Four million square feet of green roofs, 31,000 high performance buildings, 11 million metric tons of carbon saved from the atmosphere. Those impressive statistics are the direct result of the green building initiatives of this year’s recipients of honor awards presented by the National Building Museum in Washington, DC.
The National Building Museum will bestow its honor awards on some of the titans of the sustainable building movement, including the founder of the LEED certification program, the city of Chicago and a major technology and construction company. The awards will be presented June 4th at a gala event in Washington, DC.
S. Richard Fedrizzi, the founding chair and president of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), has revolutionized the construction industry in the 10 years since establishing the LEED program for energy efficiency and environmentally sustainable design.
One of the greatest examples of LEED’s potential is the city of Chicago. In the 20 years under Mayor Richard M. Daley, 15 million square feet of municipal buildings have been retrofitted for energy efficiency.
Last year, Chicago launched its Climate Action Plan, a comprehensive strategy to combat climate change in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent below 1990 emission levels by 2050.
Two other award recipients demonstrate the power of green building to transform cities and the environment.
Majora Carter in the late 1990′s led the design of the South Bronx Greenway and in 2001 founded Sustainable South Bronx – one of the country’s first and most successful urban green collar job training and placement systems.
The final award winner, construction supply firm UTC, has recorded a 22 percent overall reduction in energy use and 50 percent reduction in water consumption since 1997.
UTC leads the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Energy Efficiency in Buildings project to develop a road map to achieve zero net energy buildings all over the world and is a founding member of the USGBC.