Eco-Friendly and Patient Friendly Are Newest Trends in Healthcare.  In this video we are remined that while hospitals make up only four percent of the country’s total building population, they  consume eight percent of the energy.  Here is a solution, a hospital so green it is the platinum standard.

‘Tis the season for lists — the Top Ten — and even “green” was given a list this year — for sustainable building, transportation, and socially conscious green companies.
But first, here is an interesting video made a few years ago that is both humorous and thought-provoking.  It will be an interesting comparison.

A new green building report has been released and it shows ” impressive growth during 2009, amid a brutal construction market that has decimated other segments of the construction marketplace, according to the 2009 Green Building Market & Impact Report published today by GreenerBuildings.com” as reported on GreenBiz.
The Hearst Tower in New York City was the first green building to receive a gold LEED certification for core and shell and interiors.

Some time ago we talked with Roger Manny of Jacobs Engineering with regard to green building. One of the problems with going green, of course, is tight money during a recession. Some commercial investors are sustaining major losses, even on traditional buildings. However, Manny talked creativity.

Josh Saunders at Green Biz reports that green colleges are now being rated by the Princeton Review. He points out that “the trend of colleges and universities going green is growing at an incredible pace.”

If your wind turbine conks out and it’s located off the Shetland Islands where the Atlantic Ocean meets the North Sea, who are you going to call? That’s one of the questions that nagged Tony Hayward, CEO of BP and guided BP’s decision to abandon the UK and look to the wide open spaces of America.

Some of us talk about reducing our carbon footprint and others actually do it. Here is a house that’s tiny as a closet, but livable.

There seems to be a disconnect between mandates for green buildings and the problems evident across the United States with construction projects coming to a standstill.  Yet, according to Commercial Property News, ( CPN)  “Green building efforts continue to gain momentum with the House passage of energy and climate legislation that provides incentives while accelerating the benefits of sustainability and environmental performance.  But the bill isn’t ready for the Senate yet.” 

The Living Cities Program has hosted “Green Boot Camp: Recovery Through Retrofitting”  a boot camp to  provide senior-level local and state agency staff with a deep immersion in state-of-the-field knowledge.