GAB Report library
Renewable Energy
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CEC Launches Online Green Building Library
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) is proud to announce the launch of its online library of green building resources featuring close to 400 publications, databases and articles. Visit www.cec.org/gblibrary to access news and analysis of green building construction in the North American region and beyond: from green policy initiatives and financing models, to training…
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Global Exchange of Green Design and Construction at Ecobuild 2014
Ecobuild in London will take place from March 4-6, 2014 at the ExCel Center. It is an international and leading event for sustainable design, construction, and the built environment. More than 500 exhibitors will be present this year and more than 43,000 people from 121 countries attended Ecobuild 2013. Ecobuild will also launch the 2014 Climate…
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Gilroy’s First LEED Platinum Project
Gilroy, California is well known for its garlic crop, but it also has at least three LEED projects within its 16 square miles. The newly built Gilroy Sobrato Apartments developed by South County Housing is the first LEED for Homes Platinum rated project in Gilroy. It provides 25 studio units of permanent affordable housing for chronically…
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Karuna House Achieves Green Building Triple Crown
Last December, the Karuna House earned its LEED for Homes Platinum rating with 101.5 points, making it the first home in the world to achieve a total of three green building certifications. The project not only achieved Passive House PHIUS+, but is also the first Minergie-certified home in North America, earning the top rating of…
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Taiwan National Stadium Sculpted from Concrete, Steel, and BIPV Panels
Taiwan has one of the coolest looking and greenest stadiums in the world. I first saw photos of this amazing building, the Taiwan National Stadium, at the Symposium on Taiwan-France Cooperation in Intelligent Green Buildings. Last fall, on a perfect sunny day, I joined a group hosted by the Taiwan Green Building Council for a…
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5 Terre Vertical Farm Concept Addresses Urban Population Growth
Editor’s Foreword: Capellini Architects is an architecture studio based in La Spezia, Italy. The firm was selected as one of the 30 finalists among hundreds of contestants for the 2013 Vertical Farm & Botanical Garden SkyScraper (Seoul) Competition organized by SuperSkyScrapers. For its competition entry, Capellini Architects created a 250-meter tall skyscraper built to cultivate fresh, high…
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Station Center Family Housing Wins 2013 ULI Global Award
Congratulations to developer MidPen Housing and David Baker Architects, one of my favorite San Francisco architecture firms to work with, for winning the 2013 ULI Global Award for Excellence for its LEED Platinum certified project, Station Center Family Housing in Union City, California. Station Center consists of two buildings housing 157 high-density affordable rental apartments, community gardens,…
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How RFID Can Facilitate the Lifecycle of Intelligent Buildings
Earlier this year, I attended the Symposium on Taiwan-France Cooperation in Intelligent Green Buildings hosted by the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST) and the French Office in Taipei. Taiwan and France have been actively exchanging science and technology information for more than thirty years. Sharing insights on intelligent green buildings and measurement…
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Net Zero Energy Through Design and Operation Strategies
On October 15th, the Packard Foundation announced that it had “achieved the goal of operating its headquarters building at net zero energy by generating more than enough electricity to meet is needs during the first full year of occupancy.” It is the largest building to-date to receive Net Zero Energy Building Certification through the International Living…
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Wind Turbines Ride the Wave to Renewable Energy Future
Editor’s Foreword: Earlier this year, the first full-scale prototype of a revolutionary floating support structure for offshore wind turbines made its debut off the coast of Aguçadoura, Portugal. It was inaugurated and celebrated by Portuguese government officials, clean-tech investors, and its engineers and builders. Each floating support structure, known as the WindFloat*, is a three-column…