LEED

GreenWizard, a Web-based solution designed to simplify building material selection and management, announced a technology partnership with U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), creators of the LEED green building program and LEED Online. This partnership enables users of GreenWizard and their LEED Assessment tools to easily sync up data and information with LEED Online, the software platform that manages the LEED green building certification process. Using the LEED Automation API, GreenWizard is the first product management solution to integrate with LEED Online, and this integration is the first step toward a fully automated process (called LEED Automation) for obtaining LEED certification.

By Mary Kuhner

Celebrating 35 years of research and education at the edge of the Arctic, the Churchill Northern Studies Centre (CNSC) recently cut the tape on its state-of-the-art 27,000 square-foot facility. In keeping with its mission to understand and sustain the North and to live sustainably on the fragile tundra, the new building - with arching wooden interior ribs - has been aptly dubbed "the upside down ark" by locals. On track to obtain Manitoba's northernmost LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification, the CNSC reduces both the high cost of operating in the North and reliance on outside services and utilities.

Green Construction: Creative and Responsible Solutions

Executive Director Michael Goodyear touts the Centre's design process and self-sustaining features:

LEED As The Seed: Sustainability Is An Ongoing Process

Increasing Green Trends for Hotels and Hospitality Businesses

In this article - "What Hotel Chains Are Doing To Help Protect Our Planet" (August, 2011, by J. Michael Nemeth) - published by Passport Magazine, leading hotel brands such as Carlson Hotel Worldwide, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and Kimpton Hotels are listed as examples of hotel chains responding to increasing consumer demand for "true change that puts a priority on protecting the planet before they will book their rooms" and implementing eco-practices. Gone are the days, notes the article, "when it was enough to screw in a few CFL lightbulbs or to leave a card on the bed asking us to live with sheets that aren't changed every day." (Read full article here - Passport Magazine)

Example: Carlson Hotel Worldwide