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Chapter News
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Written by USGBC-NCC
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Monday, 25 January 2010 |
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USGBC's
Natural Talent Design Competition (NTDC) is a nationwide design
challenge that was started in 2003 by the USGBC's Emerging Green
Builders program as a vehicle for young designers to gain applied
learning experience in the principles of integrated design,
sustainability, and innovation. This year, the Salvation Army joins the
U.S. Green Building Council in hosting the 2010 Natural Talent Design
Competition. Entrants will design an affordable, 800 square foot green home for an elderly client in the Broadmoor, New Orleans neighborhood as part of Salvation Army's EnviRenew Project.
Competitors will be divided into students and young professionals categories. Chapters
will select winning teams from both categories, and nationally, two
winning teams from each category will be selected, and those four teams
will be brought to Greenbuild 2010.
For the first time, the top four winning teams will see their designs built! Once
the homes are built, they will enter a measurement and verification
phase in which they will be graded on energy efficiency, water reuse,
and indoor air quality among other categories. The design team whose home performs best during measurement and verification will be awarded the final grand prize.
Learn more about the Chapter Competition or visit OpenArchitectureNetwork.org to view competition guidelines and register.
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Green Building News
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Written by USGBC-NCC
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Thursday, 14 January 2010 |
Architecture for Humanity is responding to the earthquake in Haiti, which has caused major damage with a loss of life estimated to be in the thousands. They are raising funds to support efforts in the rebuilding of affected areas. Together with their partners Yele Haiti
and AIDG (Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group) they have
launched an appeal for supplying construction and design professionals
and supporting earthquake resistant structures. Donate to Architecture for Humanity's reconstruction efforts. Please note this
funding will be focused on longer-term recovery rather than emergency
relief.
If you want to support immediate needs, give to the Red Cross, Partners in Health or UNICEF.
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Green Building News
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Written by USGBC-NCC
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Friday, 08 January 2010 |
Mayor Newsom, Empire State Building Owner, USGBC Founder
Hold Summit on Deep Green Retrofitting of Existing Buildings at USGBC - Northern California Chapter Headquarters

Mayor Gavin Newsom, Empire State Building owner Tony Malkin, and U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) & World Green Building Council Founder David Gottfried spoke at a special luncheon on Friday, January 8th, 2010 at USGBC – Northern California Chapter (USGBC-NCC) headquarters. USGBC-NCC and Mayor Newsom convened the event to inspire real estate executives’ commitment to improving energy efficiency in existing commercial buildings and to challenge the San Francisco Bay Area to replicate the integration, depth, and transparency of the Empire State Building green retrofit project.
Mayor
Newsom opened the event by discussing San Francisco's successes and
future plans for greening commercial existing buildings. He challenged
the building owners in attendance to push the envelope and reach for
higher sustainability goals. Newsom emphasized the compelling financial
benefits of green building, and the critical importance of building
retrofits, saying, "We are not serious about climate change until we
are serious about building efficiency . . . San Francisco is a leader
in green building - we have more LEED buildings than cities four to
eight times larger, such as New York and Los Angeles." He noted that in San Francisco, existing buildings are responsible for more than 45% of carbon emissions. The Mayor’s Task Force on Existing Commercial Buildings recommends several innovative measures to dramatically increase energy efficiency in San Francisco’s building stock.
The retrofits of the architectural icons Transamerica Pyramid - which just received LEED Gold Certification - and the Empire State Building, serve as coast to coast prototypes for the profitability and importance of greening existing commercial buildings nationwide.
Tony Malkin, President of Malkin Holdings LLC and owner of the Empire State Building, made a strong business case for the building’s green renovation. “I’m doing this to make money. Investments in existing building energy efficiency have a much higher return on investment than investments in renewable energy – and we can do it now. If the Empire State Building can do it, anyone can do it,” said Mr. Malkin. The Empire State Building project team - Johnson Controls Inc., Jones Lang LaSalle, and Rocky Mountain Institute joined forces for a modeling and analysis project which will save 38 percent of the building's energy and $4.4 million on an annual basis. This project team described how performance based contracting, transparency, and a fresh, integrated approach to retrofits produced a dramatic decrease in operating costs and carbon emissions, while enhancing property value and providing a handsome return on investment. View the Empire State Building Case Study.
Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious Materials and Inc. Magazine's Entrepreneur of the Year described the pioneering upgrade of the building’s windows. Serious Materials is recycling and remanufacturing 6,500 windows onsite – on the 5th floor of the building - using revolutionary technology and techniques which will save 5% on energy consumption.
U.S. Green Building Council and World Green Building Council founder David Gottfried closed the luncheon by stressing the importance of making money on green building while securing a healthy and secure future for the planet, our children and generations to come. “We can’t afford to live the way we’ve been living. One hundred years ago we had 1 billion people on the planet; now there are 7 billion – we need to redefine how we think about business. At the same time we achieve a superior return on investment, we must take the most effective measures to reduce dependence on energy, create jobs, provide a healthy environment for our families and preserve the health of the planet.”
View the Empire State Building Case Study.
View the Press Release.
David Gottfried, Tony Malkin, and Dan Geiger.
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Green Building News
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Written by USGBC-NCC
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Monday, 21 December 2009 |
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Mayor
Gavin Newsom announced new legislation aimed at improving energy
efficiency for existing buildings in San Francisco at a LEED Gold
plaque presentation for the Transamerica Pyramid. The Mayor convened a
task force on existing buildings to come up with recommendations;
included on the task force were two of USGBC-NCC's Boardmembers, Barry
Giles and Lisa Galley. Read the report.
USGBC-NCC Executive Director Dan Geiger presented the LEED Gold plaque to Christoph
Gabler of AEGON Insurange Group. The iconic Transamerica Pyramid in San
Francisco received LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations &
Maintenance (EBOM) Gold, symbolizing the city's efforts to go green.
"This
award demonstrates a serious commitment to the environment and should
be an example to other properties on how they can help us create a
sustainable future through green building techniques," Mayor Newsom
said. "The Transamerica Pyramid is synonymous with San Francisco's
skyline, and it is now an even more fitting emblem for the city by
reflecting our core green values." The Transamerica Pyramid achieved a
LEED rating ahead of two other iconic buildings that are currently
seeking LEED ratings: the Empire State Building and Chicago's Willis
Tower. The rating was based on a longstanding effort to increase energy
efficiency, encourage use of alternative transportation by tenants, a
50% water usage reduction in the past year, a high-efficiency
co-generation plant, the purchase of renewable energy credits,
recycling and composting to reduce the building's wastestream, and the
use of green cleaning products.
Mayor Gavin Newsom; Dan Geiger,USGBC-NCC Executive Director; Christoph Gabler of AEGON; and USGBC-NCC Boardmembers Barry Giles and Lisa Galley, at the Transamerica Pyramid LEED plaque presentation.
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