leed posts, articles, and infographics | Sustainable Cities Collective

Top 10 States for LEED Green Buildings

January 19, 2012 by U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)
with 343 views

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 feet per person in 2011. [read more]

Tapping the Zoning Code to Enable Greener Buildings and Communities

December 21, 2011 by Jeremy Sigmon
with 200 views

Many communities are opening up their zoning codes to identify and remove barriers, and adopting language that will encourage greener building and greener living outcomes. You wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Portland, Oregon has been greening its zoning code for several years including a handful of updates this year. You might be... [read more]

Seattle 2030 District: The NEXT Big Thing in Green Building

December 19, 2011 by U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)
with 430 views

Brett PhillipsDirector of Sustainability, Unico PropertiesBoard Chairman, Seattle 2030 DistrictBrian GellerExecutive DirectorSeattle 2030 DistrictThe green building movement has made great strides in recent years, but it’s not enough. In order to put up a good fight against ever-increasing environmental and economic pressures, we need a... [read more]

Think Buildings: At the Vanguard of the Green Economy

December 12, 2011 by Jason Hartke
with 214 views

One of the bright spots at this COP is the work being done to quick start funding for the Green Climate Fund, which was one of the most significant outcomes from last year’s COP in Cancun. The idea is to create and grow this Fund to $100 billion a year by 2020, which would support climate mitigation and adaptation measures. As you can imagine, delegates are negotiating intensely through the end of the week to determine how to best and most fairly finance this fund, including opportunities to leverage private sector investment. [read more]

Rebuilding Galveston, Texas As An Affordable, Sustainable Community

December 1, 2011 by Kaid Benfield
with 119 views

Three years ago, Hurricane Ike wiped out much of Galveston, Texas, including over 500 affordable homes administered by the city’s Housing Authority. Faced with the task of starting over, the Authority began to rethink how it might improve upon its old public housing model. With the help of McCormack Baron Salazar, a... [read more]

SF Launches Green Leasing Toolkit for Commercial Buildings

November 15, 2011 by Stephen Del Percio
with 170 views

Earlier this year, New York City took an important step towards becoming the country’s leader in public green leasing practices when Mayor Bloomberg’s Green Lease Task Force released model green lease language aimed at addressing the split incentive in most commercial office leases. The language was incorporated with much fanfare by Silverstein Properties into its lease with the law firm WilmerHale at the LEED Gold 7 World Trade Center, as well as adopted by the City for all of its future leases. [read more]

Green Infrastructure Means Jobs

October 27, 2011 by The Dirt ASLA
with 360 views

At a packed briefing on Capitol Hill, an official from a regional wastewater management authority, a New York based landscape designer, and the head of a niche-yet-growing green infrastructure engineering firm made the case that green infrastructure means more jobs for skilled designers and engineers... [read more]

Now and Then: Green Renovations Improve Buildings

October 26, 2011 by Kaid Benfield
with 143 views

Exactly four years ago today, I published my first blog post. Little did I know at the time how much I would enjoy this and how much maintaining a blog would change my life, probably doubling both my workload and my job satisfaction. The biggest downsides appear to be that I ride my bike a lot less and get to... [read more]

Greenbuild 2012: What is a Green Technology Disruptor?

October 13, 2011 by Chris Cheatham
with 220 views

At last year’s Greenbuild, LEED automation was a new idea in its early stages. This year, LEED automation is a fully developed software product that will streamline the green building certification process going forward. Lorax Pro was one of the first companies to develop LEED automation software. I sat down with the... [read more]

Greenbuild 2011: Presentation Slides + Wrapup

October 12, 2011 by Green Buildings Alive
with 233 views

For the 24,000 people who attended the US Green Building Council’s Greenbuild 2011 conference and expo in Toronto last week, there was a simple question: what's NEXT for green building? [read more]

Highlights from the Greenbuild Legal Forum

October 10, 2011 by Chris Cheatham
with 55 views

This year, the US Green Building Council hosted the 2nd Annual Legal Forum at Greenbuild 2011. The fact that lawyers are now allowed to congregate and make presentations at the Greenbuild conference is an achievement. The green building community seems to understand that green buildings do present new risks that must be managed and attorneys can help. [read more]