Paved parking lots and driveways make our lives easier, but they often create an easy pathway for pollutants to reach underground water sources and alter the natural flow of water back into the ground. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a study that will investigate ways to reduce pollution that can run off paved surfaces and improve how water filters back into the ground. EPA is testing a variety of different permeable pavement materials and rain gardens in the parking lot at the agency’s Edison, N.J. facility, which houses offices and its laboratory. Most major sources of pollution going into our waterways are well-controlled, but pollution runoff from hard surfaces remains a complicated problem.

“Runoff from parking lots and driveways is a significant source of water pollution in the United States and puts undo stress on our water infrastructure, especially in densely-populated urban areas,” said EPA Acting Regional Administrator George Pavlou. “By evaluating different designs and materials, this study will help us develop strategies to lessen the environmental impacts of parking lots across the country and make our communities more sustainable.”

This summer, EPA replaced a 43,000-square-foot section of the parking lot at its Edison facility with three different types of permeable pavement and planted several rain gardens with varying vegetation for the study. Over the next decade, EPA will evaluate the effectiveness of each pavement type and the rain gardens in removing pollutants from stormwater, and how they help water filter back into the ground. The parking lot will be functional during the study to accurately evaluate how the different types of pavement handle traffic and vehicle-related pollution like leaking oil.

Stormwater runoff is generated when precipitation from rain and snow flows over land or impervious surfaces, like parking lots or rooftops, and does not readily flow back into the ground. As the runoff flows over the land or impervious surfaces, it accumulates debris, chemicals, sediment or other pollutants that could adversely affect water quality if the runoff discharged is not properly treated.

This study is part of an effort by EPA’s National Risk Management Research Laboratory to evaluate permeable pavement as it relates to stormwater management practices on a national scale. While the installation of permeable pavement systems has become more prevalent, there is a lack of full-scale, outdoor, real-world permeable pavement research projects.

EPA also recognizes the potential of rain gardens as a green infrastructure management tool to lessen the effects of peak flows on aquatic resources. While local governments and homeowners are building many of these systems, relatively few studies have quantified the ability of rain gardens to allow the ground to better absorb and filter stormwater, which reduces peak flows.

For more information on how EPA manages and regulates stormwater, visit http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/home.cfm?program_id=6.

Read the full post at BoingBoing.

Let’s start this off with a quick clarification. When I say “LED light”, I’m not talking about the nifty, little blinky things that are frequently part of the ingredients list in Make projects. I’m talking about the Big Show: An LED light that can replace the incandescent bulbs and/or CFLs you have lighting up your home right now. To do it right, you don’t just need a single LED that works, you need an array of them…and you need them to produce enough light, and the right color of light, reliably enough that people can buy an LED bulb and know what they’re getting into.That ain’t easy. But it is getting easier.

Trouble is, they’re being oversold, like whoa. For about two-and-a-half years, I’ve been reporting on LED lighting for a trade magazine called Architectural SSL*. During that time, I’ve watched mainstream press and enviro blogs tout LEDs as the green energy miracle light. Often, with a level of enthusiasm seldom seen outside rooms full of puppies. Don’t get me wrong. LEDs are pretty cool. There are places where they’re useful now, and places they probably will be soon. But if you’re just hearing about the awesome, you aren’t getting the full story. And, as more LED products start showing up on store shelves, that really starts to matter.

Join me, won’t you, as we put on our Sober Assessment Goggles and take a peek at the current state of light bulb of the tomorrow…

Read the full post at Treehugger.

When it comes to building or renovating a home, there are few simple choices. From styles and colors to location and design, there’s an awful lot to consider. Thankfully, you don’t have to settle for materials that have big-time negative impact on the planet. Here to help is the Green Materials Guide, over on our sister site, Planet Green, which has eight robust sections to help guide you through the process of finding green materials for every green project in your home.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently honored innovative green building design ideas that reduce the environmental and energy impacts of buildings. These concepts aim to help architects and builders reduce more than 88 million tons of building-related construction and demolition debris sent to U.S. landfills each year and the climate impacts of buildings and building materials

The EPA awards recognize student and professional designs for buildings and building projects, as well as special categories, including the creation of green jobs.

