GAB Report library
Featured
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It’s Time to Provide Leadership
Hosted by the USGBC Northern California Chapter and following a hiatus since its last conference, GreenerBuilder 2017 came back strong and was a stimulating success, well attended by over 360 attendees. It took place at the Zero Net Energy Center in San Leandro, California, a 1980s tilt-up building that has been transformed into a breathable…
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Fighting for Our Message: Energy Efficiency and Beyond
The 2017 Beyond Energy Efficiency Conference hosted by Build It Green was an inspirational success, well attended by over 250 attendees including 43 speakers and 13 exhibitors. It took place at the Zero Net Energy Center in San Leandro, California, a training center for electrical apprentices from IBEW Local 595 and NECA, and the first…
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Building Below Zero: The Net Zero Plus Transformation
Thank you PBS for spreading the word – net zero buildings are front and center now. American public TV station PBS recently aired “Building Below Zero: The Net Zero Plus Transformation,” a documentary written, produced and directed by Jim Jackson. Actor and environmentalist Ted Danson narrates this examination of moving beyond net zero to net…
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BuildingGreen’s Top 10 Green Products for 2017
BuildingGreen’s team announced its 2017 Top 10 Products List at last week’s Greenbuild in Los Angeles. For the past 15 years, BuildingGreen has recognized green building products that significantly improve upon standard “business-as-usual” practices. These products help transform the industry by conserving energy and water, reducing emissions, and fundamentally changing how we approach our building…
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Hua Nan Bank Goes for the Gold
The Xinyi Central Business District in Taipei, Taiwan is home to a handful of buildings designed by well known architecture firms including C.Y. Lee & Partners of Taipei 101 fame, Paris-based Vincent Callebaut Architectures, U.S.-based Richard Meier and Partners, and Taipei-based KRIS YAO | ARTECH. Recently I had a chance to tour the office headquarters…
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NZE Library as Students’ Live Learning Lab
Editor’s Note: This article consists of writing from the Editor as well as WRNS Studio. In light of the upcoming Net Positive Energy and Water Conference to be held on February 18-19 in San Diego, California, I reflect upon the outstanding projects that were showcased at the 2014 Net Positive Energy and Water Conference organized…
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Solar Serpents as Adaptable Global Solution
Editor’s Note: The Solar Serpent in Paradise project was brought to my attention by Mans Tham, a Stockholm-based architect and urban strategist who was educated in Stockholm as well as at U.C. Berkeley. One of his post-graduate classes examined how urban life would change due to peak oil usage in Los Angeles, California, Shanghai, China, and…
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Plumen 002 LED: Elegance in Energy Efficiency
Editor’s Foreword: This article consists of writing from the Editor as well as Plumen. On one hand I can count the number of times that I have gotten excited about energy efficient light bulbs. One time was during my first attendance of the 2010 Ecobuild in London when I came across Plumen’s sleek and sculptural…
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From Down and Out to Solar Pioneer
The Housing Authority of the County of Santa Clara (HACSC) has successfully transformed a previously foreclosed federal housing complex into a dignified and energy efficient, affordable family housing complex that annually feeds 244,350 kWh of renewable energy to the power grid and enables all the residents to “go solar” and reap the cost benefits of…
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Triple Green Building Certification Is Achievable
Portland and Seattle-based builder Hammer & Hand was recently awarded the 2015 Housing Innovation Award from the U.S. Department of Energy for its energy consulting on and construction of the Pumpkin Ridge Passive House designed by Scott | Edwards Architecture. Builder and architect worked together closely to meet the homeowners’ spatial and aesthetic goals while also meeting the performance…