News

Contact: Noelle Overly
(312) 988-2109
noverly@thegbi.org

GREEN BUILDING INITIATIVE™ CELEBRATES MILESTONES AT INTERNATIONAL BUILDERS' SHOW
-- Reveals Two New Interactive Tools; Announces New Training Program --

Orlando, Fla. (February 14, 2008) – Since its inception in 2004, the Green Building Initiative (GBI) has partnered with Home Builder Associations (HBAs) to develop locally relevant green building programs in major markets nationwide, including Philadelphia, St. Louis, Dallas and Albuquerque.

Just last month, the GBI helped the Building Industry Association (BIA) of Central Ohio introduce its new green building program to a crowd of 85 enthusiastic builders and next week the GBI is working with the Builders Association of Northern Nevada and the Builders Association of Western Nevada to launch their Sierra Green, Green Homes for Northern Nevada program. In total, the GBI has helped launch 20 locally relevant green building programs, which have assessed more than 200 green homes and have 28,000 additional homes in the pipeline.

"These programs give builders access to the tools and technical support they need to build green on a local level," said Ward Hubbell, president of the GBI. "Green is a trend that is here to stay—as evidenced most recently by the fact that Multiple Listing Services in New Mexico, Portland and St. Louis now offer green-related search criteria—and we see it as our job to continue serving as a leading resource for green building education for builders and HBAs across the country."

NEW INTERACTIVE TOOLS ENTER THE MARKET
To further support growth in residential green building, the GBI will debut two new online tools for builders and HBAs at the International Builders' Show in Orlando, Fla., an online green building incentives database and a life cycle assessment tool.

GBI partnered with the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE) to provide a database of green building rebates, tax credits and other financial incentives available, both federal and by state. It is now available for builders to access at www.thegbi.org.

GBI will also showcase the ATHENA® EcoCalculator for Assemblies, a free life cycle assessment tool developed by the ATHENA Institute in consultation with the University of Minnesota Center for Sustainable Building Research and Morrison Hershfield Consulting Engineers. The tool was commissioned by the GBI for incorporation into the Green Globes™ environmental assessment and rating system. However, recognizing its value as an indicator of global warming potential and other environmental impacts, GBI also supported the development of a generic version, which is available free of charge from the Athena Web site (www.athenasmi.org).

The EcoCalculator provides instant LCA results for more than 400 common building assemblies—including exterior walls, roofs, intermediate floors, interior walls, windows, and columns and beams. The results embedded in the tool are based on detailed assessments pre-generated using the ATHENA® Impact Estimator for Buildings, which in turn uses ATHENA’s own widely acclaimed datasets and the U.S. Life Cycle Inventory Database (www.nrel.gov/lci).

COMING SOON TO A WEB SITE NEAR YOU
The GBI plans to continue providing builders and HBAs with the resources they need to build green successfully. Some of the new free resources the GBI plans to release in the coming months include research on key issues related to green building and an online green building training program.

The GBI's immediate research priority is a study on the return on investment (ROI) for customers who build or buy green certified homes, which will in turn help quantify the costs for builders to implement sustainable construction practices, as well as their own potential ROI. The GBI will also be coordinating Web-based training programs throughout the year.

In the near future, the GBI also plans to develop resources to help builders communicate the benefits the green homes to homebuyers.

For more information on the available or upcoming GBI resources, visit www.thegbi.org.

ABOUT THE GREEN BUILDING INITIATIVE:The mission of the Green Building Initiative is to accelerate the adoption of building practices that result in energy-efficient, healthier and environmentally sustainable buildings by promoting credible and practical green building approaches. A not-for-profit education initiative, the GBI is supported by a broad cross section of organizations and individuals with an interest in residential and commercial construction. For more information on the Green Building Initiative, please visit www.thegbi.org.