Welcome to the April edition of the Green Building Journal. This month brought us not only the 40th celebration of Earth Day, but the endless opportunities of spring renewal. If there was ever a time to invest, inspire and embrace renewal, now is the time. With spring renewal on our minds, this edition of the journal focuses on renewal in the form of alternative energy.

While all alternative energy projects begin with the best of ideas, knowing how to finance all your possible projects is key. Contributing writer Larry Thrall, offers us the in’s and out’s of all the options for your energy financing needs.

Smart grid technology is all over the news, but Phillip Mathews clarifies and answers a variety of questions that identify problems with the integration of storage and generation technologies.

While this is a snapshot of what you can find in the journal, dive in and enjoy the articles, blogs, videos and news. Explore the Green Building Pro social media community, engage with other members and contribute your expertise to collaborate and communicate with other green building professionals.

I am excited to announce that our Green Building Expo lineup is almost complete and we are set to have a great conference with topics, including: Success in Green Building, Federal Policy on Green Building Standards; Green Schools; NAHB Green ANSI Certification Standards; and Tax Benefits for Energy Efficient Commercial Construction. There are already over 1000 people registered and we expect a few thousand more by opening day May 19-20.

I welcome you to join us in our community and attend our conference and expo, either as an attendee, sponsor, speaker or all of the above. I look forward to chatting with you online, in person and on the trade show floor. Join me in the Green Building Pro community.

Jenica Egan
Editor in Chief
Green Building Journal
Follow us on Twitter @buildgreenpro

Founded more than 85 years ago, the West County Wastewater District, with offices and a treatment plant located in Richmond California, provides sewage collection, treatment and disposal services for nearby cities and unincorporated parts of

Contra Costa County’s western areas. WCWD provides an important service for its more than 120,000 ratepayers, but for the board of directors, employees and customers of WCWD, it is more than that – its operations help to protect the environment.
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Import, configure and export your BIMs with Georgia-Pacific Architects Design Studio.

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In the building and construction industry, building professionals are charged with achieving a balance between reducing the industry’s impact on the environment while meeting client demands for products that deliver beauty, comfort and performance. Solar power systems have become an integral component to the green building movement. To ‘go solar,’ one might traditionally envision bulky glass photovoltaic (PV) panels anchored to an otherwise cohesive rooftop. While this is still largely the norm, most green building professionals have become acquainted with PV’s aesthetically appealing counterpart, BIPV. Although building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) currently account for a relatively small percentage of a $40 billion solar power industry, they offer a sophisticated and efficient solution for on-site renewable energy generation.

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Go Green Expo, the nation's premier eco-friendly tradeshow, is coming to Atlanta, GA at the Cobb Galleria Centre, June 11-13. Go Green Expo combines Business & Consumer events into one cost-effective show, will showcase over 150 eco-exhibits and host a variety of panel discussions with green industry celebrities, leaders and local politicians like Ed Begley Jr. and his wife Rachelle Carson.

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Does it exist? The answer is yes, but not nearly enough to meet even a fraction of demand. It is a lenders market out there and the big banks are picking only the best deals or deals driven by current and future relationships. Leasing is a great option as the cost of solar has dropped allowing for traditional capital lease terms in the 5-7 year range to offer a viable solution for solar systems that now have paybacks less than this. For investment grade credit, longer term leases of up to 10 years for commercial and 20 years for municipal leases.

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Green Building Pro is excited to announce The Green Building Conference and Expo taking place everywhere online May 19-20, 2010, featuring Keynote Speakers; author and motivational speaker Jack Canfield and author and architect Eric Corey Freed. This two day premiere online educational event is hosting green building decision makers and leading solution providers. Attendees and vendors alike will meet with like-minded professionals in a fully interactive event.

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Last week the Public Utilities Commission approved the Southern California Gas Company’s request to install smart meters, at a cost to customers of over one billion dollars. The gas companies request was approved by a 3-2 vote, and will implement a new program beginning in 2012, to install over 20.5 million smart meters. Users then will be able to view in real time, information on how much natural gas they use running stoves, water heaters and home heating systems. With the cost of over $200 per meter, rate-payers will be charged about $70 cents per month for 25 years per smart meter, the projected life span of each meter. I feel that this smart metering system is a money loser considering the minimal savings.
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In one hour of sunlight, we could power the whole world for a year. Michael Lind of REC Solar in Ventura CA, talks about the advantages of going solar and advances in the technology.
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Distributed energy generation plays an important role in smart grid efficiency and sustainable building practice. Distributed energy power plants, especially at the industrial and commercial levels, help to mitigate the risk of "rolling blackouts" and other market rate fluctuations brought on by consumer reliance on centralized power plants. Decreasing consumer reliance on these centralized plants benefits the overall energy system by addressing rising demand in a cost and time effective way. Integration of storage and generation technologies with new and ongoing building projects allows for an increase in property market value while providing below market rate power on site. The methods of creating power are as diverse as the industries that implement them.

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On our path to building a world that will sustain human life for generations to come, we are going to need many concurrent strategies. Building more efficiently – in terms of energy use, water use, sustainable materials and so on – is a crucial step. Perhaps even more crucial, however, is moving to sources of energy that leave a lighter footprint on the planet.

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For the fourth year in a row, the University of Pennsylvania has emerged as the top individual school in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) 2009-2010 College and University Green Power Challenge. The university beat out 53 other universities by purchasing more than 192 million kilowatt hours (KWh) of green power, or 46 percent of their power purchases. Green power electricity generates less pollution than conventional power and produces no net increase in greenhouse gas emissions, which helps with climate change.

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The Solar Electricity Handbook is a practical and straightforward guide to using electric solar panels. Assuming no previous knowledge of solar panels, the book explains how solar panels work, how they can be used and explains the steps you need to take to successfully design and install a solar electric system from scratch using photovoltaic solar panels. This is an update to the 2009 Edition of the book with even more diagrams, details and up-to-the-minute information on this exciting technology.
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