One-Year Anniversary

It is hard to believe that it has been one year of scanning the Internet for articles to post on this site! Time flies when you are having fun!

High-Performance Buildings: Lessons Learned

By Paul A. Torcellini, Ph.D., Member ASHRAE; Ron Judkoff, Member ASHRAE; and Drury B. Crawley, Member ASHRAE

This article discusses a study by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that documented the operating performance of six buildings to understand how these buildings performed according to their design goals. Each building was significantly better than minimum code requirements; however, each used more energy than calculated during design. In some cases, information gained from monitoring resulted in changes to the building to improve performance. Many of the lessons learned can be used in future buildings.

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This article was originally published in ASHRAE Journal in September 2004. It will be available here through April 5.

Online Program Designed to Simplify Sustainable Building

PORTLAND, Ore.—The nonprofit Green Building Initiative (GBI) is sponsoring pilot design projects around the U.S. to promote its Green Globes online tool. The program enables users to plug in information about proposed commercial building projects and receive feedback about how to maximize sustainability in the project. The GBI is touting the program as a user-friendly way to incorporate green concepts in designs. It expects Green Globes to be active in 30 major U.S. building markets by the end of 2007.

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Save Time (and Paper!) with the New LEED-Online

USGBC announced a series of major enhancements to the LEED Rating System certification process at the 2005 Greenbuild Conference and Expo in Atlanta, GA. The result of a nearly year-long process involving extensive customer feedback and market research, the LEED process innovations will greatly reduce the LEED documentation process time, paperwork, and cost. To learn more about these enhancements, please click here, or download an informational brochure. Detailed information about the certification process is also available on the LEED Web site.

14th Annual National Conference on Building Commissioning

Portland, OR- Building green has become the answer for many in the commercial building industry as a means to improve the quality, performance and energy efficiency of their buildings – as well as their bottom line. A key component to all green commercial building practices is building commissioning, a process for ensuring that a building – new or existing – is operating at its optimal performance. On April 19th, industry leaders will convene in San Francisco for the 14th National Conference on Building Commissioning (NCBC).

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