Some of the fastest return on investment you can get is by retrofitting a leaky, energy wasting building with high R-value insulation and efficient appliances. Many estimates show that US buildings use close to 50% of the total annual energy in the country- so this seems like a natural place to start if we want to conserve. But what if you’re building a house from scratch? (more…)

We have entered a new era of green building policy. The Army is abandoning LEED certification.

On February 28, 2012, I reported, via a BuildingGreen article, that the Army had reiterated its commitment to LEED certification despite DoD re-authorization legislation that banned LEED Gold and Platinum certification. (more…)

Lighting has been one of the great success stories in energy efficiency of the last quarter of the 20th Century. And it could become another great success story of the next few years as we proceed further into the 21st Century.

During the years following the oil crises of the early (more…)

A recent article in Newsweek, “Obama’s Big Green Mess,” describes what can happen when contractors are “unfamiliar with the nuances of specialized weatherization work.” The fact is, installing furnaces that exhaust poisonous fumes, putting in water heaters that can explode and blowing toxic asbestos (more…)

One of the best and most exciting parts of my job is helping make homes and businesses more efficient. Why? The places where we live and work consume 40% of the energy we use in the U.S. Through tune-ups to existing homes or new construction, doing more while using less energy is key to improving our buildings and energy future. (more…)

Last week, I spoke at two events that helped underscore the extent to which President Obama’s Recovery Act is paving the way for a clean energy economy.

Before an audience of green affordable housing developers at the Communities of the Institute for Professional and Executive Development (IPED) annual conference, I (more…)

The owners of the Empire State Building have unveiled plans to improve it’s energy efficiency by turning it into a green building.

Malkin Holdings have invested $13 million this year into the structure with the aim of putting it ‘back on the map’.

According to the Guardian, the makeover (more…)

Yesterday, more than 120 leaders in the commercial building community came together with Federal officials at a White House Clean Energy Economy Forum to discuss the role of Federal leadership in sustainable building. White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, General Services Administration (more…)

While several clean energy technologies play an important role in reducing carbon dioxide emissions, none compare to energy efficiency, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency.
“Increasing energy efficiency, much of which can be achieved through low-cost options, offers the greatest potential for reducing CO2 emissions over the period to 2050,” says Energy Technology Perspectives 2010. “It should be the highest priority in the short term.”

The report offers a “Blue Map” that lays out least-cost (more…)

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton got a warm welcome from the mixed American and Canadian audience that paid up to $175 to hear his keynote speech at the first  Essex County Enviro-Expo.

The former president spoke to a nearly full house of 3,000. Citing a myriad of world challenges; hunger, water, terrorism, climate change, and global economics, Clinton said all solutions point to the development of sustainable energy on a global scale.

Few people attain a global perspective on world events as “citizen” Clinton. As a disaster relief expert, Clinton mentions a litany of environmental catastrophes, natural and man made, that have involved his personal intervention. He has seen first hand the effects of hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunami’s and in each case he advocates opportunities to rebuild in an earth friendly and sustainable way. The plan to rebuild Haiti is such an example. (more…)