GREEN RESOURCES
Products & product information
- GreenSpec Directory, BuildingGreen, Inc.
- Green Building Pages
- Environmentally Certified Wood
- Environmentally Certified Wood
- Durable design with wood
- Healthy Building Network/Pharos
Blogs
Networking / directories
Green building membership orgnizations
- The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)
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The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization committed to a prosperous and sustainable future for our nation through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings.
- USGBC Northern CA Chapter
- Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR), Northern CA
- Build It Green (BIG)
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Established in 2003, Build It Green is a membership supported non-profit organization whose mission is to promote healthy, energy- and resource-efficient homes in California.
Build It Green offers a comprehensive package of local government support, professional training, collaboration forums, consumer education, and green product marketing to a range of stakeholders.
We build awareness of the benefits of green building by providing GreenPoint Rated as a trustworthy, recognized brand for green homes.
- Green Affordable Housing Coalition
- Sustainable Buildings Industry Council (SBIC)
- Net Zero Energy Home Coalition
- Natural Resources Defense Council
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Established in 1970, the NRDC's mission is to safeguard the Earth: its people, its plants and animals and the natural systems on which all life depends.
- The Rocky Mountain Institute
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The Rocky Mountain Institute’s vision is a world thriving, verdant, and secure, for all, forever. RMI’s mission is to drive the efficient and restorative use of resources.
- The Forest Stewardship Council
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Founded in 1993, The Forest Stewardship Council was created to change the dialogue about and the practice of sustainable forestry worldwide. FSC sets forth principles, criteria, and standards that span economic, social, and environmental concerns. The FSC standards represent the world's strongest system for guiding forest management toward sustainable outcomes.
- International Living Future Institute: The Living Building Challenge
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The Living Building Challenge is a philosophy, advocacy platform and certification program. Because it defines priorities on both a technical level and as a set of core values, it is engaging the broader building industry in the deep conversations required to truly understand how to solve problems rather than shift them.
- The WorldWatch Institute
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Through research and outreach that inspire action, the Worldwatch Institute works to accelerate the transition to a sustainable world that meets human needs.
Publications & publishers (print & online)
- Green Building Advisor
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The single must-have green home-building resource, published by Buildinggreen.com (below) and Taunton Press; includes free homeowner content and fee-based professional content (email me for a discount subscription code)
- Environmental Building News (EBN)
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Monthly newsletter for unbiased green building research and information (no advertising)
- BuildingGreen, Inc.
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Publisher of EBN (see above), GreenSpec and other well-designed green building tools and publications.
- Environmental Design & Construction magazine
- Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation
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Extensive research and tools for homeowners and professionals, including excellent free email newsletters.
- Building Science Press
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Publishes excellent climate-specific Builder’s Guides.
- Fine Homebuilding
- Builders' Booksource (Berkeley)
- Energy Free: Homes for a Small Planet – Ann V. Edminster; Green Building Press
- Making Better Concrete – Bruce King; Green Building Press
- The Healthy House by John Bower; Healthy House Institute
Training resources
- Acterra
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Acterra is an environmental non-profit serving the Silicon Valley whose mission is to bring people together to create local solutions for a healthy planet. We provide people with tangible, hands-on activities they can do to improve the environment. All of our work is solution-oriented. We teach people how to become effective environmental change agents in their communities, neighborhoods, workplaces and schools. In addition to empowering thousands of people here in Silicon Valley, our programs serve as models that others can emulate elsewhere.
- Affordable Comfort, Inc.
- Energy & Environmental Building Association
- National Association of Home Builders
- PG&E Pacific Energy Center, San Francisco, CA
- PG&E Energy Training Center, Stockton, CA
- Sustainable Buildings Industry Council
- U.S. Green Building Council’s Home Guide
Green homebuilding programs
- LEED for Homes
- GreenPoint Rated Program
- Green Home Guide
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This page includes links for local and regional green building programs around the U.S. plus numerous other resources.
- Designed by Kids for Kids
- National Wildlife Foundation’s Certified Wildlife Habitat™
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Whether you have an apartment balcony or a 20-acre farm, you can create a garden that attracts beautiful wildlife and helps restore habitat in commercial and residential areas.
- Sustainable Sites Initiative
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The Sustainable Sites Initiative™ (SITES™) is an interdisciplinary effort by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin and the United States Botanic Garden to create voluntary national guidelines and performance benchmarks for sustainable land design, construction and maintenance practices.
www.sustainablesites.org and www.sustainablesites.org/certified-sites.
Research building & science
- Ann V Edminster
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Ann V Edminster, M.Arch., LEED AP, is a recognized national expert on green home design and construction. She is a principal author of the LEED for Homes Rating System and consults with builders, homeowners, developers, supply chain clients, design firms, utilities, investors, and public agencies. She also sits on the advisory boards of several private companies.
- National Association of Home Builders Research Center
- Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation
- Building Science Corporation
- Southface Energy Institute
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Energy & resource efficiency
- Energy Star
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ENERGY STAR is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy helping us all save money and protect the environment through energy efficient products and practices.
- The Environmental Protection Agency’s Indoor airPLUS Program
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EPA created Indoor airPLUS to help builders meet the growing consumer preference for homes with improved indoor air quality. By constructing homes that meet EPA's stringent specifications, forward-thinking builders can distinguish themselves by being among the first to offer homes designed to deliver improved indoor air quality.
- U.S. DOE Solar Energy Technologies Program
- USGBC’s LEED Rating System
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LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is redefining the way we think about the places where we live, work and learn. As an internationally recognized mark of excellence, LEED provides building owners and operators with a framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions.
Developed by the USGBC in 2000, the LEED rating systems are developed through an open, consensus-based process led by LEED committees. LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a building, home or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at achieving high performance in key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.
- Building America
- Building Science Corporation
- Cleantech Investment
- Southface Energy Institute
- GreenTechAdvocates.com
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- Green resources
