Choosing the right project delivery method to use for the design and construction of a building can be difficult, especially when the requirement for a green building certification is thrown into the mix. 

I have been told for years that solar photovoltaic panels will soon be cheap enough and abundant enough for every building in the U.S. to have at least one or two sitting on the roof or hanging on the wall. 

In late December, most of us are busy planning for the upcoming holidays, thinking about eating lots of fattening foods, and looking forward to merry-making with family and friends. On December 23, 2008, however, one person was not enjoying such pleasant thoughts. 

Both LEED and Green Globes address building material greenness with regard to where products are fabricated and where the raw ingredients for these products originated. 

Building design and construction is complex, time consuming, and expensive. Buildings require a huge amount of materials and resources to create, and gobs of energy to operate. Complexity, time, and expense have steadily increased over the decades. 

In spite of being battered and nearly stamped out by the anemic economy, the green building movement has not only hung around, but spawned some exciting, promising developments. 

The California Building Standards Commission has been working on a green building code since 2007, culminating with a primarily voluntary set of standards for nonresidential occupancies adopted in July of 2008. 

Ask any building facility manager what the number one complaint is among building occupants and they will tell you that people are either too hot or too cold. Both LEED and Green Globes offer points for designing buildings that 

President Obama signed an executive order titled “Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy and Economic Performance” (I’m calling it LEEEP because I can’t take FLEEEP seriously) October 5, 2009 “… to establish an integrated strategy towards sustainability in the Federal Government and to make reduction of greenhouse gas emissions a priority for Federal agencies.”

The push for green buildings is happening so fast and with such urgency that it is difficult to keep up with all the latest developments. Since the USGBC launched its green building rating systems, several more have cropped up and are in various stages of development.