USGBC Knowledge Exchange » Podcast Feed

Join experts from the LEED department of the U.S. Green Building Council for an overview of the first ever pilot alternative compliance path. Pilot credit 67 – the “energy jumpstart” pilot prerequisite – allows buildings a new way to comply with EAp2 (Minimum Energy Performance) of the Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance rating system. EnergyStar eligible buildings can use this path to satisfy EAp2 by showing a 20% improvement on their energy efficiency. Learn how this new pathway enables more buildings than ever to pursue LEED certification and find out next steps for your project to get started. For more information, visit usgbc.org/energyjumpstart .

Does achieving the acoustics credit on your LEED project sound scary? Check out this update from Rachel Gutter, Director of the Center for Green Schools, and you’ll be singing a different tune. In this podcast, Rachel will share lessons learned from the acoustics prerequisite and credit that has been a part of LEED for Schools for the last five years! She’ll offer tips from experienced practitioners and help ensure that acoustics and LEED don’t sound scary anymore.

Have you heard about the recent methodology changes to Sustainable Sites Credit 4 (Alternative Commuting Transportation)? What about the new calculator tool, designed to help your team achieve this credit during preliminary review? This podcast, specific to the 2008 and 2009 versions of the Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance rating system, explores the new set of tools available to project teams. Jason Hercules, a manager in the LEED department of USGBC, and Megan Sparks, a LEED Certification Reviewer at the Green Building Certification Institute, share useful updates and tips for project teams.

Already listened to our Green Codes 101 webinar? Check out this follow up webcast, originally broadcast on March 31, 2011, to continue to learn about Navigating the Standards, Codes, and Rating Systems. Join Stephen Kennedy with ASHRAE, Steven Winkel and Mark Wills with AIA, David Karmol and David Bowman with The ICC, and Jeremy Sigmon with USGBC for a follow up discussion. There is no continuing education credit associated with this webcast.

Need help navigating the recent changes to the IEQp1 form? Join Amy Boyce, a Mangager of LEED Technical Development at the U.S. Green Building Council, and Ken Simpson, a LEED Certification Reviewer at the Green Building Certification Institute, for a step-by-step review of how to fill out the form and background on the Minimum Indoor Air Quality Performance prerequisite.

The Gaia Napa Valley Hotel in Canyon Valley, CA, was the first hotel in the United States to achieve a LEED Gold rating. This hotel has 133 guest rooms; a reception building, pool, spa, and conference center. Sustainable design, construction, and operations features can be found throughout the property. In this video you will tour the hotel and hear from the Chief Environmental Officer and the Project Manager. Learn about the green features of the guest rooms and roof, the benefits of earning LEED Certification and see the energy usage kiosk in the lobby with panels showing live tracking of CO2 emissions, Electricity and Water usage.

NOTE: This was originally broadcast as a webinar on 2/24/11. There is no longer a quiz or CE credit associated with this session. As the landscape of sustainable construction practice expands into mainstream construction practice, many in the land use development, construction, and real estate communities are left asking, “How do model construction codes, consensus standards, and voluntary rating programs work together to drive “green” construction practice into the mainstream consciousness of society.” Join leaders in your field from four key associations in the green building industry to help you navigate the landscape of sustainable construction practice. They will provide perspective, frame the facts and discuss the issues you need to be aware of to make sense of how these predominant programs work together to drive “green” construction practices into the marketplace. You will walk away with an understanding of what you know (and don’t know) about the relationship between model construction codes, consensus standards, and voluntary rating programs and their impact on your profession. (A collaboration of the USGBC, ICC, ASHRAE and AIA)

Ever wonder what makes a “green” campus? What actions do colleges and universities around the nation make to strive toward sustainability? And what steps are they taking to ensure their buildings are helping too? In this podcast, we take a look at the University of Florida as an exemplary green campus. Discussions with some of UF’s biggest players in their sustainability efforts give us a look into UF’s history as a green campus, what they’re doing to lessen their impact on the environment today, and what they’ve got in store for the future.

For more than ten years, USGBC and so many LEED believers have broken down walls that began a long-overdue green building dialogue in forums as diverse as the boiler room all the way to the board room. Its success has called for the development of new tools that policymakers can use to respond to the demand for stronger minimum protections through codes and standards. How do these tools work? What are their strengths and weaknesses? What’s happening now? What’s next? This update will explore the brave new world of green building policymaking. Listen in on this specialty update, originally presented at Greenbuild 2011 on October 7, 2011.

Getting tripped up trying to achieve SSc6.1 and 6.2? Join Micah Silvey, with the Certification Team of Green Building Certification Institute, and Theresa Backhus, a Sites Technical Specialist with the U.S. Green Building Council, for an overview of the rationale behind these credits, common challenges project teams are facing, and resources available. This episode is specific to the BD+C 2009 Rating System.

Need help navigating LEED for HOMES? Join Nate Kredich, Vice Prseident of Residential Market Development at USGBC and Courtney Baker, Manager, Residential Operations at USGBC for an overview of the new LEED for HOMES scoring tool. You might be closer to LEED than you think! This tool allows you to input some basic data and find out how close you are to building to LEED for HOMES.

Homeowners, think going green in your home’s renovation will make you broke? Tune in to this podcast and think again! Jason LaFleur, president of Eco Achievers, and Mark A. Miller, principle of Mark A Miller Architects Builders Inc.,  fill us in on key green renovation concepts and some of the most cost-effective green strategies for the renovation of your home. Through their renovation stories, we learn that green building practice does not have to cost more than conventional building practice.

Need help setting your project’s policy, program or plan? Plug into the conversation as USGBC’s manager of LEED performance and two GBCI certification reviewers give us the rundown of how policy, program and plan models entered the scene, what prerequisites require policies and what credits require programs or plans, the differences among the three of them, and tips on how to avoid common pitfalls.

Join us as we discuss the newly introduced LEED interpretations process and what this means for Project Credit Interpretation Rulings. We’ll fill you in on how LEED interpretations entered the scene, how they differ from addenda and project CIRs, and the best strategies for writing good LEED interpretation requests and Project CIR requests.

Get a look into what goes on behind the scenes at Greenbuild! Straight from the 2010 International Roundtable, Green Building Councils like JordanGBC, NorwayGBC, and CanadaGBC give us their opinion on the benefits, challenges, and need for global consistency in LEED.