“These cutting edge designs are part of a new innovative trend in environmental protection,” said Jeff Scott, the EPA’s Waste Management Division director for the Pacific Southwest region. “Lifecycle building strategies will help all of us get the most possible out of our natural resources and ultimately save money.”

Lifecycle building emphasizes designing buildings to facilitate disassembly and material reuse to minimize waste, energy consumption, and associated greenhouse gas emissions. Also known as design for disassembly and design for deconstruction, lifecycle building creates high-performance buildings today that are stocks of resources for the future. The EPA recently reported that doubling the reuse and recycling of construction and demolition debris, would result in an emissions savings of 150 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year, equal to the entire annual carbon emissions from the state of North Carolina.

The EPA, along with its partners, the American Institute of Architects, West Coast Green, the Collaborative for High Performance Schools, and stopwaste.org, invited professionals and students nationwide to submit designs and ideas that support cost-effective disassembly and anticipate future use of building materials. The competition was open to architects, reuse experts, engineers, designers, planners, contractors, builders, educators, environmental advocates and students. This year, the competition was extended to include international participants who hailed from Singapore, Taiwan, Argentina, Columbia, France, Egypt and the United Kingdom.

The winning designs were recently featured at a poster session at West Coast Green, the largest conference on green innovation for the built environment.

See the winning designs at http://www.lifecyclebuilding.org/2009/winners.php.

Read the full story in Interior Design.

Contemporary design may have slowed this year as result of tightened budgets, but tough times call for innovation, quality, and efficiency. Recognizing the value of these characteristics, The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies are on the hunt for the year’s best and greenest designs for the 2010 Green Good Design Awards.

Read the full story at Mother Nature Network.

A study released by the University of San Diego and CBRE reveals that employees in a green building are more productive than their counterparts in a standard building.

Read the full story at GreenerBuildings.

The Rocky Mountain Institute has created a new tool to help people understand how their buildings use carbon and what they can do to reduce emissions from building projects. RMI provided a walkthrough of its Green Footstep assessment tool at the institute’s recent symposium in San Francisco.

Read the full story in Eco-Structure.

Employees working in green buildings (defined as being LEED-certified at any level or bearing the Energy Star label) are more productive than those working in non-green buildings, according to a study by the University of San Diego’s Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate and real estate services company CB Richard Ellis. Researchers surveyed more than 500 tenants in 154 green buildings managed by CBRE nationwide. The majority of the buildings surveyed were midtown or suburban, and 94 percent of them were multi-tenant. Under the microscope across the board: employee measured sick days and self-reported productivity changes after moving into a new building.

Read/listen to the full story at NPR.

Filmmaker Mario Van Peebles, along with his family, takes a lighthearted approach to going “green” in a new reality television show on cable network TV One. “Mario’s Green House” follows the Van Peebles as they try to build a home that’s environmentally friendly. Mario Van Peebles describes the project and spreading the green message within communities of color.

Read the full story at GreenerBuildings.

The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center cut the ribbon on the space administration’s newest LEED building this week — a green building with a white roof and black walls in labs.

Read the full post at Green, Inc.

The Department of Energy’s new label for LED lighting products looks a lot like the food nutrition label on your favorite box of cereal. It was created to give a quick summary of performance data – such as light output and color – and, ideally, to help prevent poor quality products from spoiling the nascent LED market.

The trouble is, the label’s use is not always legitimate.

Since the agency launched its “Lighting Facts” program in December 2008, there have been 25 cases of label misuse, according to James Brodrick, the manager of solid state lighting at the Department of Energy.

Read/listen to the full story at NPR.

The Empire State Building seems to be grappling with a color problem — specifically the color of its upper levels.

Building management got into hot water this week over plans to illuminate the top floors with red lights — in honor of the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. Tibet-issues activists and other protesters turned out to denounce the recognition.

But it turns out the color the building’s owners really want associated with the Manhattan landmark is green — which may be an achievable goal, after a $550 million environmental upgrade and renovation.

Via Docuticker.

