Google's unoffical motto is don't be evil.  And they seem to be living up to that goal.  Google has made an another $94 million investment solar.  This time to build four solar farms near Sacramento, Calif., in a project expected to provide 13,000 homes with power.

The project marks Google's first larger scale investment in the U.S. involving solar PV power plants that generate energy for the grid. Earlier this year, it helped install solar PV panels on some 10,000 rooftops in partnership with Solar City. See Video.

Tuesday's data, which also showed gains in groundbreaking for single-family homes, was the latest sign of a quickening of an economic recovery that still faces risks both at home and abroad.

"Investors should take heart that if Europe doesn't melt down and Congress figures out how to extend the payroll tax cut, the economy can continue to gain momentum," said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pennsylvania.

Housing starts surged 9.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 685,000 units, the highest level since April last year, the Commerce Department said. Economists had forecast a 635,000-unit rate.

LOS ANGELES, CA, — West 27^th Place, a USC student housing community, has just received a LEED Platinum rating—the highest level of sustainability possible from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). It is one of a handful of Platinum certified developments in Los Angeles and one of the only student housing projects in the nation achieving this milestone.

The mixed-use community includes 161 apartment units and was developed by CityView and Symphony Development. The project, which opened for the fall semester and is fully leased, is now owned by Kayne Anderson Real Estate Advisors, the private equity real estate arm of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors that invests in specialized real estate sectors.

Center for Green Schools at U.S. Green Building Council Releases "Best of Green Schools 2011" List Recognizing Leadership in Creating Sustainable Learning Environments 

From net-zero schools to game-changing policies, 
recipients recognized for efforts to green U.S. school infrastructure

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Dec. 12, 2011) -The U.S. Green Building Council's Center for Green Schools, working in conjunction with its founding sponsor, United Technologies Corp., today released its inaugural Best of Green Schools 2011 list recognizing school administrators and government leaders in 10 categories for their efforts to create sustainable learning environments.

Washington, DC - (Dec. 8, 2011) - LEED-certified existing buildings are outpacing their newly built counterparts, according to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). As of this month, square footage of LEED-certified existing buildings surpassed LEED-certified new construction by 15 million square feet on a cumulative basis.

(Reuters) At the 2011 UN Climate Change Conference, serious doubt hangs over the future of the Kyoto Protocol, whose first commitment period on tackling climate change expires at the end of next year.

The major issue for debate is how to drum up finance to help poorer nations adapt to a warmer planet, while the developed world wrestles with sovereign debt problems.

China, the world's biggest carbon emitter, gave a lift to the climate talks at the end of last week by suggesting it might sign up to a legally-binding deal to cut emissions, but it has set conditions.

Proven environmental credentials are fast becoming a prerequisite for materials evaluation and selection.  Replacing the seemingly endless flow of unfettered Greenwashing claims saturating the marketplace. 

A movement has begun to formalize a process of evaluating the environmental benefits and cost of Green building materials. Many European nations are closing in on requiring Environmental Product Declarations (EPD), a universal system of evaluation based on third-party comparison of data across pre-established categories, and the notion is also gaining traction in the U.S.

November 23, 2011 — Four proprietary cool roof products manufactured by Coat’N’Cool have earned an ENERGY STAR rating, it has been announced by Michael Magallanes, vice president of marketing for Coat’N’Cool, an Orange County, CA – based company.  Marketed under the Coat’N’Cool brand name, Coat’N’Cool is a highly effective and long lasting reflective coating that is available in a variety of colors. The products earning the ENERGY STAR rating include four popular colors: Basecoat White, Topcoat Antique White, Topcoat Butter Cream, and Topcoat Siltstone. 

ENERGY STAR qualified cool roof products lower roof surface temperature, decreasing the amount of heat transferred into a building and reducing air conditioning costs.  According to Coat’N’Cool statistics, a cool roof can lower interior temperatures of a commercial or industrial building by 8-12 degrees during the hottest four hours of a summer day (noon to four in the afternoon), and can cut peak cooling demand by 10-15 percent. 

Every story about green building is a story about people.

Project Haiti Orphanage and Children's Center is about the people of Haiti who are facing ongoing devastation following the earthquake of January 2010. It's about a replicable, resilient model for rebuilding.

There are hundreds of thousands of orphans living in Haiti. Project Haiti will tell many of these children for the first time in their lives they are valued, they deserve to breathe clean air, they have the right to live in comfort and they are cared about - just like any other child, in any other place in the world. It will provide for the immediate health and emotional needs of orphans and offer a pathway to adoption.

The tallest building in New York currently standing is the Empire State Building. It is a beautiful symbol of the greatness of New York, rising 1,250 feet (381 meters) with an antenna spire rising to 1,454 feet (443.2 meters) above bustling midtown Manhattan. It was named one of the Seven Modern Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers, amidst the ranks of the Panama Canal, the Channel Tunnel, and the Golden Gate Bridge. Now it can add another notch in its belt, as it has just been awarded LEED Gold certification by the US Green Building Council.

Energy savings from the retrofits are expected to be about 38% by 2013, cutting energy costs by $4.4 million. The retrofits included upgrading windows and insulation, and renovating the cooling plant in the basement. Building manager, Malkin Holdings, are set to purchase 55 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy from retailer, Green Mountain Energy. Overall carbon emissions reductions from building operation and maintenance are expected to be 105,000 metric tons over the next 15 years.