“You can’t manage what you don’t measure,” said Seattle City Council Chair Richard Conlin. “Energy disclosure is a key first step to tap into the gold mine of opportunities to save energy and money while improving the City’s existing building stock. I’d like to thank all the members of the Green Building Task Force and other stakeholders who helped create this new ordinance that will save energy and create new jobs in Seattle.”

You can read more about the new Energy Disclosure Ordinance here.

Watch the full presentation on the Environmental Resource Center’s website: Creating a Green Building Program.

Populus is a full service sustainable design consulting firm that focuses on high performance, net-zero and near-net-zero custom residential and multi-family projects.  Populus guides architects and builders through the requirements of mandatory green building codes and optional green home certification programs, providing HERS rating, LEED for Homes Green Rater services and municipal energy code consulting.  In addition, Populus offers an Energy Code Workshop for architects and municipalities, as well as LEED for Homes training.  Visit Populus at www.popboulder.com.

Want to learn more? See the White House press release and a transcript of  the president’s remarks.

Populus is a full service sustainable design consulting firm that focuses on high performance, net-zero and near-net-zero custom residential and multi-family projects.  Populus guides architects and builders through the requirements of mandatory green building codes and optional green home certification programs, providing HERS rating, LEED for Homes Green Rater services and municipal energy code consulting.  In addition, Populus offers an Energy Code Workshop for architects and municipalities, as well as LEED for Homes training.  Visit Populus at www.popboulder.com.

Please join USGBC CO Chapter for the first Monday event of 2010!!

Monday February 1, 2010

6-8pm at REI

Presenting

HOW TO BUILD AN EFFICIENT & HIGH PERFORMING HOUSE

(aka GREEN, LEED, ENERGY STAR or just BEST PRACTICES!)

This session will focus on what it takes to build a LEED certified home. Whether you are interested in building a LEED certified or ENERGY STAR qualified home or just want to understand how to build an ultra efficient home this session is for you.

Our speakers will talk about different degrees of building “green,” how to get subcontractors on board, how much more it really costs, what kind of time commitment is involved and whether it is any more difficult to build than the standard home we’ve all become accustomed to building.

Speakers are LEED gold homebuilder Sean Smith of Sean Smith & Company and David Neiger of Populus Sustainable Design Consulting.

Sean Smith, Denver builder since 2000, made his start in the renovations and additions market.  After moving to new construction, Sean discovered a lack of attention to energy efficiency in the marketplace and decided to make it his forte.  He specializes in custom homes and spec projects that are high performing. Having built two LEED for Homes Gold Certified projects in Denver, Sean has another project pending final certification. Sean’s focus has shifted to optimizing energy performance through sound cost/benefit analysis, and by stressing the need for quality control at the ground level on construction sites.  Sean’s projects have also been certified under the Department of Energy’s Builder’s Challenge, and the EPA’s ENERGY STAR programs.

David Neiger is a Principal at Populus Sustainable Design Consulting, an energy performance and green building consulting firm based in Boulder, Colorado.  David holds an architecture degree from Pennsylvania State University, as well as certification as a RESNET Certified Home Energy Rater, RESNET Green Rater, BPI Certified Building Analyst, LEED AP and a LEED for Homes AP.

David has consulted on well over a hundred single and multi-family projects along the Colorado Front Range and has extensive experience managing LEED projects and working with architects and builders to achieve net-zero and above-code home performance.  As a recognized expert regarding home energy performance, David has presented to a variety of audiences and has trained municipalities, architects and builders nationally regarding green building and above-code energy performance.  David has served as a Subject Matter Expert to the USGBC in connection with its LEED for Homes program and currently acts as a Technical Advisor on the City of Boulder’s Climate Action Plan Strategy Residential Technical Team.

RESERVATIONS TO ATTEND CAN BE MADE at

http://www.usgbccolorado.org/metro/events-calendar.html

To assure a seat, please register online in advance

CAPACITY ATTENDANCE IS EXPECTED, SO RESERVE EARLY

Populus is a full service sustainable design consulting firm that focuses on high performance, net-zero and near-net-zero custom residential and multi-family projects.  Populus guides architects and builders through the requirements of mandatory green building codes and optional green home certification programs, providing HERS rating, LEED for Homes Green Rater services and municipal energy code consulting.  In addition, Populus offers an Energy Code Workshop for architects and municipalities, as well as LEED for Homes training.  Visit Populus at www.popboulder.com.

Currently there are over sixty people registered for Populus’ workshop, but please contact Jack Sinclair at the City of Denver if you are interested in attending:  Jack.Sinclair@denvergov.org.  You can find more information about the workshop here.

Populus is a full service sustainable design consulting firm that focuses on high performance, net-zero and near-net-zero custom residential and multi-family projects.  Populus guides architects and builders through the requirements of mandatory green building codes and optional green home certification programs, providing HERS rating, LEED for Homes Green Rater services and municipal energy code consulting.  In addition, Populus offers an Energy Code Workshop for architects and municipalities, as well as LEED for Homes training.  Visit Populus at www.popboulder.com.