Improving the Energy Performance of Buildings: Learning from the European Union and Australia
Source: RAND Corporation
From press release:

The United States can become more energy efficient and create more “green” jobs by adopting some of the strategies used by the European Union and Australia to rate and disclose the performance of commercial and government-owned buildings, according to a new RAND Corporation study issued today.

The study finds that wealthier countries use more than a third of their energy to heat, cool and illuminate buildings, but not always efficiently. Recent steps taken by the European Union and Australia to inspect, rate and publicly disclose the energy efficiency of buildings indicate the buildings use less energy and are worth more when sold or leased.

The buildings sector has unique characteristics that make design of energy efficiency policies particularly challenging: transactions are infrequent, capital costs are high, and the variablility of design and siting makes energy efficiency comparisons difficulty. Often, owners must bear the costs of efficiency improvements while costs savings are obtained by tenants.

Read the full story in Scientific American.

Construction material entrepreneurs discussed efforts to create more environmentally friendly cement and other building products at a conference in California.

Read the full story in the New York Times.

Philips has the first entry in an Energy Department contest to build a more efficient 60-watt light bulb.

Read the full story at GreenBiz.

Working with 11 education and environmental groups, the U.S. Green Building Council has formed the Coalition for Green Schools to launch the third year of its campaign to make America’s classrooms more eco-friendly and healthier for students and teachers.

Read the full story at ClimateBiz.

Need to make a business case for building green or undertaking green retrofits? Or maybe you’re a building owner mulling whether it’s worth the effort to make your property more environmentally sound.

Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company provides a list of the benefits of doing so — and the risks associated with doing nothing. The list is a handy reference for experienced players and newcomers to green building.

Read the full story at Consulting & Specifying Engineer.

The building envelope is the top priority when designing and engineering green schools.

Read the full story in the New York Times.

A cousin of the still-evolving LED bulb is the organic light-emitting diode, which can give light from a sheet 0.07 inches thick.

Read the full story in the Chicago Tribune.

Mayor Richard Daley wants to make Chicago the greenest city in America. By one measure, he’s done it. Chicago now has more certified green buildings than any other city in the country, according to figures from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Read the full story at GreenerBuidings.

When I mention the words “high-rise office building” what do you think of? Probably an enclosed glass and steel box, stripped of detail, perfect in its photogenic, modernist simplicity.

Perhaps, like me, you also imagine its occupants: hunched at their desks, panting for fresh air and light, mesmerized by the hum of overhead fluorescent fixtures gone buggy. In fact, our cultural understanding of “high-rise” seems to include its occupants being divorced from their natural surroundings, sequestered in a technologically advanced, artificial environment.

A lot of us have been wondering just how advanced our current model really is.

Mick Pearce is an African architect who has tried to change that model, demonstrating his ideas in two signature buildings, the Eastgate Building in Harare, Zimbabwe, and the Council House 2 Building in Melbourne, Australia. Both buildings employ common-sense passive systems for climate control based on gradients, and both were inspired by the work of a tiny insect, the termite.

Read the full story at GreenerBuildings.

Working with William McDonough + Partners and Swinerton Builders, NASA’s Ames Research Center broke ground this week on what is planned as a state-of-the-art, 50,000-square-foot green office building.

Read the press release.

Ashley McGraw Architects is designing a new 4,100 square foot media center addition at Liverpool Middle School which will generate as much energy each year as it uses. To accomplish this net zero-energy outcome, the team is combining new design tools and thinking with a measure of mid 20th century architectural inspiration.

“Using our energy modeling software, we developed a combined passive solar heating and natural daylighting system we call the split Trombe wall,” says Peter Larson, principal of Ashley McGraw`s Advanced Building Studio. “This wall system will capture and store the sun`s heat and release it over time within the media canter, which will reduce heating cost by 50 percent and lighting cost by 75 percent.”

Read the full story at American School & University.

Making existing buildings more sustainable is critical to achieving large-scale environmental benefits. Sustainability initiatives in existing buildings also promote significant business benefits, ranging from enhanced productivity to operational savings. But how can an institution effectively evaluate its sustainability options and focus its “green” dollars where they will have the greatest effect?

Read the full story in American School & University.

Early proponents of sustainable-design strategies provided facilities that are fulfilling their promise to save energy and improve education.

