Is wood a green building material?
New West
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack chose an unusual way to celebrate the International Year of the Forest – unusual, at least, if you're a tree. Vilsack announced plans by the Agriculture Department and the Forest Service to use more wood in its buildings – part of a three-year plan to step up the department’s green building practices. More

The EPA's unsustainable green building blunder
The Atlantic
In defiance of the environmental values it supposedly stands for, the federal Environmental Protection Agency is moving its regional headquarters from a walkable, transit-rich, downtown Kansas City, Kan., neighborhood to one of the worst examples of suburban sprawl it could have possibly found, some 20 miles from downtown. The result could nearly triple transportation carbon emissions associated with the facility.More

K. Hovnanian's energy-efficient homes put money where their mouths are
Builder Magazine
Hovnanian Enterprises will update the website that promotes its high-performance homes to include community-by-community estimated annual savings from energy-efficient features built into those homes. The Red Bank, N.J.–based builder, with 201 communities in 18 states, claims to be the first national builder willing to go out on a limb and publicize what it thinks its houses can save buyers, based on an energy modeling process through which it has submitted a house in each of its neighborhoods.More

Bill would alter how Pennsylvania adopts building codes
The Philadelphia Inquirer
What do sprinkler systems and energy efficiency have to do with each other? Not much. Which is why environmental activists and other green advocates weren't paying attention to a bill that had been progressing through the Pennsylvania legislature since March. Its aim: to repeal a mandate, effective Jan. 1, that sprinkler systems be installed in new houses.More

Home energy upgrades are latest shade of green
The San Diego Union-Tribune
Residents of the Del Cerro, Calif., neighborhood are starting to build what some refer to as a virtual power plant on the eastern edge of San Diego. Leaders of that community are pushing a plan to retrofit some of the area's least-efficient homes and increase renewable energy sources so they effectively add a power station without any smokestacks or the associated costs. More

How windows work with LEED: 4 things you should know about glazing
Green-Buildings
Approximately 50 percent of all heat transfer in a building envelope occurs in the window systems. A window is actually a system of several components. Glazing is the transparent component of glass or plastic windows. The sash is the frame in which the glass panes of a window are set, and the frame is the complete structural enclosure of the glazing and sash system. More

The AIA to release sustainable project guide
EcoHome Magazine
In May, the American Institute of Architects will release AIA Document D503-2011, Guide for Sustainable Projects, including agreement amendments and supplementary conditions. The guide is free and was developed to assist users of AIA Contract Documents in understanding contractual considerations unique to sustainable design and construction projects. The guide also provides model language that can be used to amend or supplement key AIA Contract Documents in the A201 Family for use in these types of projects. More