The Green Building Top 5 - March 18 2015

Dave Clemen
Consultant
March 17, 2015

Green Marketing

Here are the Top 5 highlights and links to the past week's most compelling articles on green building and LEED.

Concerned about climate change... and love to drink beer? Check out these 24 climate friendly breweries.

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LEED Certified Properties Receive a Lower Interest Rate

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced today that Fannie Mae will reward multifamily properties with a green building certification, such as LEED, with a lower interest rate. USGBC’s LEED green building rating system is one of several recognized certifications including ENERGY STAR® and Enterprise’s Green Communities Criteria.

The ‘Greenest’ School Building in the World is in Washington

The U.S. Green Building Council wrote on its Web site that the 280,000-square-foot high school achieved LEED Platinum certified — the highest level certification possible. And, with a score of 91 out of 110 points, it tops all other schools in the world under the council’s Schools-New Construction rating system.

Beers You Should Drink if You Care About Climate Change

Check out the two dozen breweries that have signed The Climate Declaration, launched in 2013 by Ceres, a nonprofit sustainability advocacy organization, and its business network, Business for Innovative Climate & Energy Policy (BICEP)... The Declaration has more than 1,300 signatories nationwide, with 24 breweries and other big corporate names including General Motors, Disney, Levi Strauss, Mars Inc. and eBay.

Carbon Emissions Stop Growing Globally

The International Energy Agency announced Friday that energy-related CO2 emissions last year were unchangedfrom the year before, totaling 32.3 billion metric tons of CO2 in both 2013 and 2014. It shows that efforts to reduce emissions to combat climate change may be more effective than previously thought.

DOE Proposes Stricter Efficiency Standards for Gas Furnaces

The Department of Energy (DOE) wants to update efficiency standards for residential natural gas-powered furnace for the first time in more than 20 years.

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