From the Be Spartan Green web site:

In January 2008, the Michigan State University Board of Trustees authorized the creation of a new recycling facility to be located west of Farm Lane in the service district, which will triple the amount of materials currently being recycled. A new comprehensive recycling program, coupled with the new facility, will allow the university to expand recycling collection in all buildings. Currently 14 percent of the white and mixed office paper, newspaper, cardboard and plastics are diverted from the landfill through the recycling program and the capture rate of these five materials is projected to double by 2010.

Currently, MSU ships all of the recycled material it collects in loose boxes that have to be processed by whoever recieves them. The new facility will enable materials to be sorted and shipped in bulk. By processing the materials at MSU, they can be sold at a higher price to recycling facilities.

Find out more from the New Facility FAQ, including a map of where the facility is located.

Read the full story at Mother Nature Network.

The White House will be going green as the administration considers LEED certification.

Read the press release.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has made more than $1.6 million available through the Multifamily Performance Program to the Schenectady Municipal Housing Authority (SMHA) as part of a comprehensive statewide energy reduction plan. Following an efficiency upgrade, SMHA will reduce energy use by more than 20 percent in six of its apartment complexes, which is expected to save SMHA nearly $480,000 annually. The NYSERDA initiative is part of Governor David A. Paterson’s ‘45 by 15’ plan to meet 45 percent of the State’s electricity needs through efficiency and renewable resources by 2015.

Read the full story from Environmental News Service.

With the summer drawing to a close, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed new legislation into law Friday creating statewide minimum energy efficiency standards for new homes. The new standards are intended to save Illinois families money on energy costs, reduce energy waste and cut carbon emissions.

The product of years of negotiations, House Bill 3987, the Energy Efficient Building Act, brings Illinois in line with the latest International Energy Conservation Code for new residential construction, updated automatically every three years. The measure expands the existing Energy Efficient Commercial Building Act first enacted in 2004 to cover both commercial and residential buildings.

Read the full story from the Associated Press.

The EU will start making the transition from power-draining lightbulbs to more energy efficient ones Tuesday, the European Commission said.

Several nations including Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the Philippines have already announced they will phase out or restrict sales of traditional bulbs as well. In 2007, President George W. Bush signed a bill that calls for the bulb to be phased out in the U.S. beginning in 2012.

Evan Mills. 2009. Building Commissioning: A Golden Opportunity for Reducing Energy Costs and Greenhouse-gas Emissions.

• Full Report [PDF]
• Summary Presentation & Supplementary Information[PPT - 22mb] [PDF - 5mb]
• Data Call
• Data collection instrument
• Engineering and economic assumptions

This report provides the world’s largest database of commissioning case studies for new and existing buildings. It represents a major update and expansion of a study initially published in 2004, with roughly three-times as many projects. We gathered and analyzed data on 643 buildings, representing 99 million square feet of floor space from 26 states. The database incorporates the work of 37 commissioning providers.

Commissioning maximizes the quality and persistence of energy, cost, and emissions reductions. The process ensures that building owners get what they pay for when constructing or retrofitting buildings, provides risk-management and “insurance” for policymakers and program managers enabling their initiatives to actually meet targets, and detects and corrects problems that would eventually surface as far more costly maintenance or safety issues.

This report responds to a widely held concern that end-users do not have confidence in the nature and level of energy savings that can be achieved through the commissioning process. It addresses this issue by assembling diverse case studies and previously unpublished data, and developing performance benchmarks using standardized assumptions. The results demonstrate that commissioning is arguably the single-most cost-effective strategy for reducing energy, costs, and greenhouse-gas emissions in buildings today.

