• It showed the possibilities. The homes were generally expensive to construct, but all 20 were producing power back to the grid.
• It showed an incredible amount of ingenuity. As just one example, the Penn State home included a movable wall of milk bottles, which helped to diffuse light.
• The students were uniformly bright and engaged. As the construction industry becomes greener, we are incredibly well-positioned to attract more of the best and brightest students our universities are producing.

"D.C. Offers Up Cash to Buildings to Go Green on Top"
"A Solar Strategy in the Wetlands"
"'Green' Changes in Store for Chicago"
"Need to Weed Your Roof?"
"Tesco to Open New Fresh & Easy Stores"
"A Greene Vision: VMware's New Open, Energy-Efficient Campus"
"Green Building Is Catching on in S.A."
"Green Roofs Begin to Sprout Atop City Homes"
"Architects Go Green at the Office"
"Watch the Progress: NBC 30's All-Digital Building"
"Penn Sprouts Down-to-Earth Green Roof"
"Green Roofs Cost More, Pay Dividends"
"$20M Dalton's Edge Development Opens, Brings 120 Senior Housing Units to Tarentum"
"Costco Ventures Into Solar Power"
"S'Pore to Build First $10m Zero Energy Building"

Washington, D.C.'s Department of Environment is looking to use financial incentives to coax more of the city's commercial landlords and homeowners to install green roof systems. The city agency has agreed to extend a five-year subsidy program for building new green roof systems to existing building owners, hoping the move increases the less than 300,000 square feet of green roof systems currently in existence. The main goal is to catch more stormwater before it ends up overflowing into the Anacostia and Potomac rivers. Sheila Besse, head of the Department of Environment's planning and restoration branch, remarks: "If all the new construction was required to put green roofs on, that still would not clean up the Anacostia. What we have to do is retrofitting."
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In New Jersey, a high-tech science center being built at the Meadowlands Commission's Lyndhurst headquarters will be the heart of a renewable energy district that aims to generate 20 megawatts of solar energy throughout the 14-town district by 2020. The science center will feature a solar roof system. In fact, the facility will boast as many environmentally friendly features as possible in order to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Striving for a "gold level" rating, the Meadowlands Commission has been applying such innovative building practices as using laminated beams from forests that have sustainable harvesting practices. Fred Rosen, the science center's architect, reports that the siting of the building and the amount of slope of its roof were calculated to maximize the amount of sunlight year-round for this particular longitude and latitude. Robert Ceberio, the commission's executive director, states: "The Meadowlands, with all those acres of warehouse roofs and landfills, has the potential to someday be a Persian Gulf of solar energy."
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Earlier this month, former President Bill Clinton announced that Chicago's Merchandise Mart and the Sears Tower will be retrofitted with energy-saving features to help reduce global warming. The two overhauls will serve as showcase projects for Clinton's namesake foundation and its ongoing efforts to stabilize global climate change. The Merchandise Mart ranks as the country's biggest commercial building at approximately 4 million square feet of office, retail and wholesale furnishings show space. Owners expect to spend $50 million during the next 15 years on such features as insulating rooftop gardens to make the building more energy efficient. Chicago is looking to become America's largest "green" city, an effort that began in earnest with the addition of a green rooftop at City Hall seven years ago. Currently, the Windy City boasts more than 300 green roof systems at private and public buildings, which keep heating costs low and work to absorb stormwater runoff.
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Nationwide, more cities are encouraging the installation of green roof systems over traditional asphalt roof systems. Regardless of design, green roof systems are substantially more complicated than ordinary gardens. Chiefly, they have multiple layers beneath the soil, including a filter membrane, a drainage layer, waterproofing, insulation and structural support. This complex infrastructure, though, can accomplish a lot of environmental good. A newly published BioScience paper shows that green roof systems can reduce heat loss from a building by as much as 50 percent, as well as slash air-conditioning costs by 25 percent. Such rooftops can also cut the urban-heat-island effect by up to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Chicago has been among the U.S. leaders, boasting more than 2.3 million square feet of green roof systems installed. Other cities following the Windy City's lead include New York; Phoenix; Portland, Ore.; and Washington, D.C.
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Tesco PLC is set to open five new Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets in the Las Vegas metro area. These stores represent the British supermarket retailer's first foray into the Vegas retail market. Each of the new stores will reportedly be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified and boast such features as solar rooftop panels. Tesco currently operates more than 3,200 stores in a dozen countries.
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VMware CEO Diane Greene's vision of an open corporate campus for her California-based software firm has become a reality. The new five-building headquarters is designed to promote employee interaction and collaboration while at the same time improving the company's overall energy efficiency. In terms of the former, lounge areas are now located next to snack kitchens and many of the interior walls on campus are made of glass. In addition, an estimated 750 windows across campus open and close, letting in natural light and fresh air. Bridges also connect each building. Wally Hong, director of workplace resources, remarks: "We can see from one end of the site to the other. We truly believe in an open environment." In terms of the latter, the campus has made use of recycled construction materials. However, budget constraints imposed by Massachusetts-based EMC—which owns 86 percent of VMware—have held back some of the innovations. For example, there was no money left over to install photovoltaic panels on the building's rooftops. However, the roofs have been built to handle the panels when the funds are available. Four of the buildings were completed earlier this summer, with the fifth and final structure plus a fitness facility to be complete in 2008.
