LEEDing Us Astray?
Top green-building system is in desperate need of repair

We're concerned that LEED has become expensive, slow, confusing, and unwieldy, a death march for applicants administered by a soviet-style bureaucracy that makes green building more difficult than it needs to be. The result:

* mediocre "green" buildings where certification, not environmental responsibility, is the primary goal;
* a few super-high-level eco-structures built by ultra-motivated (and wealthy) owners that stand like the Taj Mahal as beacons of impossibility;
* an explosion of LEED-accredited architects and engineers chasing lots of money but designing few buildings; and
* a discouraged cadre of professionals who want to build green, but can't afford to certify their buildings.

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Eric's column at GreenerBuildings.com:

Ask the Green Architect: October 2005
Topics covered:
The Top Ten Green Building Questions
1. Why do green buildings cost more than traditional buildings?
2. What is a "LEED" building?
3. What do you mean by a "green" building?
4. What is indoor air quality?
5. Which is better: a recycled material or a natural material?
6. How can I determine if a material is green or not?
7. Where can I purchase green building materials and products?
8. Are there any building code restrictions on the use of green materials?
9. Why should I care about green building?
10. Why aren't ALL buildings built to be green?


Ask the Green Architect: November 2005
Topics covered:
* Sources and Directory of Green Product Manufacturers
* Cradle to Cradle (C2C), McDonough/Braungart
* Efficiency Advice for High Ceilings & Green Remodels
* Standards for Certifying Green Products
* The Benefits of Daylighting to office workers

Is it too easy for buildings to get certified as eco-friendly?

Building new ideas
Free your mind and architectural concepts will follow

it's not just your workers who need to relax. Your buildings do, too. So sayeth today's prophets of organic architecture, an old movement with roots in ancient Greece, art nouveau and the work of Frank Lloyd Wright that is now experiencing a controversial revival.

LINK

A modest two-and-a-half-story suburban home, facing the street, with two garage doors and a recessed porch, may not immediately bring to mind Martha Stewart's 153-acre estate in upper Westchester County with its stables, gardens and manor house.

But that's the idea.

Martha Stewart is branding 650 homes near Raleigh, N.C., basing them on ones she owns.

Marthatown: Living in the Bubble

LAST year, McDonald's phased out its "supersize" French fries and soft drinks.
Could the same be true of the supersized houses known as McMansions?

Are McMansions Going Out of Style?

That unmistakable new-car smell may soon be heading the way of the rumble seat: recent research linking it to a toxic cocktail of harmful chemicals is spurring efforts by automakers to tone down the fumes.

That New Car Smell