Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

NEWS ABOUT: green building

green building stories: 13 news summaries

(Newser) - Four years after Katrina, the rebuilding of New Orleans is becoming an exercise in environmentally friendly reconstruction, Bryan Walsh writes in Time. Global Green USA, the American arm of a group founded by Mikhail Gorbachev, is leading the pack by building a sustainable village in the city's Lower Ninth... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Hurricane Katrina • New Orleans • green building • construction • reconstruction • housing industry • rebuilding • Global Green USA

 Empire State Building 
 Going Green 

Makeover project hailed as a landmark for energy efficiency

Apr 7, 09 1:50 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Empire State Building is getting a makeover to reduce its King Kong-sized carbon footprint, NY1 reports. As part of a larger renovation, "green" improvements will be made to the 78-year-old building—including an update for all 6500 of the structure’s windows—to reduce its energy consumption by... More »

MORE ABOUT:
New York City • green building • Manhattan • Empire State Building • energy saving • building

(Newser) - Being sensitive to the environment doesn't have to cost a fortune. In fact, the green option is often the most cost-effective one. Scientific American spotlights nine ways of cutting your bills as you save the Earth:
  • Shrink your living space. Prefab homes and plans for dwellings as small as
... More »

MORE ABOUT:
environment • green building • ecology • green technology • green • eco friendliness • green home • ecofriendly • eco-friendly • cellphones

OPINION

 A Look at Obama's 
 Energy Blueprint 

Going green will help bring US out of crisis: Klein

Nov 13, 08 1:56 PM CST
(Newser) - Detroit's looking for a bailout. China just announced a massive stimulus package, including big investments in transportation and energy. What’s a president-elect to do? Barack Obama would be best served by making good on his promise to create an alternative energy economy, writes Joe Klein in Time.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
climate change • Barack Obama • energy • green building • alternative energy • Center for American Progress • energy policy • John Podesta • President Obama

 RFK Jr. Takes
 Green Dream
 to Reality TV

Bobby Kennedy Jr. will chronicle building his green home

Jul 25, 08 12:15 PM CDT
(Newser) - The most prominent American political dynasty is branching out into reality TV. Environmentalist Bobby Kennedy Jr. and wife Mary are developing a 13-part series that will document the building of their dream green home, the New York Daily News reports. This Old House star Bob Vila will supervise construction of... More »

MORE ABOUT:
reality TV • green building • Westchester • Robert F. Kennedy

Green Housing: From Good Idea to Good Business

Architects, not automakers, have the power to halt global warming

Jul 15, 08 11:56 AM CDT
(Newser) - With US homes on average twice as large as they were 50 years ago—and, of course, dwarfing those in all other developed countries—rethinking our idea of "home" is as crucial to cutting global warming as switching to a smaller car, says architect Edward Mazria in Fast Company.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
environment • sustainable living • architecture • green building • sustainable development • design • green technology • green home

McMansions Make Way for Green Pads

Smaller homes built to strict LEED specs are all the rage

Jun 22, 08 8:41 PM CDT
(Newser) - When it comes to building green, a LEED rating is the ultimate cachet-- but they're tough to get, the New York Times reports. And homes approved by the Leadership in Energy and Evironmental Design council tend to be small and pricey, with one platinum-certified four-bedroom house in California on the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
architecture • green building • environmentalism • green energy • green construction • green • green home

 'Greenwashed' Products
 Mostly Hype 

Some 'Earth-friendly' products are more about marketing than reality

May 15, 08 11:44 AM CDT
(Newser) - "Green" is in, and many new products being marketed as Earth-friendly are in reality only marginally less unfriendly. The Boston Globe points to hybrid SUVs that get barely better mileage than their standard brethren, water bottles that use less plastic but still require large amounts of energy to make... More »

MORE ABOUT:
environment • green building • marketing • green products

Green Homes Gain Heat
in Cool Housing Market

Buyers willing to pay for eco-upgrades, survey says

Mar 9, 08 7:55 PM CDT
(Newser) - Eco-friendly homebuilders are faring well despite the plunging US housing market, Newsweek reports. With home sales at a 15-year low, a national survey showed that buyers last year were ready to spend an extra $8,964 on a home that cuts utility bills. "It's taken almost as a fait ... More »

MORE ABOUT:
environment • green building • carbon footprint • housing market • bills • green home

Best New Buildings of 2007

BusinessWeek
profiles the top 10

Dec 6, 07 1:10 PM CST
(Newser) - Looks weren't all that mattered to BusinessWeek and Architectural Record in choosing their 2007 architectural awards. "Contribution to business" was important, too. Their top picks:
  1. InterActive Corp. Headquarters, New York—Gehry Partners
  2. Young Center for the Performing Arts, Toronto—Kuwabara
... More »

MORE ABOUT:
architecture • green building • list • buildings • top 10

World's Best Green Hotels

Leave a footprint as small as your carry-on at a luxurious eco-hotel

Nov 5, 07 10:15 AM CST
(Newser) - Solar-heated pools, energy-conserving lights, composted food scraps . . . hotels aren't all bastions of consumption and waste. Travel+Leisure teamed up with Conservation International to assemble a list of 20 eco-friendly hotels:
  1. Spice Island Beach Resort, Grenada
  2. Soneva Fushi Resort & Six Senses Spa, Maldives
  3. Heritance Kandalama, Sri Lanka
More »

MORE ABOUT:
Australia • green building • ecotourism • Sri Lanka • Switzerland • Tanzania • Egypt • list • ecology • Philippines • hotel • spa • Bahamas • Colorado • green travel • LEED • Maldives • Zanzibar

Straw
Goes
Green

Eco-friendly building material branches out beyond fairy tales

Aug 20, 07 11:59 AM CDT
(Newser) - The newest surprise climate-saving tool is straw walls, and the Big Bad Wolf may have underestimated the First Little Pig’s shelter, the Washington Post reports. Instead of drywall or insulation, contractors stack the farm waste around buildings’ skeletons and then coat it with plaster. The eco-friendly result looks like... More »

MORE ABOUT:
climate change • global warming • green building • environmentalism • construction • farms • ecology • straw

It's Not Easy Building Green

Say regulators, utilities
are putting the breaks on clean energy

Apr 6, 07 12:43 PM CDT
(Newser) - Despite the hype, the cool technologies and the new cachet, building green on a big scale is a very frustrating business, developers in New York tell the Observer. Exciting projects are hobbled by slow-moving regulators and greedy utility companies, they say. Their $100K natural gas "microturbines" are idle because... More »

MORE ABOUT:
climate change • energy • environment • New York City • green building • Douglas Durst

13 Stories


from our news partners