The Curve Lake First Nation Reservation, located north-west of Peterborough, recently added 10 kW of renewable solar (more…)

While I was in New Orleans for the Green Matters Conference, I met the most extraordinary woman. Simone Bruni, better known in the Crescent City as the “Demo Diva,”  took her personal tragedy from Hurricane Katrina and turned it into a woman-owned and run demolition (more…)

When solar energy companies think about how to reduce the cost of their product, typically a lot of time and money goes toward increasing the efficiency of solar panels and their manufacturing process. Reducing the production cost decreases the final cost the consumer will (more…)

Imagine paying less than $15 a month for electricity and gas. Imagine living in a home without air conditioning or heating vents. If the price sounds right, but the house itself sounds either drafty or stifling, think again.

If you were living in a passive house, you wouldn’t have traditional heating and cooling equipment, but you’d still be warm in the winter and cool in the summer. And your (more…)

There are a myriad of ways in which the U.S. home mortgage system is weak – even broken. The extent of the housing bubble to the shoddy paperwork (and, in too many cases, outright fraud) in foreclosures are just two minor little examples of the problems we face. One contributing factor — to the housing bubble, to foreclosure rates, to wasteful U.S. energy practices, to (more…)

NOTE: The opinions expressed in this post are entirely those of the author, and do not represent the position of the USGBC or the Delaware Valley Green Building Council.

As almost anyone in the green community knows, last week LEED Critic Henry Gifford sued the USGBC for, essentially, a few different flavors of fraud.  Mr. Gifford sued (more…)

Direct Energy and Pure Energies, Inc. announced last month, a new partnership that takes advantage of the Ontario Green Energy Act’s lucrative feed-in tariff (FIT) program. Together, the two companies will offer packages tailored to the needs of individual home-owners, marrying solar PV technology with high-efficiency heating and cooling services and maintenance. Direct Energy and Pure Energies hope (more…)

You had to know this was coming. I even predicted a Lanham Act and Consumer Fraud Act claim would be part of a good green litigation.

Earlier this week, Henry Gifford, public critic of LEED (you may have read his Op-Eds in the New York Times) filed a class action law suit against the USGBC and its founders (more…)

Commercial building owners, facility managers and real estate brokers throughout California will be challenged starting January 2011 when Assembly Bill 1103 goes into effect. The new energy performance rating system will provide energy consumption information on nonresidential buildings. (more…)

Today attention is paid to one of two things regarding green building: energy cost reductions and/or the coveted LEED Plaque. Both are important – one to demonstrate return on investment while the other showcases a company’s ability to “walk the walk.” However within the world of commercial office space, one component of green building should shine above all else – impact of indoor environments on the people who occupy them.

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