Many green buildings also seek to promote a green aesthetic and ambiance in their design and in how they are sited within the urban fabric they will exist within. Often these other additional design considerations flow from and are achieved in a synergistic manner by the structure’s other central design goals of reducing energy impact, water impact and providing a healthy inner space for its occupants. Sustainable buildings often promote a more livable environment and ambiance within and around them; enriching both the inner and the outer spaces.
The faculty of the Institute of Green Professionals in cooperation with the BIM Education Co-op and the Carter Center in Real Estate, School of Business and Economics at the College of Charleston are asking for your ideas on how to popularize the integration of sustainable development professionals. For the best idea, as determined by our faculty and co-sponsors, we will name the study/research/project after you or your company.
This five part article series on green buildings (also known as sustainable buildings) attempts to answer the following fundamental question: What is meant when someone says “green building” — what exactly are they talking about? In short a green building, is one that is designed, built, renovated, and operated in a resource-efficient manner and that minimizes its environmental impact. It promotes: Energy efficiency, material efficiency, water efficiency and healthful building environment. And generally the term implies that the structure addresses all four of these principle aspects in one manner or another.
The Lopez Community Land Trust (LCLT), a non-profit community-based organization is offering sustainable building internships for the Spring, Summer and Fall of 2009 in Lopez Island, WA. The sustainable internships will include construction with straw bale and natural plaster construction and a host of other tasks connected with completing the Common Ground neighborhood.
The Lost Valley Educational Center in Dexter, OR is offering a sustainable building and maintenance internship to assist the center transform it’s conventional building bbinfrastructure into more sustainable green buildings. This involves retrofitting our cabins, lodge, classrooms, and dormitories so that they are more energy efficient, healthful, and beautiful. We also do projects from the ground up; possibilities include installing solar hot-water panels, designing a bike shop, building a composting toilet.
In a milestone for green computing, Citi‘s newly completed 230,000 sq ft data center in Frankfurt am Mein, Germany became the world’s first such facility to earn the prestigious Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum rating. The environmentally-conscious building, designed by British architectural practice Arup Associates for Citi, has already been honored for its ground breaking eco-friendly design and now it has been awarded the most prestigious rating, the LEED Platinum rating.
Southface Energy Institute is a non-profit organization that promotes sustainable homes, workplaces and communities through education, research, advocacy and technical assistance. Southface offers a limited number of internships to qualified applicants as training for the benefit of each intern. The internships are intended to provide meaningful and challenging learning in a fast-paced organizational environment. Academic credit is available when applicable to curriculum. The program accepts undergraduates, college graduates, or those who have an equivalent level of work and educational experience.
The Northeast Green Building Conference 2009, the leading Green building educational event in Upstate New York, takes place this Thursday and Friday, April 23-24, at the Clarion Hotel, 3 Watervliet Avenue Ext., Albany.
A new study finds that a “Living Building,” a building that generates its own power, as well as cleans and reuses its water is the most financially responsible design approach to new construction in the mid to long term. Building that are only slightly green may end up costing more in ten years than a building that is designed and built as high performance as is currently possible. Living Buildings offer significantly larger savings in water and energy costs, and cost less to construct than previously believed. Study participants include leading design, engineering, building research, construction and development firms.
