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This question seems to be coming up more and more frequently these days — especially since, inspired by DOE's new Net-Zero Energy Commercial Building Initiative , the federal government has endeavored to achieve net zero energy on all its buildings by 2025. Most agree that there are three steps...

I wrote the following as part of an e-newsletter called the Green Building Alert, which came out yesterday. The feedback has been terrific - stories about buildings that outperformed projections, conspiracy theories about USGBC's evil ways, and solid, well-reasoned arguments for why ongoing measurement...

The blogosphere has been atwitter the last few weeks after consulting firm McKinsey & Company released a 165-page report (if anyone reads the whole thing, please let me know - I owe you a beer!) citing a potential savings to the U.S. economy of $1.2 trillion through 2020 by investing $520 billion...

In case you missed it, late Friday afternoon, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (HR 2454) passed the House by a narrow vote of 219-212. The so-called climate bill - because it establishes a national cap and trade system - will now go to the Senate, where revisions are expected to the 1,200-page...

This may almost sound too good to be true: You do an energy efficiency project (a large-scale lighting upgrade, for instance), measure and verify the savings, and then in addition to the financial benefit of buying less energy, you could also SELL a certificate that indicates those savings to someone...

Want to go green, but can't seem to get upper management's support? Here's a tip: Enlist the help of your occupants. Oftentimes, bottom-up pressure can be just as effective as top-down mandates in terms of instituting effective, efficient organizationwide green operational strategies. For...

In the best of times, many would agree that for organizations with limited capital budgets and an interest in energy efficiency, an energy performance contract is a fundamentally sound idea. In researching an article for the April issue of Building Operating Management, however, I've found that there...

You've no doubt heard the expressions, usually with negative connotations, that there are "too many cooks in the kitchen" or "too many chiefs and not enough indians." The idea is that, sometimes, egalitarianism only leads to time wasted because while everyone has an opinion, not...

Time’s Best Inventions of 2008 – its annual list of all that’s new and cool – includes several facility-related entries. Two actual buildings made the list as inventions in and of themselves. First, the $700 million Dynamic Tower in Dubai actually rotates on a floor-by-floor basis...

While the stories themselves may not exactly be what you’d call “good news,” the timing of the stories may wind up as a nice touch of serendipity. That’s because they both hit the wire at almost exactly the same time – which allowed the two stories to augment each other’s...

First, the facts: A r eport released this week by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) stated that carbon dioxide emissions released from fossil fuels increased 1.6 percent from 5,888 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (MMTCO2) in 2006 to 5,984 MMTCO2. This article reports the facts fairly...

Does your organization have a Director of Sustainability or a Vice President of Environmental Practice, or maybe just a Green Guru? If not, your organization may be in the minority. Even as the economy slows and unemployment grows, green collar jobs continue to rise. There’s no specific definition...

A survey of more than 1,150 executives and facility managers released this week reveals some fairly interesting details about how the industry is dealing (or plans to deal) with the rising cost of energy. For all intents and purposes, what the study , conducted by Johnson Controls and titled Energy Efficiency...

Green success stories are coming in fast and furious these days, but here’s one that definitely stands out from the crowd. The Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas, a new 500,000-square-foot, $200 million facility designed to be certified at the LEED-Platinum level, uses a natural...

There’s a fascinating article in the NY Times today that reports that electricity prices in deregulated markets – where competition is supposed to benefit the consumer and keep prices at fair market value – have actually increased at a rate faster than in those markets where electricity...

I recently had the pleasure of spending a week in Switzerland with about 30 other journalists from all over the world. We spent the week touring Swiss renewable energy companies and learning about Swiss strategies for energy efficiency. There were several highlights from the trip, but two pieces of information...

If you checked FacilitiesNet within the past few days, you may have noticed the news that USGBC members voted overwhelmingly to make a pretty significant change to LEED. Projects now must meet at least two “Optimize Energy Performance” credits, essentially forcing all LEED-certified new construction...

Another successful Greenbuild (with more than 13,000 attendees!) concluded recently in Denver, and arguably the most significant piece of news to emerge from the conference was USGBC’s announcement that, pending member approval, a 50 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions (compared with...