from landfills each year; reduce greenhouse gas emissions citywide by 5%; and lower the costs of lighting energy by 10%. The city has so far enacted 29 of 111 recommendations made by a task force established two years ago to detail steps the city should

During the past several years, the green building trend has soared, with an increase in government incentives and availability of affordable supplies driving a huge growth of U.S. Green Building Council LEED-certified buildings. With the LEED program ambitiously hoping to certify one million commercial buildings by 2020, it’s no surprise that this trend has come under some scrutiny. And while most great rewards often have a price, in this case it could be at the expense of the safety of construction workers on the job. When Matthew Hallowell, assistant professor in the Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering Department at the

The award-winning actor and director Robert Redford has long used his star power to champion environmental, social, and artistic causes. Roughly 40 years ago, he purchased a tract of land Utah’s Wasatch Mountains that would evolve into the 5,000-acre nature preserve and eco-resort known as Sundance. He later established the Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute, and the Sundance Channel—all dedicated to supporting independent artists. Photo © Jack David Allred Dozens of educators and civic leaders gathered at the Sundance Resort this month for a green schools summit. The event was organized by the Redford Center, USGBC, and ICLEI USA –

President-elect Barack Obama was one of the most vocal advocates on the campaign trail for sustainability, with respect to both the environment and economic stimulus. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has wasted no putting together a progressive green agenda to push in Washington, consisting of a variety of measures Obama has supported on record. The USGBC has singled out four major nodes on which to base an aggressive sustainability agenda. Green building is at the forefront, and Obama has proposed the expansion of federal grants that assist states and municipalities to build LEED-certified public buildings. Furthermore, Obama has planned

The U.S. Green Building Council recently announced the 13 recipients of grants totaling $2 million. After identifying an alarming dearth of research in the field of sustainable design and construction, the USGBC created the Green Building grant program to further the development of sustainable building practices and increase green market share. The grants range from $90,000 to $250,000. Speaking of the winning proposals, USGBC president Rick Fedrizzi said that they “drive knowledge, policies, tools, and technologies and inspire corresponding industry and government-wide action.” The field of contenders was competitive and diverse, with 216 pre-proposals and 38 full proposals. The winning