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What We‘re Up To
You are probably aware of BuildingGreen‘s core products and activities: maintaining and updating this website, creating each monthly issue of Environmental Building News, and constantly updating GreenSpec®, our directory of green building products. But we do a lot more! Here are some of our recent ongoing and discrete activities:
Ongoing Activities:
Books
Both on our own and in partnership with New Society Publishers we publish books based on our material. (Sorry authors, we‘re not in the business of publishing books written by others. For that, you might contact Ecotone, Island Press, New Society, Taunton Press, Wiley, McGraw-Hill…). Our titles include GreenSpec Directory, Green Building Products, and Your Green Home. You can order them right here, at Amazon.com, or (at least with the latter two) at your local bookstore.
High Performance Buildings Database
We built and since 2001 have maintained the U.S. Department of Energy‘s database of high performance buildings. We display projects from the database on BuildingGreen.com, and we host views of the database for DOE and other organizations, including the U.S. Green Building Council, The American Institute of Architects, and ASHRAE. Read more about how it all works.
GreenSource Magazine
Through a special arrangement with McGraw-Hill Construction, we provide editorial quidance and articles for this award-winning publication, which also serves as the member magazine for the U.S. Green Building Council. We were honored that GreenSource received the top honor for new magazines in FOLIO: magazine's 2007 Ozzie Awards.
GreenFormat
We are partnering with the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) on its new GreenFormat initiative, which offers a structured reporting tool for green products. Our tasks include helping to refine the reporting format and supporting product manufacturers as they input data.
BAC‘s Online Sustainable Design Courses
We oversee curriculum, recruit instructors, provide information resources, and teach some of the courses in Boston Architectural College‘s Sustainable Design Certificate Program, the nation‘s first and most comprehensive architecture school certificate program on sustainable design.
Other Teaching and Training
As time allows, BuildingGreen staff teach in local programs, including the Building Materials and Wood Technology program at UMass Amherst, and LEED workshops for USGBC. We also regularly speak at conferences and other events throughout North America.
Extending the Reach of our Information
We provide specific content to others for redistribution as part of their information services. Organizations that build on our content include McGraw-Hill Construction and Houston Advance Research Center.Project Consulting
On a limited basis, we serve as specialty consultants to designers and owners seeking to green their projects. We work nationally within our areas of special expertise, such as green products and building science, and locally we help projects more generally with green design solutions and LEED certification.
Discrete Projects:
ReGreen: USGBC/ASID Green Residential Remodeling Guidelines
BuildingGreen was hired by USGBC to collaborate with a team of experts and produce a document featuring guidelines for residential remodeling projects. This document will be distributed electronically and in print, and the guidelines may also be integrated into an interactive resource for remodelors and homeowners. regreenprogram.org
Commission for Environmental Cooperation
BuildingGreen was hired by the tri-national Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) to work with colleagues in Canada and Mexico to produce a background paper on green building policy and green building movements across North America. Other teams produced related background papers, all of which will inform the CEC's final report.
EPA Research Triangle Park Division One Specifications
BuildingGreen was contracted by the Research Triangle Park facilities team of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to expand and update specification language for MasterFormat Division 1. We collaborated with our friends at 7group in Pennsylvania to rewrite those sections, and to provide accompanying documents that explain the source and rationale for the specifications. These guidance documents provide context to help users modify the language to suit their own needs. We then adapted those specifications for use in our GreenSpec directory.
Gulf Coast Reconstruction Reports
Shortly after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit Louisiana, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) convened a series of charrettes in an effort to spur environmentally sound rebuilding efforts. BuildingGreen was hired to document the results of those charrettes. Three full-color reports are available for download here.
Sustainable Interior Design White Papers
During 2006 we partnered with Scot Horst of 7group, Holley Henderson of H2 Ecodesign, and Kirsten Childs to produce a series of white papers for the American Society of Interior Designers. BuildingGreen contributed to the contents and handled design and layout for the papers:
- Beyond Interior Design
- Indoor Air Quality
- Materials and Products
- Selling Green
- Reference Guide
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