Key findings:

• Median commissioning costs: $0.30 and $1.16 per square foot for existing buildings and new construction, respectively (and 0.4% of total construction costs for new buildings)
• Median whole-building energy savings: 16% and 13%
• Median payback times: 1.1 and 4.2 years
• Median benefit-cost ratios: 4.5 and 1.1
• Cash-on-cash returns: 91% and 23%
• Very considerable reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions were achieved, at a negative cost of -$110 and -$25/tonne CO2-equivalent.
• High-tech buildings are particularly cost-effective, and saved large amounts of energy and emissions due to their energy-intensiveness.
• Projects employing a comprehensive approach to commissioning attained nearly twice the overall median level of savings, and five-times the savings of projects with a constrained approach.
• Non-energy benefits are extensive and often offset part or all of the commissioning cost.
• Limited multi-year post-commissioning data indicate that savings often persistent for a period of at least five years.
• Uniformly applying our median whole-building energy-savings value to the stock of U.S. non-residential buildings yields an energy-savings potential of $30 billion by the year 2030, and annual greenhouse gas emissions reductions of about 340 megatons of CO2 each year. An industry equipped to deliver these benefits would have a sales volume of $4 billion per year and support approximately 24,000 jobs.

“Commissioning America” in a decade is an ambitious goal, but achievable and consistent with this country’s aspirations to simultaneously address energy and environmental issues while creating jobs and stimulating sustainable economic activity.

Read the full story in the New York Times.

Builders covet a green certification, but many buildings do not save as much energy as their designs predicted.

Read the full story at CNET.

The future of green technology is algae-cultivating buildings, artificial trees, and lots of white roofs, according to the U.K.’s Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Read the full story at Mother Nature Network.

Website lets renters find a pad with environmentally conscious features such as dual-flush toilets, compact fluorescent lights.

Note that the database currently only covers Portland, OR; Seattle; the SF Bay area; Boston; Chicago; New York City; and Washington, DC. Other properties are lumped together under Everywhere Else, which is a pretty large area. There is an option to search near your zip code. When I did a search of residential property within five miles of 61821 (Champaign, IL), I got zero  hits. According to the web site FAQ:

How do you decide which properties to include?

Well, eventually we won’t. Property owners and managers will submit their buildings on their own, and as long as it includes at least one feature in any of these seven “green” areas (energy, water, building materials, operations, building surroundings, certifications and awards, other innovative green features) it can be listed with GreenRenter.

For now, however, the GreenRenter editors have been identifying green buildings in the Portland area and gathering the information from online sources and interviews with the property managers. How did we find the properties you see here? The U.S. Green Building Council’s list of LEED certified and registered properties, the U.S. EPA’s list of Energy Star rated properties, and web searches for terms like “green building” and “sustainable architecture.”

Is there a great green building we’re missing? Let us know!

Bottom line: If you own an eco-friendly rental property, this a good place to advertise it.

Stony Brook University Hospital in Stony Brook, N.Y. is not just the only university-based hospital on Long Island, it is the first hospital in the nation to pledge to reduce its environmental impact through a comprehensive agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The hospital and EPA today signed an agreement that outlines goals and strategies for energy and water conservation, solid waste management, green design and the use of environmentally-friendly products. Stony Brook University Hospital will track the results of these efforts and submit reports to EPA every six months.

“This agreement shows that a medical institution like Stony Brook University Hospital can provide world-class medical care while taking steps to protect the environment,” said EPA Acting Deputy Regional Administrator Barbara Finazzo. “This comprehensive agreement not only addresses broad issues like energy and water usage, but also those unique to the health care sector, like using environmentally-friendly medical supplies.”

“This MOU formalizes the hospital’s continued commitment to be an environmentally conscious healthcare institution,” said Stony Brook University Hospital CEO Steven L. Strongwater, M.D. “Our relationship with the EPA is a true indication of our commitment to continually improve out programs by reducing waste, minimizing the use of hazardous materials and preventing pollution of our valuable resources. It is another step in the process toward becoming a world class healthcare institution.”

The following are highlights of the agreement between Stony Brook University Hospital and EPA. The hospital will:

