Green Options » Cascadia Region Green Building Council

Building Tours Showcase Green Building Techniques

Kristin Dispenza — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:49:36 +0000

Green building tours are becoming popular in many cities, and are an excellent means of introducing green construction options to professionals and laypeople alike.

The Cascadia Region Green Building Council will host a tour of green buildings on September 25th, 26th, and 28th in the Victoria, Vancouver, and Okanagan regions of British Columbia. British Columbia is the Canadian province with the most LEED-certified buildings per capita, and Cascadia’s Green Skyline tour will include over 25 green buildings. Both residential and commercial tours will be included. They will emphasize what constitutes green design and offer ways to incorporate it into a project, as well as detailing the costs and benefits of building green.

The tours are designed to be walkable, bikeable, and accessible by public transit. Several organized bike tours will also be offered. See the CRGBC website to register.

Photo: The University of Victoria Medical Sciences Building; provided by the University of Victoria

To read about green tours which will come to you, see:

Sustainable Living Road Show: Be the Change Tour on EcoLocalizer
See Sustainable Oregon… On a Bike on Sustainablog
Green Road Tours Bring the Fun to You on Green Options

Living Building Leader Program Educates Practitioners on the Latest in Green Building

Kristin Dispenza — Tue, 27 May 2008 13:16:40 +0000

In 2006, the Cascadia Region Green Building Council announced its Living Building Challenge. (For a description of the challenge, see Moving Beyond LEED.) Its goal is to move green building practices beyond LEED Platinum, aiming for buildings that have zero impact upon their environment. So far more than 50 Living Buildings across the United States are in the design or construction phase.

To augment the Living Building Challenge, Cascadia is developing a companion program known as Living Building Leader. This program will provide a venue for members of the building industry to share knowledge and develop green building skill sets. Living Building Leader is launching a series of sessions covering green building topics which will be taught by experts from fields relating to sustainable building; the sessions are intended for professionals who already have experience in green building.

Green Building Efforts in Alaska

Kristin Dispenza — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:45:23 +0000

The Pacific Northwest has a reputation for being progressive when it comes to green building, with Washington and Oregon setting the pace. But where does Alaska fit into the picture, and how do its green building efforts measure up?

With regard to the LEED program, Washington and Oregon each have certified or registered projects numbering in the hundreds. By comparison, Alaska has only three LEED certified buildings (A National Weather Service facility, a visitor’s center at Denali Park, and the Homer City Library) and less than 20 projects currently registered.

Moving Beyond LEED

Kristin Dispenza — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 13:28:03 +0000

The Cascadia Region Green Building Council (covering Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia) is already attempting to push beyond the LEED envelope by issuing its Living Building Challenge.

This challenge sets a new standard for what it means to be green. Its icon is a vibrant orange flower, meant to suggest elegance and efficiency; the flower, like a pie graph, is broken into parts, or petals. The 6 petals correspond to performance measures in the built environment:

Site
Materials
Energy
Indoor Quality
Water
Beauty and Inspiration