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Alison Rivenburgh, a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified green consultant, launched her firm in May to help San Antonio catch up with other large cities in its green building efforts. So far, business has been brisk. Part of her success is the result of the city getting more interested in the movement. Local elected officials passed a resolution earlier this spring that all new city buildings meet the criteria for at least a Silver LEED rating. Rivenburgh has been a big proponent of environmentally friendly roof systems in particular. She is currently consulting with Silver Oak Medical Center, which will break ground next year on a new facility locally. The building has been submitted for Silver LEED certification. Once finished, it will save approximately 535,000 gallons of water annually via rainwater collection. In addition, it will feature a white roof system that reflects rather than absorbs heat.
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New York residents are replacing their roofs with shrubbery and other environmentally sustainable resources. The green roofing trend is taking root at a time when many commercial buildings across the country are seeking out alternative solutions to conserve energy. Green roof systems consist of flowers, plants and other shrubbery planted on top of soil. The added layer of greenery offers additional insulation, keeping homes cool in the summer and warm in the winter and resulting in energy savings of 10 percent to 60 percent. The insulation also blocks out noise and does not trap heat from the sun. Because the plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen, the roof systems cut greenhouse gas emissions.
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Cook & Fox Architects believes it has the "greenest" offices in New York City. The firm rents a 12,000-square-foot space on the top floor of a building in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. It holds the distinction of being the only office in New York with a platinum rating from the U.S. Green Building Council, whose program focusing on commercial interiors as opposed to buildings as a whole is fairly new. Of the 112 offices that have been certified nationwide to date, just a half-dozen have platinum ratings. The Cook & Fox Architects' offices were designed with low partitions and open architecture, so nearly all the desks have window views of some sort. With so much natural light streaming in, the offices boast a lot of greenery. Cook & Fox Architects also installed a green roof system on a section of the seventh floor. Other green amenities include water-conserving bathroom fixtures, energy-saving hand dryers and a program that composts such food waste as coffee grounds. Other firms are looking to follow suit. CB Richard Ellis, for instance, recently announced plans to slash energy use substantially in its offices worldwide by the end of the decade.
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In Hartford, Conn., the local NBC affiliate is in the process of developing a new broadcast and digital center. The facility is being built directly behind NBC 30's current site. In keeping with the network's new Going Green initiative, the new building will feature a white roof system wired for solar technology. Dave Doebler, NBC 30's general manager, states: "We are building the size building that we really need that will feel bigger and will be very smart and green." The center should be up and running by the first quarter of 2009.
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The Radian, a 154-unit privately owned student housing-complex on the University of Pennsylvania's Philadelphia campus, will feature a green roof system. In addition to serving as a campus garden, the rooftop will function as a stormwater treatment system. The 12,000-square-foot green roof system covers roughly one-fifth of the Radian's total footprint and was designed mainly to comply with Philadelphia's stormwater control regulations. Special drains have been installed to capture runoff from impervious sections of the terrace, funneling it into an irrigation system for the various plants. Pennoni Associates is handling the landscaping and engineering while green-roof specialist Roofscapes has agreed to provide technical expertise. David McHenry, the project's lead architect, states: "Our goal is to make it approachable and put it in people's face so that they understand the environmental value."
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Green roof systems are sprouting atop more and more buildings in Chicago, Minneapolis, Omaha and Kansas City. These and other Midwest markets are taking their cue from various regions in Germany, where all new developments are required to have their roof systems covered with at least 50 percent green space. Green roof systems typically cost an average of 30 percent more than traditional roof systems to install, but the savings down the road make the investment worth it. The benefit of decreased stormwater runoff is immediate, however. Studies show that between half and 70 percent of all rain precipitation that falls on a green roof system remains there. Kent Holm of Nebraska's Douglas County Environmental Services Department comments: "The areas of Omaha that have combined sewers—if you can reduce the amount of water going into these sewers, you are reducing the problem. You are not going to solve the problem with green roofs but you are going to be able to reduce some of that water."
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In Tarentum, Pa., the Allegheny County Housing Authority and TREK Development Group have built 120 affordable apartments for senior citizens. The $20 million project received funding from HUD, Allegheny County Economic Development, the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh, among others. In addition to a senior activity center, the development has a 13,240-square-foot LIFE center composed of physician and physical therapy offices and a hair salon. The inclusion of green roof systems and geothermal heating and cooling systems to lower utility costs was made possible by a Growing Greener grant. There is a waiting list for the units already.
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Costco is introducing solar power to its San Luis Obispo store. Following other retailers' lead, Costco plans to add solar installations to eight stores in California and Hawaii before the end of this year. Costco's Craig Peal says the warehouse retailer will follow up with three more installations at the start of 2008. "A lot of retailers in California are doing solar because it has the potential to save money, which helps us to keep our prices down," Peal notes. REC Solar will do four of the installations, including the one in San Luis Obispo, which will a have a 550-kw system that should generate between 800,000 and 1 million kwh of power. Costco introduced similar solar pilot programs in Lake Elsinore and Lancaster in 2006.
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Singapore's Building and Construction Authority's (BCA) Academy is looking to harness the power of the sun in its bid to be the country's first zero-energy building (ZEB). The $10 million retro-fitting project aims to create a highly efficient building that produces as much energy as it consumes from renewable sources. A massive array of solar panels covering approximately 1,300 square meters—the largest such installation in Southeast Asia—will be erected on the structure's roof. The ZEB is scheduled for a first-quarter 2009 completion and will be approximately 60 percent more efficient than a traditional commercial building. Ang Kian Seng, BCA's deputy director of research and innovation, says the project proves "we're not just talking about it, but we're taking action to take the lead."
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