• Join EPA’s ENERGY STAR program, which offers technical assistance for audits, benchmarking and reduction plans, and strive to reduce energy by 10 percent. Under the agreement, Stony Brook University Hospital will also conduct a campus-wide energy audit with the goal of increasing campus energy efficiency.
• Recycle some 180 tons of cardboard and 5 tons of bottles and cans each year.
• Join EPA’s WasteWise program, which provides technical assistance for the development of waste reduction and recycling plans, including the setting of specific program goals.
• Design all new facilities to meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver standard. LEED is an internationally-recognized green building certification system aimed at improving energy and water efficiency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving indoor environmental quality, and conserving resources.
• Consider the use of coal combustion products, where appropriate, in future construction projects. The use of coal combustion products in place of Portland cement significantly reduces energy use, carbon dioxide emissions and concrete costs.
• Utilize clean construction equipment that reduces pollution from conventional diesel fuel-powered construction vehicles and equipment by requiring the use of ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel or best available pollution control retrofit technologies.
• Install WaterSense products where possible in the renovation or upgrade of existing buildings as well as in new buildings, and install low flow toilets and faucets in new construction and renovations. WaterSense, a partnership program sponsored by EPA, certifies toilets, faucets and irrigation equipment that use at least 20 percent less water than conventional products.
• Reduce sterile blue wrap by switching to reusable rigid containers for packaging, transporting and storing medical instruments.
• Eliminate the use of mercury and plastics containing PVC/DEHP, and communicate commitment to PVC/DEHP-free purchasing to contractors and vendors.
• Employ recommendations from EPA’s GreenScapes program to reduce landscaping materials and high maintenance plants, reuse landscape materials where possible, recycle organic materials and purchase landscaping products that are environmentally-friendly.
• Recycle computer components, which often contain harmful metals and chemicals, through the use of an electronics recycling firm.
• Continue reprocessing medical equipment, including oxisensors, blades, burrs, bits, guide wires and catheters, and utilizing reusable containers for disposed needles.
• Continue to participate in EPA’s RecycleMania, an annual recycling competition among colleges and universities. The hospital collected some 420 tons of recyclables for the competition during 2007 and 2008.

EPA has similar agreements in place with the New York Jets and New York Giants for the new Meadowlands Stadium, the New York Mets for the team’s new Citi Field stadium, the Destiny USA mall project in Syracuse, N.Y., the real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, Montclair State University in Montclair, N.J., Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J., St. John’s University in Queens, N.Y., and Raritan Valley Community College in Branchburg, N.J. For more information on EPA green construction and operations agreements, visit http://www.epa.gov/region02/greenteam/. For more information on Stony Brook Hospital, visit http://www.stonybrookmedicalcenter.org/home/.

Read the full story in Scientific American.

We geeks never seem to get our props as trendsetters. My friends Adam and Joe and I were the first kids in our school to use instant messaging over a 300-baud modem in 1979. But I guess girls preferred guys with the latest bell bottoms. Now the frontier of geekdom is energy conservation, and this time, we’re finally getting some respect.

Today’s New York Times talks about how the latest trend in green houses is to paint your roof white— as we did last month. Our roofer stripped off the dark asphalt shingles, exposed the 1868-vintage tin roof, and layered on a thick white vinyl coating. Because the house now reflects rather than absorbs sunlight, we no longer have to shower after visiting our attic and have yet to turn on the a/c at all this year. To be sure, it’s been a mild summer here in New Jersey.

Via Docuticker.

Green Building and Development as a Public Good
Source: Canadian Policy Research Networks

Governments in Canada are attempting to respond to the challenge of global warming and to the expectation Canadians hold for a healthy economy and enhanced quality of life. Actions include energy conservation, the introduction of a carbon tax (British Columbia) and the possibility of carbon cap and trade legislation (or agreements among some provinces). An area of increasing attention is how we develop communities and build and use residential and commercial buildings.

In Green Building and Development as a Public Good, Mike Buzzelli argues that green building and development faces a classic policy paradox: we collectively agree that improvements are needed in the built environment but we are caught in a whirlwind of information and debate about how to move forward. We are motivated to “be green” but challenged by implementation.

+ Full Paper (PDF; 89 KB)

Read the full story at Mother Nature Network.

A Pennsylvania couple woke up one day and decided to build a brand new green home. Now they’ve written a book about it called Green Beginnings.

Read the full post at Green, Inc.

A method of financing renewable energy and energy-efficiency improvements through higher property taxes is spreading rapidly.

According to the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency, nine states have put this type of system in place — with Louisiana to follow in August and Maryland in October.

Via ClimateBiz.

This report examines how the nation can increase energy efficiency in buildings and other non-transportation sectors by using existing technology and methods.

