Posts by Jessalyn Dingwell | The Green Economy Post: Green Careers, Green Business, Sustainability

Al Gore Addresses Green Building Community at Greenbuild

By Jessalyn Dingwell on November 13, 2009 3 Comments Al Gore, Alliance for Climate Protection, An Inconvenient Truth, Apple, architects, builders, climate, Climate Change, contractors, Current TV, Earth in the Balance, economy, energy dependence, environment, environmental impacts, Generation Investment Management, Google, green building industry, Green Job, green movement, greenwashing, Jessalyn Dingwell, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, LEED Gold certification, Middle Tennessee State University, national security, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, Phoenix, retrofitting, sustainable, sustainable homes, sustainable investing, Tennessee, U.S. Green Building Council, USBGC

Al Gore delivered the keynote address to green building professionals at the Greenbuild conference. He praised the leadership of the USGBC for bringing real change to the marketplace. He also urged the crowd to take responsibility for expanding green building globally and to call out greenwashing.

Green Job Seekers Share Job Hunting Tips at Greenbuild’s Job Fair

By Jessalyn Dingwell on November 12, 2009 1 Comment American Society of Civil Engineers, Amrit Kaur, Annie Fulton, architecture, Arizona State University, building, building waste management, business development, Carnegie Mellon graduate, Christina Lerner, Clea Senneville, construction, engineering, Executives Network, green building, green building industry, Green Job, green jobs, Greenbuild Conference, hiring, information technology, internship, Jessalyn Dingwell, job fair, job fairs, job seekers, John Regan, John-Bugg, LEED accreditation tests, LEED consulting, LEED-AP, LEED-NC certification, mentor, networking contacts, outside sales, Phoenix, Phoenix Convention Center, Policy, Program in Sustainability, sales management, social enterprises, Southwest Jobs Network, Steve Watters, sustainabilitymconstruction, sustainable development, U.S. Green Building Council, University of Arkansas, unpaid internships, volunteer organizations

This is a round-up of on-the-spot interviews with job seekers who attended the job fair at the Greenbuild Conference that is taking place this week. Attendees were asked what strategies were they using to land a green building job.

Passivhaus: The Top 5 Barriers to Growth In The US

By Jessalyn Dingwell on October 27, 2009 4 Comments active heating system, America, building orientation, California, carbon footprint, Darmstadt, energy efficiency, energy saving, Europe, Geothermal, geothermal heat pump, Germany, GHP, green building, ground sourced heat pump, heat exchanger, heat load, heat loss, heating energy consumption, indoor air quality, insulation, Internal heat gain, ISO 7730, LEED certification, Pacific Northwest, passive cooling, passive heating, Passive House, Passive House Institute US, Passive House Planning Package, passive solar, passive solar gain, passive solar landscaping, Passivhaus, Passivhaus Institut Darmstadt, Passivhaus movement, PHIUS, Photovoltaics, PHPP, post-cooling, post-heating, primary energy usage, R-values, sustainable building, thermal hot water system, triple-glazed windows, US, US building market, ventilation system

Are most homebuyers interested in purchasing a home that saves 90% over a traditional home on heating and cooling costs and requires only a small active heating system the size of a hairdryer? The Passivhaus movement is an exciting building design concept that offers tremendous energy savings due to reliance on passive heating systems. Europe is embracing the concept with between ten and fifteen thousand houses already built and governmental support of mandating the standard. The Passivhaus Institut in Darmstadt was formed in 1996 to promote and control passive house design and the group only recently formed the Passive House Institute US (PHIUS) to reach out directly to the US building market. It is slow to gain momentum, but holds promise for the US market in the future.

Huge Growth in Retrofit Buildings Predicted: $10-15 Billion Dollar Market by 2014

By Jessalyn Dingwell on October 24, 2009 3 Comments build green, building market, building product manufacturers, CB Richard Ellis, energy efficiency improvements, energy efficient lighting, green builders, green building, green building industry, Green Building Retrofit & Renovation SmartMarket Report, Green Building Retrofit & Renovation: Rapidly Expanding Market Opportunities Through Existing Building, green products, Harvey Bernstein, inefficient building, McGraw-Hill Construction, natural lighting. Autodesk, renovation, retrofit and renovation market, retrofits, retrofitting, Siemens, SmartMarket Report, U.S. Green Building Council, UL Environment, water efficient practices

The market for green buildings is exploding and the lion’s share of the opportunity exists in retrofits, not new buildings. McGraw-Hill Construction’s latest SmartMarket Report, Green Building Retrofit & Renovation: Rapidly Expanding Market Opportunities Through Existing Buildings, was released at the Green Retrofit Conference in New York recently. The report finds that new buildings represent only 2.5% of the US building market, while retrofitting provides an enormous market opportunity for green builders, owners and building product manufacturers.Currently, green building comprises 5-9% of the retrofit and renovation market activity by value. This equates to a $2-4 billion marketplace for major projects. By 2014, that share is projected to increase by 20-30%, creating a $10-15 billion market for major retrofit projects in only five years.