Populus is a full service sustainable design consulting firm that focuses on high performance, net-zero and near-net-zero custom residential and multi-family projects.  Populus guides architects and builders through the requirements of mandatory green building codes and optional green home certification programs, providing HERS rating, LEED for Homes Green Rater services and municipal energy code consulting.  In addition, Populus offers an Energy Code Workshop for architects and municipalities, as well as LEED for Homes training.  Visit Populus at www.popboulder.com.

DOE Webinar November 23—Greensburg: America’s Model Green Community in Their Own Words

November 12, 2009

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Building Technologies Program is offering a webinar on Monday, November 23, 2009, from 1:00-2:30 p.m. EST titled “Greensburg: America’s Model Green Community in Their Own Words.”

This webinar will provide an overview of how Greensburg, Kansas, a town that was nearly destroyed by the largest tornado on record, found new life and purpose rebuilding as “America’s model green community.” Hear from city and government leaders how decisions were made to rebuild with the largest concentration of LEED^® certified buildings in the world, and where the town is headed today.

This webinar is geared toward federal agencies, state energy offices, renewable energy and energy efficiency associations, architects, residential and commercial builders, planning firms, and homeowners. The presenters will include:

• Bob Dixson, Mayor, City of Greensburg
• Kelly Estes, President, BTI-Greensburg John Deere Dealership
• Darin Headrick, Superintendant, Greensburg Schools District USD 422
• Daniel Wallach, Executive Director, Greensburg GreenTown

This webinar is free of charge, but you must register in advance to obtain a URL for the presentation and call-in phone number. Learn more about the webinar.

Visit the Building Technologies Program Web site for information about research and development of technologies and practices to achieve the goal of marketable net-zero energy commercial and residential buildings.

At the same time, DOE issued a solicitation that offers $454 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds—including $390 million for a “Retrofit Ramp-Up” program—to support energy efficiency efforts throughout the country.

At a Middle Class Task Force meeting earlier this year, the vice president asked the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to develop a proposal for federal action to lay the groundwork for a self-sustaining industry for home energy efficiency retrofits. Their response comes in the October 19 report and includes these federal recommendations: provide U.S. homeowners with home energy retrofit information, including an energy performance label for existing homes; get past cost barriers by making financing more accessible, including long-term municipal loans repaid through the owners’ property tax bills, a concept known as Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE); and establish national workforce certifications and training standards, creating a uniform set of national standards to qualify workers for energy efficiency retrofits. See the Recovery Through Retrofit report (PDF 485 KB). Download Adobe Reader.

DOE’s new solicitation will support the retrofit objectives with a series of “Retrofit Ramp-up” awards, ranging from $5 to $75 million, for states, local governments, and Indian tribes. DOE seeks innovative programs that are highly leveraged, are broadly replicable and scalable, can achieve cost savings when scaled up, and are likely to be self-sustaining beyond the funding period. The programs should achieve high-quality retrofits for a large fraction of the buildings within entire neighborhoods and communities, and they can include PACE programs and programs that employ Home Performance with Energy Star, a national program from DOE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. DOE also offered $64 million in energy efficiency grants for local governments and state-recognized Indian tribes that are not eligible for direct funding under DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program. Applications are due on December 14. See the DOE press release, download the full solicitation (PDF 395 KB), and see the solicitation postings on grants.gov and FedConnect.

When: Thursday, October 22nd 6pm-8pm

Where: 233 South Washington Street, Denver, Colorado (LEED for Homes™ Gold, ENERGY STAR, Indoor Air Package and Builders Challenge Certified home)

Free Workshop Includes:

• Green features tour and building details discussion of a LEED for Homes Gold Certified Wash Park home by general contractor Sean Smith of Sean Smith & Company, LLC
• Behind-the-scenes explanation of how architects can use the Home Energy Rating System (“HERS”) as a tool to design high-performance homes by David Neiger of Populus Sustainable Design Consulting
• Overview of available green home certification programs and the benefits to architects and homeowners of certification, including: LEED for Homes (USGBC), Builders Challenge (DOE), ENERGY STAR (EPA), and Indoor airPLUS (EPA).

Continuing Education for Architects: Under the State of Colorado’s rules for continuing education for state licensure renewal, this program meets the requirements for 1.0 HSW professional development unit (HSW).

RSVP by October 18^th at http://event.pingg.com/GreenHomesDenver or to laura@popboulder.com

Populus is a full service sustainable design consulting firm that focuses on high performance, net-zero and near-net-zero custom residential and multi-family projects.  Populus guides architects and builders through the requirements of mandatory green building codes and optional green home certification programs, providing HERS rating, LEED for Homes Green Rater services and LEED for Homes training.  Visit Populus at www.popboulder.com.