Green Building Blog

If steps 1, 2 and 3 are Energy Efficiency; Green Building; and High Performance, what’s next? Resiliency!

Jim Newman recently contributed an article on how new technologies, and new ways of financing them, are impacting energy efficiency in new and existing buildings. 

Event Introduced Innovative Ideas and Communities, Generated Ideas to Keep Sustainability Movement Going

On October 25, 2017 the USGBC Detroit Region presented an event designed to connect and cross-fertilize the sustainability communities of Detroit. The event was hosted at the McGregor Memorial on the Wayne State University campus. The NCG team was there as a sponsor and participated in many of the activities that day.

Jim Newman Previews Greenbuild 2017, Boston, MA, Nov 8-10

Why do I go to USGBC Greenbuild Conventions?? Because during those conventions I learn more about the exciting things happening in the green building and sustainability industry than I can anywhere else.

If you have been to a Greenbuild Convention, you know there are great speakers, not only on the state of the “Green” industry and where it is going, but also how it is being used around the world. Go to Greenbuild so you can:

And What You Can Do About It in 2017

The good news is that EPA’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager is getting a much needed data update.

The bad news is that it may cause some Energy Star scores to go down.

How Portfolio Manager Works

As you probably know, Energy Star Portfolio Manager (ESPM) is a well-known and widely used program for comparing energy use among existing buildings. Building owners and managers use ESPM to see how well their building performs with regards to energy use. The ESPM rates the building on a 1-100 scale against buildings of similar size and use. It also takes into consideration climatization so that buildings in different climate zones can be compared with each other. 

Energy Star requires a score of 75 or better to earn Certification. For details, click here. If your score is below 75, or you would like to see a higher score – and lower utility bills – consider implementing some low-cost or no-cost Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) with relatively fast paybacks. Other ECMs might be more expensive with long paybacks. In that case you may want to consider alternative financing, such as Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE (Click to learn how PACE can help you.)