"Agencies Back Environmentally Friendly Building Principles" by Jenny Mandel for www.govexec.com.   

EPA Department of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds offers a Podcast titled, "Gray Funnels to Green Sponges" and features an Interview with Clark Wilson (Senior Urban Planner, Smart Growth Program, EPA) discussing an alternative to the way we’ve built streets in the past—Green Streets—and how they’re used for stormwater management.

Professor David Laband in the Auburn University School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences says electricity usage and costs will be 11.4 percent less if a house has just 17.5 percent heavy shade coverage. This is compared to a house with no shade. His office conducted a yearlong study of 160 houses in the Auburn area to determine the annual energy savings provided by shade trees, primarily looking at the months of May to September. He analyzed power bills, calculated shade coverage and surveyed the homeowners about household makeup, electricity-usage habits, square footage, type of air conditioning, appliances, roofing, exterior material and other factors.

Consumers will soon be able to identify high-performance, water-efficient sink faucets for their bathrooms now that EPA has released a product specification for ones that use about 30 percent less water than conventional models. In order to earn the WaterSense label, faucets must be independently tested and certified by a licensed certifying body to meet EPA’s water-efficiency and performance criteria. To meet the criteria, faucets and accessories such as aerators cannot flow at a rate of more than 1.5 gallons per minute (gpm), or less than 0.8 gpm. WaterSense labeled faucets not only save water, but the have the added benefit of saving energy used to treat, pump, and heat water. In fact, letting your faucet run for 5 minutes uses about as much energy as letting a 60-watt light bulb run for 14 hours. For more information and a list of WaterSense labeled plumbing products: http://www.epa.gov/watersense/specs/faucet_final.htm.

A series of informational guides from The University of Rhode Island's NEMO (Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials). Topics include: Septic Systems, Porus Asphalt, and Permeable Pavement.  

BOB Site Sealing the Envelope

A Building Outside the Box (BOB) site, Morgan Park Place, has won the Governor's Environmental Stewardship Award for Building Green.  Morgan Park Place is a 72-unit, multi-family, mixed-use, urban infill project that meets high standards for water and energy efficiency and stormwater management while offering a wide range of living spaces in size and price.  Click here to take a tour of the site's sustainable building features.  

Morgan Park Place is a 72-unit, multi-family development in the Germantown area of downtown Nashville.  Morgan Park Place recently completed phase one of construction and received Earth Craft Certification and is EPA Energy Star Qualified.  View a pictorial narrative of the site and its sustainable building features on the BOB website or by downloading a pdf of the narrative here. 

The U.S. EPA's Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds publishes a monthly report, Nonpoint Source New-Notes, on "the condition of the water-related environment, the control of nonpoint sources of water pollution, and the ecological management and restoration of watersheds."  The September issue features an article about the Cumberland River Compact's (TN) Building Outside the Box program - a coalition that helps to educate the building and construction community, as well as the general public, about best management practices, erosion control and green building techniques and the positive effect they can have on our water quality.  To read the entire report, go to http://www.epa.gov/owow/info/NewsNotes/issue82/82issue.pdf

"Economic, Water Quality, and Water Supply Benefits of Sustainable Real Estate Development in Middle Tennessee: Final Report for Morgan Park Place" 
 
The Cumberland River Compact has conducted an in-depth economic analysis of selected sustainability features of the Morgan Park Place development.  The report was prepared by Jeff Gowdy and made possible with the support of the World Wildlife Fund. 

Green Building Community Case Studies - 2012

The report identifies why and how local governments have developed green building programs. It appears the motivating factors have been many, from meeting air quality standards, to reducing infrastructure costs, to saving energy costs and promoting a green image. The 125-page report contains highlights of the economic benefits from green building programs, factors that encourage green building programs, 16 case studies of community green building programs, a chart comparing 48 communities and their green building practices, and an appendix with additional information and web links.

The project was conducted on behalf of the Southeast Smart Growth Network, a consortium of over 20 universities, organizations and agencies working in southeastern communities to help implement smart growth policies and practices. Additional information on green building practices is also available from the EPA's Sustainable Design and Green Building Toolkit for Local Communities available at: www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/partnership/tools.html.

Or, go to http://www.southeastwaterforum.org/ to view individual state / city case studies.

Green Building Report - Spring 2012

Comprehensive bibliography on green building put out by Rocky Mountain Institute

Learn More about the development, Morgan Park Place, by New Urban Construction.  Morgan Park Place is a project site of the Building Outside the Box (BOB) sustainable building project in Nashville, TN

The Sustainable Sites Initiative is an interdisciplinary partnership between the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, the United States Botanic Garden and a diverse group of stakeholder organizations to develop guidelines and standards for landscape sustainability. The motivation behind this initiative stems from the desire to protect and enhance the ability of landscapes to provide services such as climate regulation, clean air and water, and improved quality of life. Sustainable Sites™ is a cooperative effort with the intention of supplementing existing green building and landscape guidelines as well as becoming a stand-alone tool for site sustainability.

Online resource created by leading environmental group guides building professionals through green building process, from putting together a business case to design, construction and marketing.

The purpose of a smart growth scorecard is to assist elected local officials, developers, investors, neighborhood groups and designers make better project level decisions that achieve the Smart Growth objectives. The SPS is a tool that can help evaluate where a particular project is advancing the long term viability of a community or creating more impacts with little overall benefit to existing and new citizens.

By Will Fleissig and Vikie Jacobsen

 

A sourcebook for green and sustainable building. The purpose of the Sourcebook is to offer the practical information needed to implement green building practices. The Sourcebook addresses a wide range of options available to architects, builders, and homeowners in seeking to create sustainable buildings. Many of the options have been grouped to fit one overall approach to building or one general category of materials.

From the journal, Energy and Buildings (Volume 41, Issue 6, June 2009, Pages 662-668): "The Value of Shade: Estimating the effect of urban trees on summertime electricity use," by Geoffry H. Donovan and David T. Butry.  The journal can be found online at Science Direct.  

Abstract: We estimated the effect of shade trees on the summertime electricity use of 460 single-family homes in Sacramento, California. Results show that trees on the west and south sides of a house reduce summertime electricity use, whereas trees on the north side of a house increase summertime electricity use. The current level of tree cover on the west and south sides of houses in our sample reduced summertime electricity use by 185 kWh (5.2%), whereas north-side trees increased electricity use by 55 kWh (1.5%). Results also show that a London plane tree, planted on the west side of a house, can reduce carbon emissions from summertime electricity use by an average of 31% over 100 years.  

The Tommy can work in all types of soil, from fractured rock and compacted clays to wetlands. It can install silt fence on slopes without allowing spoil to roll down the slope, thus ensuring secure installation.

Application
By only slightly disrupting the soil during fence installation, the Tommy creates optimal soil conditions for compaction without losing moisture. Compacting the soil prevents runoff water from saturating the soil next to the fabric, thus eliminating washouts under the fence, one of the major problems with traditional silt fence installation.

In addition, the compact and simple design of the machine employs only one slow-moving, low-stress part, reportedly lowering maintenance costs and minimizing repair costs. Mechanical silt fence installation also reduces labor costs while increasing productivity.

This guide identifies what plants are the most appropriate in Florida, splitting the region into five. Give suggestions on plants most appropriate for climate and geology, which do not require intestine watering and fertilizing.