Links on LEED and Green Building
Everyone needs to start here, Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, LEED, the independent certifier of Green buildings in the U.S. After you read the Home page, you will need to go to Publications and read the long document on LEED 2.1. It's 75 pages and it would be best if not everyone printed the whole thing. It defeats our purpose of being green if we waste that much paper.
The Green Matrix is an awesome webpage built to work architects through the LEED planning process. It takes a while to load, but once it does, you can pass your mouse over the matrix and access a wealth of very specific information on cutting edge green building techniques.
The Sustainable Building Sourcebook is a bible of information.
"What is a green building?" by Paul Ziegler is an excellent overview of the topic.
The Governor's Green Government Council is filled with Pennsylvania examples of green buildings.
This is a huge pdf file that takes a long time to download, but according to Blair, "There are some really good general ideas included in it as well as more specific ones (such as money saved, products used etc.). It's broken down by LEED points so its easy to navigate." It is a sustainable development guide for Seattle.
The Sustainable Building Sourcebook is an excellent on-line reference for all of the ideas included in green building and LEED certification.
The city of Pittsburgh is a national leader in green building and the driving force is the Green Building Alliance.
Metropolis Magazine.com is a very interesting, hip, New York, architectural view of green building. Definitely worth a look at the current issue and the archives.
Environmental Design and Construction Magazine describes itself as The Premier Magazine Dedicated to Efficient and Sustainable Building
Here's an interesting article on green interior spaces.
A company called Capital E has produced a report called The Costs and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings. When you read the report think very hard about how well the data from their study of California buildings will apply to northwest Pennsylvania.
For sheer inspiration and a bunch of his articles, check out Bill McDonough's home page.
Green Dormitories
Carnegie Mellon Univesity has constructed a LEED Silver dormitory. This is a pdf file. You will need to be on a computer with Adobe Acrobat to read it. You can also start here to learn more about the green dorm. Here is their site for Green Practices across campus. And here is a pdf of a report done on the economic pros and cons of New House's renovation as a LEED dormitory.
Middlebury College also has a dormitory that used certified green wood.
The Northeast Green Building Awards has several dormitories and schools with photographs and quick summaries. It is a good place to look for ideas.
Northland College has a green dorm and live-in laboratory.
It's not a dorm, but it is a multi-tenant apartment building in Brooklyn, New York that's worth checking into.
Lewis and Clark University has a green dormitory under construction called Howard Hall.
University of Buffalo has a web site on green building design.
Green Materials and LEED Points
Oikos, Green Building Source has an excellent product directory and some very interesting articles.
Here are three sites related to Insulated Concrete Forms
- An article from Environmental Design and Construction Magazine. Great diagrams and explanations.
- The insulated concrete forms association homepage. Who knew there was such a group?
- An arcticle on insulated concrete forms from the California Energy Commission .
Here are some articles related to water managment
- Harvested Rainwater from the Sustainable Building Sourcebook.
- Stormwater management in Land Development Today.
- An article on the permeable green parking lot at the Unitarian Church in Erie, PA in Land Development Today.
- The David Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh got the LEED point for saving more than 50% of its water over conventional buildings by recylcing water for use in toilets.
- Ecological Engineering is a company that specializes in biofiltering and treatment of wastewater, especially with living machines. Very, very cutting edge.
- The Saving Water Partnership in Seattle has some useful tips on saving water, but more importantly, lets you know what's possible in a city that is really committed to water conservation.
- PAPA is the Pennsylvania Asphalt Pavement Association. They have information on costs of conventional paving.
Erie Energy Products is the company that received a DEP grant to recycle paper and cardboard into insulation.
The Erie County Conservation District is using best management practices (BMPs) to control sedimentation and runoff during construction of a new building.
Here are companies that conserve energy
Titan Heater makes tankless water heaters.
Click hand to go to Pallant home page 
Back to "Going for Green" syllabus.