The wait is over: the first projects have been certified as meeting the stringent terms of the Living Building Challenge (LBC). Two buildings have achieved full certification after their first year of operation, and a third has earned recognition for performing to LBC standards in four out of six categories. Although all three projects were completed by May 2009, they had to demonstrate through a year’s worth of data that they actually met design intentions for net-zero energy and water use. The Omega Center for Sustainable Living is one of the first two certified Living Buildings. The wastewater treatment center

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced that starting in January 2009 it will require its members to complete four hours per year of continuing education focused on sustainable design, constituting half of the eight hours required for topics in health, safety, and welfare. The requirement will remain in place until 2012, when it will be reevaluated. The organization now faces the task of vetting its existing courses to determine whether they will count toward the new requirements. According to Thomas Lowther, senior director of continuing education systems, AIA has decided on four broad thresholds by which to judge