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LEED V3 Provides New Tools.

Many homeowners are running amok trying to sell their homes in a downturned economy. The design/build professional Christopher Prelitz, LEED AP, founder of Prelitz + Partners, owner of New Leaf America, and author of the book Green Made Easy, has been renovating buildings with green features since 1993. An active member of the sustainable building community of Southern California for nearly 20 years, Prelitz says, "If you green it, you will sell it." Perhaps Prelitz's most profitable market is green-ovating homes and flipping them for nice profits. The concept sounds "easy," but doing a green renovation is often seen as such an elephantine task that many walk away from the idea with their eyes dazed over.

In an effort to reduce the environmental impact of a cottage located near federally protected land, David Jameson Architect, Inc., quite literally reduced the building’s footprint. When a Washington, D.C., couple purchased their Church Creek, Maryland, property, it was equipped with an existing cottage, but Hurricane Isabel damaged that structure in 2003, and erecting a new building on the site became controversial.

Much focus is being given in the design and construction industry to making projects greener. As an architect myself, I feel an obligation to be conscious of the impact my work and the work of my peers has on the future of our environment. Architects, engineers, builders, and facility owners play a vital role in creating a greener future. Architecture 2030 estimates that in the US alone, buildings are responsible for 48% of greenhouse gas emissions annually and consume 76% of all electricity generated by power plants.

Does your home repair to-do list seem to be taking over your life? Jeff Wilson, host of Buildipedia's At Home channel, sympathizes and offers sage advice for how to tame that ever-present "Honey-Do" list.

Every aspiring handyman (or handywoman) has a List. Not the list you make when you head out to the home improvement store for materials, or even the short list of things you need to accomplish this weekend. I’m talking about THE List.

Data centers balance their growing power consumption with renewable energy initiatives.

As the well known John Donne poem "Meditation XVII" states, "No man is an island." Neither are colleges and universities. Long gone are the days when an institution of higher learning could operate without considering the surrounding community. University presidents now understand that the success of their institutions depends on the health of their cities and towns. The “town and gown” relationship has not always been a healthy one in many communities, but it has improved significantly in recent years as competition for students and faculty has increased. When these relationships work well, they can have a tremendous impact on the community and university.

Carbon offsetting, an effort to reduce overall carbon footprint, has seen some important changes in its implementation and practice.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), commonly known as the economic stimulus bill, was signed by Congress on February 13, 2009, and then signed into law by President Obama four days later. The government made a total of $787 billion available -- $275 billion for federal contracts, grants, and loans, in addition to $288 billion in tax cuts and $224 billion for entitlement for education and health care. Specifically relevant to the AEC industry is ARRA’s targeting of infrastructure development and enhancement using the $275 billion.

Welcome to the On Site channel’s Construction Administration Column. Who should pay when work is done out of contract? Here David A. Todd, P.E., CPESC, gives his opinion.

Columnist David A. Todd, P.E., CPESC, has 37 years of experience in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry and has performed much construction administration during that time. He will answer questions from our readers or from his own practice and will provide answers based on his understanding of the construction process and administration of the construction contract. The focus will be on the customary duties of the owner, contractor, and design professional as typically described in the contract documents.

Welcome to the On Site channel’s Construction Administration Column. What should you do when there is a discrepancy between the amount on a payment application and the amount that was contracted? Here David A. Todd, P.E., CPESC, gives his opinion.

Columnist David A. Todd, P.E., CPESC, has 37 years of experience in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry and has performed much construction administration during that time. He will answer questions from our readers or from his own practice and will provide answers based on his understanding of the construction process and administration of the construction contract. The focus will be on the customary duties of the owner, contractor, and design professional as typically described in the contract documents.

Need some inspiration on how to increase green space, use energy more efficiently, or harness the power of renewable resources? Whether you’re building from the ground up or renovating an older structure, these new green building techniques are great places to start.

The project was a seismic retrofit of a 15-story building constructed in 1991. The steel portion of the project consisted of systematically strengthening the moment connections throughout the building and installing over 200 dampers in a 750,000 sq. ft. office building without interrupting the operation of the tenants. The contract dictated that the work would start in the basement, progress through the ground floor and the parking garage (floors 2-5), and then continue through the occupied office floors (6-15). The contractor could only occupy three half floors at any one time and a set number of parking spaces due to contract restrictions. The contract also restricted work hours, noise levels, and delivery times. These restrictions would drive the pace of the work.