GBIG Insight Report :: GBIG Insight

New Research: In California’s Unyielding Drought, Green Buildings Can Help

By Jeremy Sigmon on 25 Mar 2015 • 4 minute read

Yesterday, the USGBC Northern California Chapter and its partners hosted the 12th annual Water Conservation Showcase in San Francisco. It was filled to the brim with exhibitors, green building professionals, students, water systems engineers, government representative …

New Report Offers Geothermal Energy Action Plan for U.S.

By GBIG Staff on 24 Feb 2015 • 2 minute read

Renewable sources of energy are slated to comprise an increasing share of energy generation in the United States, and a larger number of distributed generation systems are being installed each year. This summer, Gretchen Heberling served as a MAP Sustainable Energy Fell …

Report: What’s a Good Location for a Green Building?

By Chris Pyke, PhD on 25 Mar 2014 • 2 minute read

Green building is a flexible bundle of criteria and strategies intended to help guide and recognize the design, construction, and operation of buildings that benefit people and the environment. LEED® rating systems (excluding LEED for Neighborhood Development) includ …

Developing an Active Design Index for LEED

By Karen Lee on 05 Mar 2014 • 3 minute read

Over the last decade, there has been growing interest among public health professionals in improving the built environment – the human-made environment including our buildings, streets, neighborhoods and their amenities - to address health. Recent interest at the US …

Top Research: High Performance Building Benefits and Investment Costs

By Dan Winters on 24 Feb 2014 • 2 minute read

One of the most common questions posed by real estate professionals is, “What are the benefits of pursuing a LEED rating, and what are the marginal investment requirements necessary to attain these benefits?” This GBIG Insight Research Anthology – High Performa …

Report: Durability Analysis of Green Building Strategies

By Máté Orosz on 20 Dec 2013 • 1 minute read

A new Insight Technical Report co-authored by Mate Orosz, LEED AP BD+C and Chris Pyke, Ph.D. explores the nexus between green building strategies and durability considerations. It provides a new systematic framework to evaluate elements of the LEED for New Construction …

The expected service life of a vegetated roof is 20-40 years

Research Preview: Review of Health Language in LEED

By Matthew Trowbridge MD MPH on 20 Nov 2013 • 1 minute read

With grant funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the US Green Building Council and researchers from the University of Virginia School of Medicine (UVA) are conducting a systematic descriptive analysis of the representation of health and wellness wi …

Social Equity in the Built Environment

By Heather Joy Rosenberg on 18 Nov 2013 • 1 minute read

If sustainability is defined by the triple bottom line of environmental, economic and social benefits, the green building movement has a long way to go on the road to creating sustainable projects. Programs like LEED have transformed the market on environmental metrics. …

Mercy Corps' headquarters in Portland, OR

Report: Green Building Water Efficiency Strategies

By GBIG Staff on 02 Oct 2013 • 1 minute read

This report, from researchers at Virginia Tech, describes some aspects of project compliance paths for projects earning water efficiency credits under LEED for New Construction v2.2. A stratified random sample was taken of all non-confidential certified projects earning …

Report: Geographic and Temporal Patterns In Green Building

By GBIG Staff on 18 Apr 2013 • 2 minute read

This study, Geographic and Temporal Patterns in Green Building, examines data from green building projects that have achieved certification under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED™) for New Construction rating syst …