I was impressed with a recent article by Robert Cassidy, Editor-in-Chief of Building Design & Construction called End the Battle of FSC vs. SFI Wood in LEED.
This week, President Obama announced his Better Building Initiative, a plan aimed to improve energy efficiency in commercial buildings. The White House blog notes that the goal is to reach a 20 percent improvement by 2020, which is estimated to save $40 billion per year.
Despite the position of their American counterpart, Green Building Council programs in other parts of the world are taking an inclusive approach to forest certification instead of limiting themselves to just the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
It’s fitting that the themes for our 15th Annual Conference, is Power of Partnerships. The world of responsible forestry and certification is so immense there is not a lot one organization can do on its own.
I recently had the honor of participating in a White House Forum on Federal Leadership and Sustainable Building.
The call for a change in the LEED standard is truly global. Twelve nations have urged USGBC to end LEED's discrimination against wood and accept all credible forest certification standards.
As you may have seen, the USGBC recently requested comments on a fourth round of draft benchmarks to evaluate forest certification programs in its LEED green building rating system.
“Design as Exploration” is the theme of the 2010 AIA Expo, and we are thrilled to be a part of it. Responsible building and design are often seen as necessities to many architects and builders, which is a welcome evolution.
The fact non-profit Built Green Canada is expanding across Canada is wonderful news for anyone who views wood as a great environmental choice – the Built Green™ program is one of many green rating tools with an inclusive certification policy.
“The only solicited comments the Building Council seems to be heeding are coming from groups bent on promoting a monopoly and others in the building sector who have very little, if anything, to do with forest products.