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GREEN BUILDING INITIATIVE™ ANNOUNCES NEW WEBINAR SERIES:
“THE LIABILITY OF BUILDING GREEN”
-- Free Educational Program Will Provide a Deeper Understanding of Complicated Issue --

Portland, Ore. (June 20, 2008) — The Green Building Initiative (GBI), a not-for-profit education and marketing initiative dedicated to accelerating the adoption of green building practices in conjunction with Environmental Design and Construction magazine, announced today that it will host a series of free online educational events examining liability issues related to green building.

The three part series will be available via the GBI’s Web site (www.thegbi.org), which includes a wide range of resources for design and building professionals.

“As architects, builders and others seek to make their buildings more sustainable, legal issues related to risk management, liability and regulatory policy become increasingly important,” says Sharene Rekow, vice president of marketing and membership for the GBI. “These training sessions will provide attendees with a deeper understanding of the complicated issues related to liability, and arm them with information they’ll need to protect themselves, now and in the future.”

For these sessions, the GBI and Environmental Design + Construction have brought together a notable group of speakers, including:

• Ujjval Vyas, principal of the Alberti Group;
• Dan Murphy, senior vice president of Codes and Standards and Practices at Environmental Systems and Design, Inc.;
• Fred Butters, FAIA, an attorney with the Bloomfield Michigan law firm of Thomas M. Keranen & Associates, PC.;
• Stephen Del Percio, who currently practices law at New York law offices of Arent Fox and maintains the greenbuildingsnyc.com blog; and
• Paul D’Arelli, a shareholder with Greenburg Traurig P.A.

The first seminar will take place on June 24, 2008, and will look at risk and liability in the construction industry. The second webinar will take place on July 16, 2008, and will focus on regulatory issues that add to construction risk. The final session will occur on August 27, 2008, and will examine the role of insurance in mitigating risk.

All seminars will occur at 1 p.m. EST/10 a.m. PST. After each session, the webinars will also be available via the GBI Web site for access anytime.

For more information about the GBI and its sustainability training programs, visit www.thegbi.org.