The Green Building Pro team gives a big thanks to all our readers and members, as well as our sincere thanks, and huge celebratory nod to all participants for helping us achieve such amazing success with our first Green Building Expo. The interest and enthusiasm of over two thousand attendees for green building and our amazing presenters and sponsors made this event a clear success. This expo not only included 18 hours of presentations and phenomenal keynote speakers including Jack Canfield and Eric Corey Freed, but an amazing interactive environment that we are happy to announce is available online for an entire year. With all the presentations on demand you won’t miss a single presentation or the opportunity to chat with our vendors and share your experience with a friend. And to keep the momentum going we will host our weekly webcast series in the conference hall adding new sessions every month leading up to our fall show.

While every event is not without its share of criticism, we received great feedback from attendees and speakers. We continue to welcome comments and questions so our fall show will carry the momentum of The Green Building Expo and be better than ever. I have posted a few comments we have received so far in our Forums and would love to have your response as well. Visit the Green Building Pro Forums and add your comments on the Expo.

This month’s journal is dedicated to alternative energy, which is becoming a hot issue considering the recent wave of events taking place in our search for fossil fuels. It began with the largest coal industry disaster in forty years that we experienced last month, and continues with the oil spill caused by the blow-out of platform Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico, which will be an increasingly serious environmental disaster for some time to come. These catastrophic events are reminders that our reliance on fossil fuels might need to be re-evaluated and hopefully will accelerate our focus on finding, financing, and nurturing alternative energy generation.

Our contributing writers this month offer some insight into alternative energy as well as debrief us on the legalese regarding ConsensusDOCS. ConsensusDOCS is the construction industry’s leading standardized construction contracts and general analogue to the American Institute of Architect’s Contract Documents. They recently unveiled a new contract addendum for “green building” projects, the ‘ConsensusDocs 310 Green Building Addendum,’ and our contributing writer Gary L. Cole, Architect and Attorney, shares with us his insight as well as an explanation of these new standards.

Additionally, the United States Partnership for Renewable Energy Finance enlightens us regarding the launch of the American Council On Renewable Energy’s (ACORE) latest initiatives that look into greater ways to “connect the dots” between RE, GB and EE, as well as work to champion a more in-depth understanding of how renewable energy finance and development really work.

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.

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

ConsensusDOCS, the construction industry’s leading standardized construction contracts and general analogue to the American Institute of Architect’s Contract Documents, recently unveiled a new contract addendum for “green building” projects – the “ConsensusDocs 310 Green Building Addendum.” The two most interesting things about the new document are: (1) that it exists at all; and, (2) that ConsensusDOCS has very cleverly taken steps to shield its member-users from what, to some, is the Achilles Heel of the entire green building movement: that in any useful design, construction or legal sense, the term “green” has no reliably consistent meaning at all. That the new ConsensusDocs 310 Green Building Addendum achieves its goals by contractually defining a project’s greenness through actions instead of words is perhaps its most admirable achievement.
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Import, configure and export your BIMs with Georgia-Pacific Architects Design Studio.

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In recent years, the financing of renewable energy has played an ever greater role in how many architects and green building developers approach sustainable urban planning and design. The American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) recently launched two new initiatives – the Renewable Energy, Green Building and Energy Efficiency Committee (REGBEE) and the US Partnership on Renewable Energy Finance (US PREF) to look into greater way to “connect the dots” between RE, GB and EE, as well as work to champion a more in depth understanding of how renewable energy finance and development really work. Federal policy incentives from Washington in combination with a stronger private capital market will give the industry the necessary support and sustainable strategy to scale up renewable energy in the United States. As such, it is vital for many in the green building sector to take a closer look at the incentives and other mechanisms that are contributing to the growth of this ever important sector.

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The grand opening of Green Building Expo was a great success, with over 2000 attendees participating in 18 hours of conference sessions over the two-day kickoff. And even though it was just last week, we are already planning for the next event. If you missed the expo or didn’t get a chance to see all of the presentations, all of the sessions are now available online and accessible at any time.

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What an odd world it would be if the sun shown only on rooftops. Yet, when considering a solar power installation, this is often the only place people consider. And, while it certainly can be a great location, this doesn’t always make it the best or most practical.

For commercial buildings, whether retrofitting a photovoltaic (PV) system or designing one as part of the construction of a new building, there are myriad options available. The same holds true for residential systems – and again, not all involve the roof.
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In January 2009, Sustainable Energy Partners (SEP) began the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification process for the Fillmore Center; a multifamily commercial property located in San Francisco, California. In March 2010, SEP began the final submittal process and is currently awaiting approval of the project site’s compliance with LEED standards as set forth by the US Green Building Council. The following document outlines the primary environmental and economic benefits, as well as the project challenges and highlights SEP encountered while satisfying LEED points for a multifamily commercial property.
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Offsetting energy usage with a solar electric system for your home is one of the most significant actions that a homeowner can take to cut air pollution and green house gases, while helping to preserve energy resources for future generations.

Owning a solar home with energy efficient features allows homeowners the luxury of producing clean renewable energy, while realizing significant savings on their utility bills, being able to predict utility costs and protects against future rising electricity costs.
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As part of Cisco’s overall plan to address the growing need for sustainable energy and Smart+Connected Communities, a key component to their mission is the Cisco’s Network Building Mediator. The Mediator is the star of their Smart+Connected Buildings solution that provides the intelligence to interconnect and enable building systems such as heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC), lighting, electrical, security, and renewables, over the IP network to build smart and energy-efficient buildings of the future. Providing operators and owners of these buildings with new ways of managing how energy is used based on policies that make sense for occupants. In this video Edmund Richards from Cisco’s Emerging Technology Group educates us on the history and the future of Cisco’s vision for green building.

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Carbon dioxide emissions dropped significantly in the US in 2009. The economy played an obvious role; not so obvious was the influence of power generation and its increasing efficiency.

CO2 emissions have been trending down for the last decade by about 0.9%. But the 2009 drop was far more dramatic — 7% — the largest decline since the Energy Information Administration began keeping energy data more than 60 years ago.
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Wind Energy Basics offers a how-to for home-based wind applications, with advice on which wind turbines to choose and which to avoid. He guides wind-energy installers through considerations such as renewable investment strategies and gives cautionary tales of wind applications gone wrong. And for the activist, he suggests methods of prodding federal, state, and provincial governments to promote energy independence.

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