Comments on: From the White House to the Green House

By: Geoff

Geoff — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 21:19:05 +0000

Regardless of the motivation/intention, it’s great attention for the revitalization of existing buildings along more sustainable lines. The more building owners that undertake these initiatives the greater the momentum… ideally it becomes ‘table stakes’. Optimistic, I know, however the profile of the buildings in question will do a lot to garner attention. While LEED might not be the most desirable it is the most reputable in the U.S., and this in and of itself is of value.

I wrote a very brief blog on the value of retrofitting while working at ISIS, a sustainability research centre operating out of the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia, here in Vancouver. Some interesting numbers on retrofits vs. new buildings http://bit.ly/aVy4gB

By: Chris Prelitz, LEED ap

Chris Prelitz, LEED ap — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 16:13:00 +0000

The White House was already ‘deep greened’ by the Rocky Mountain Institute. Agree with Ron Jones – just another media campaign by the USGBC . . Always ask: “Do I want a plaque – or high performance – or both Important to know that a LEED plaque just means you could get enough points – not necessarily that the building will be less energy or materials intensive.

By: Susan Aiello, LEED AP

Susan Aiello, LEED AP — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 14:48:55 +0000

The windows in The White House are probablly much more energy efficient than the huge expanses of glass in most LEED buildings. That’s because they are tall and narrow,most of them are at least 30″ above the finished floor, and most importantly, they cover a relatively small percentage of the total exterior of the building. In general, pre-war buildings are more energy efficient than modern ones.

I don’t mean to question the validity of LEED. As a matter of fact, I recently wrote a couple of blog entries suggesting reasons why some LEED buildings cannot achieve Energy Star ratings. But we all have a lot to learn from older, vernacular buildings if we’ll only listen.

My blog has two entries on greening the white house. The URL is http://www.idsgreen.com.

By: Neil Butler

Neil Butler — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:59:21 +0000

It’s great to see that President Obama wants to make the White House more “green”. This is an important statement to make to our country and to the world. Can climate legislation be far behind?

By: Badger

Badger — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:24:26 +0000

whoop whoop go Barack

By: ron jones

ron jones — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 01:48:59 +0000

This is such an obvious attention seeking ploy on the part of USGBC, the same folks who, halfway through the most recent Summer Olympics, announced that the Beijing Olympic Village had “attained” LEED Gold status. If I am not mistaken, the person who headed up communications for USGBC at that time now has a job with the Administration. These people are masters at creating “news” about themselves and their organization. The actual performance of their “certified” buildings is another story.