Doing so could yield a 23 percent drop in energy use by 2020, save the U.S. economy $1.2 trillion and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1.1 gigatons annually, the study says.

The study also takes a hard look at the barriers to progress, why the changes haven’t already been made and what can be done to clear the hurdles.

McKinsey & Company released its 165-page report, “Unlocking Energy Efficiency in the U.S. Economy,” today. The U.S. Green Building Council and 11 other governmental, non-governmental and private sector organizations helped sponsor  the study.

You can read GreenBiz.com Senior Writer Marc Gunther’s take on the report here. A copy of the executive summary of the report can be downloaded here [PDF].

The full report is available here [PDF].

Read the full story in Scientific American.

Daniel Smith remembers when he first tried to sell a bamboo floor. The San Francisco entrepreneur thought his woodlike product was attractive and durable, but when he took samples to a Dallas trade show in 1994, the reaction wasn’t quite what he had hoped for. No one believed the plant’s round stalks—then most familiar in the U.S. as the stuff of backyard torches—could be turned into a smooth, lasting floor.

Read the full story in Scientific American.

The National Association of Governors is the latest legislative group to support the American Institute of Architects‘ goal of zeroing out new and renovated buildings’ greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

The NGA — which is convening in Biloxi, Miss., for its annual meeting — endorsed the AIA goal as part of a resolution on energy efficiency and conservation. The U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National Association of Counties have also endorsed the AIA goal by vowing to integrate provisions related to the built environment in their energy policies.

Read the full story at GreenBiz.

Window film is cool stuff. Literally. It reflects the sun and insulates buildings. It is used to keep buildings cool on hot, sunny days, and to keep heat from escaping in cold climates.

According to an article published on FacilitiesNet in 2006, window film can reduce heat penetration up to 80 percent and improve insulation by as much as 32 percent for single-pane windows, or as much as 23 percent for double-pane glass. Anecdotal evidence repeatedly notes increased employee comfort from the decreased solar glare and better insulation.

Given these benefits, several of this year’s Climate Corps fellows have been looking at the possibility of installing window film at our sites. [Editor's note: Katie is assigned to Sodexo.]

Read the full story in the New York Times.

Light emitting diodes could decrease carbon dioxide emissions by up to 50 percent in just over 20 years.

Read the full story at GreenBiz.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch, or free electricity. But green buildings, when designed right, can operate without monthly utility bills.

They’re known as zero net energy buildings, and they are generating lots of talk these days.

Read the full story at GreenerBuildings.

Eco-friendly exterior wall coatings that incorporate heat reflective technology helped a Florida office building earn a LEED-Gold green rating and won the project recognition from an industry magazine.

Read the full story at GreenerBuildings.

A Chipotle Mexican Grill in Illinois with its own wind turbine and a 2,500-gallon underground water cistern to harvest rainwater was certified by the U.S. Green Building Council at the organization’s highest rating.

Read the full story at GreenerBuildings.

Over the past couple of weeks, the U.S. Green Building Council announced that it is incorporating energy and water usage reporting requirements as a precondition for achieving LEED V3 and Google announced it will debut a cloud-based operating system some time in the next 18 months.

The answer to how these two entities are similar is simple: Both entities announced good ideas perhaps before their time.

Read the full story in Consulting & Specifying Engineer.

One of the most well-known landmarks in North America will soon be powering one of the most-visited websites in the world.

Internet search engine Yahoo has announced that its newest data center will be primarily powered by Niagara Falls, the nearly 170-ft high waterfalls located on the border between New York state and Canada. Ground will break in August 2009 and the center is expected to open in May 2010 in Lockport, N.Y.

Read the full story in Environmental Protection.

The Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recognize ASHRAE guidance as a means for creating healthy homes.

Earlier this month, Acting Surgeon General Steven K. Galson released The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Promote Healthy Homes, calling for Americans to prevent disease and promote healthy environments in homes. ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 62.2-2007, Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air Quality in Low-Rise Residential Buildings, was recommended as an effective way to reduce indoor air pollution through ventilation in the CDC’s and HUD’s supporting guidance for builders and homeowners.