Green Building
Planned Eco-City in China Stumbles
Dongtan eco-city was to be a community of 50,000 residents living in a utopian, eco-friendly development. But since the mayor of Shanghai, a big supporter, was arrested on fraud charges, the whole project may be dead in the water.
The Christian Science Monitor
Builders Chafe at Green Standards
The State of Connecticut will enact a new green building code in January, and builders are already calling it "awkward" and "unworkable".
The New York Times
What Green Architecture Really Means
Architect David Cook looks at the sustainability craze in building and architecture and warns that calling something "green" doesn't necessarily make it so.
Flavorwire
Preserving Buildings Helps Preserve the Planet
Communities across the country are grappling with questions about what to do with their older buildings. While we generally think that preserving historic buildings is a way to honor our past, it’s time to understand that it is also a way to protect our future, says Richard Moe, President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The Future Homes of Post-Crash America
Just as good economic times pushed housing sizes to mansion-like proportions, the downturn in the economy will force builders and consumers to size down and get energy efficient, according to this commentary from James S. Russell.
Bloomberg
Plenty Green But Too Tall?
In what may prove a decisive test to see the political limits of what green building offers developers, a LEED Platinum, 10-story office building is proposed along San Francisco's tightly regulated waterfront - exceeding the height limit by 40 feet.
San Francisco Chronicle
County Enacts Far-Reaching Green Building Reform
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors recently approved a package of green building ordinances that may be the most comprehensive and far reaching green building legislation at the local level in the country.
The Planning Report
Leafy Skyscraper Going Up in Singapore
Construction on architects TR Hamzah & Yeang's EDITT Building (Ecological Design in the Tropics) is underway in Singapore
World Construction
A Living Museum in Golden Gate Park
Renzo Piano's new Academy of Sciences building in San Francisco is bursting with green technology and alive with plants.
Bloomberg.com
'I Hate Green Architecture'
Cathleen McGuigan, Newsweek's architecture critic, is disdainful of the hype surrounding green architecture, particularly because it so often doesn't address the main problems with land use: proximity to jobs and services, and oversized development.
Newsweek
When Housing Market Rebounds, Green Building May Boom
The current downturn in the housing industry may be opening the door for a greener upswing.
Fast Company
Broad Green Building Law Passed in San Francisco
San Francisco has passed some of the strictest green building requirements in the nation, for new construction and renovations.
The San Francisco Chronicle
SF's New Federal Building is Green and Safe, But Is It Good?
Witold Rybczynski visits Thom Mayne's new Federal Building in downtown San Francisco. He finds a number of energy conservation innovations at play, but concludes that precious little else is playful or human about the architecture.
Slate.com
How Much Is Green Worth?
A recent conference in Austin, Texas, of real estate appraisers explored how they should incorporate green-building techniques and features into their assessment of properties.
Austin Business Journal
Is New Building Ever Green?
Chevron is moving its New Orleans offices from downtown to a brand new, "eco-friendly" campus- opening up the discussion of whether new construction is ever greener than staying put.
New Orleans Business News
Tornado Clears Way for LEED Platinum Building
The 5-4-7 Arts Center in Greensburg, Kansas gets a LEED platinum designation- evidence that the town, which was 95% destroyed by a tornado in May, 2006, is making good on its sustainable rebuilding plan.
Kiowa County Singnal
Waco Debuts Nation's First 'Green' Chamber Building
The Waco Chamber of Commerce is credited with inspiring a renaissance in downtown, developing their new headquarters on a former parking lot. They hope to receive LEED certification - the first U.S. chamber building to receive this designation.
Waco Tribune-Herald
Barn-Raising For the 21st Century
An old-fashioned community barn-raising in Masonville, Texas could in fact be a glimpse of the future.
Fort Collins Now
New State Laws Making It Easier To Build Green
States are helping homeowners who want to have a more eco-friendly lifestyle by overturning homeowner association regulations that ban solar panels and wind turbines.
USA Today
Inside the Plans for a Carbon-Neutral City in the Desert
This segment from NPR looks at plans for the carbon-neutral Masdar City in Abu Dhabi.
NPR











