Did you know that you can now earn badges by completing courses on Education @USGBC? Badges are a fun visual representation of your progress in learning. You can maintain your professional credential and show off your accomplishments at the same time! All USGBC badges are also portable to other platforms, such as LinkedIn and Mozilla backpack. This month's "Badge Super Star," Sarah Williams, shared her enthusiasm about Education @USGBC. Williams is an Estimator at DPR...

Most power generation stakeholders readily acknowledge that today’s industry has an unsustainable business model. It typically wastes between 50-70 percent of all input energy, losing another 6 percent or more of net generation during transmission and distribution. PEER, Performance Excellence in Electricity Renewal, is USGBC’s new rating system for power generation facilities. It provides a framework for the important new designs and upgrades that today’s power...

The 21st meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) will meet in Paris in early December 2015 to continue the search for climate solutions. Expectations are always high—with fears of failure lingering in our minds. Previous COPs have had notable successes—and publicized failures. The challenge of global climate change is enormous. COP 21 hopes to overcome some of the problems and find ways to apply technologies, policies and practices to reduce warming to under two degrees...

Each year, the Center for Green Schools brings together, in person, a community of school system staff who are the point persons for sustainability in their cities’ or towns’ schools. However, each year, there are faces missing, because our network is full of passionate professionals who don’t have the permission or the funding to travel to professional development or peer networking events. These are often the people who most need to connect with like-minded professionals and...

On Monday, Oct. 26 at the annual Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) conference, USGBC announced alongside our partners—AASHE, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and Second Nature—a commitment to collaborate more deeply and align our work in the higher education sector. With this commitment came a pledge to work together in three areas in support of a vision for the movement. Below is our joint statement describing our commitment,...

A lot has changed in Turkey over the last couple of decades. Beyond the inevitable effect of globalization as it weaves together nations and people more closely with each passing day, innovation and modernization push forward as new technology and ideas change hands and cross borders. Turkey’s evolution is a bigger story than the economic climb and the repayment of its International Monetary Fund loans; the country is adjusting to the modern demands of its populace, including a large...

Passive house design is a growing trend in the building design world. It seeks to achieve high levels of energy efficiency through design choices such as super insulation, solar exposure planning and natural ventilation. The first passive house concept was developed at the University of Lund in Sweden in 1988. Now, there are estimated to be 40,000–50,000 passive homes around the world, with the first one built in the United States in 2003. Although the return on investment for a passive...

Every time I travel and meet new people, I realize anew the power of the green building movement. Last week, Kimberly Lewis and I joined 10,000 interfaith religious leaders from around the world at the Parliament of the World’s Religions conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. Along with local USGBC volunteers and members of USGBC Utah, we exhibited and presented at this global event.  This conference is mounted every five to six years. The 2015...

Giving back to society and investing in the betterment of people’s lives is never convenient or easy. Every day, around the world, individuals serve to make their communities better—safer, cleaner, more just and more vibrant. Malcolm Lewis, Ph.D., exemplified this in his dedication and commitment to better buildings and communities and through his service to the green movement. The founder of Constructive Technologies Group, Malcolm Lewis served on USGBC’s board and...

Traditional landscaping and land development require a great deal of water, energy, labor, materials and other scarce resources. Because our communities are using more resources than ever before, the increased waste creates a negative impact on the environment. Sustainable landscaping is cost-effective, environmentally sound and fosters resiliency. It plays a key role in reducing the impact of population growth and development and offers solutions for problems such as pollution and waste. The...

Planning to attend Greenbuild 2015? Visit USGBC's booth #2437 to see the LEED Dynamic Plaque and experience ways of measuring your building's performance. The LEED Dynamic Plaque will be on display Wednesday and Thursday—be sure to take a #PLAQUEie while you’re there. The Dynamic Plaque measures existing buildings in the categories of energy, water, waste, transportation and human experience, giving building owners, managers and tenants new insight into real-time...

The LEED v4 Stories series features the people the behind diverse LEED v4 projects. Here, you’ll find interviews with project team members and project owners that tell of their experiences—both the wins and the challenges.  This is part 2 of our conversation on the Haworth Beijing Organic Showroom—the world’s first LEED v4 project. Read part 1. Located inside a LEED Platinum building, the furniture and office space manufacturer designed their showroom with a...