| LEED Commissioning: The Old and the New By RON WILKINSON, PE, LEED AP, AKF Group LLC, New York, N.Y. |
2009 saw the rollout of a major evolution in the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC's) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green-building rating systems. The five rating systems cover new construction and major renovations, core and shell projects, K-12 schools, commercial interiors, and existing buildings. The oldest of these, LEED for New Construction (LEED-NC), was released as a pilot program in 1998 and more fully developed as Version 2.0 in 2000. LEED Version 3 includes all five of these rating systems. [More] |
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| Changes to Decrease Energy Use Proposed for Standard 90.1 |
Energy use in buildings could drop with a proposed addendum to ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2007, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, regulating ventilation and cab lighting in elevators. [More] |
| DOE Seeks Participants for Commercial-Building Initiative |
As part of an ongoing effort to reduce energy use in new and existing commercial buildings, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) invites commercial-building owners and operators and technical experts to join its Commercial Building Partnerships (CBP) initiative. Three DOE national laboratories—Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)—will manage the new effort, which is funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. [More] |
| GSA Invests $4 Billion in ARRA Construction Projects |
To transform federal buildings into higher-performing, greener buildings, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) awarded construction projects to more than 500 companies, creating jobs in 50 states, two territories, and the District of Columbia by investing $4 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds. [More] |
| Survey Reveals Students Support Renewable Energy Sources |
The National Foundation for Energy Education (NFEE) recently conducted the National Student Energy Survey and discovered that most of the 4,611 participating middle and high school students indicated strong support for renewable energy sources. But while the survey shows that many students are optimistic about the U.S. energy future, some of that optimism comes from a lack of awareness of the facts, according to the survey’s organizer. The survey was developed and organized by the NFEE and sponsored in the Chicago area by the Mechanical Contractors Association (MCA) of Chicago. [More] |
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