Atlanta Rising to the Better Buildings Challenge Green Building Southface Staff | August 2, 2013 The Better Buildings Challenge (BBC), announced by President Obama in 2011, is designed to integrate efficiency practices into our buildings that can lead to great benefits, including cost savings, avoided emissions, and a healthier economy. Through the BBC, the President is challenging CEOs, university presidents, state and local government leaders, and others to voluntarily commit their organizations to reduce their energy consumption by at least 20% by 2020. Read More Tags: Better Buildings Challenge
At last, Georgia Sees the Value of Solar PolicyRenewable Energy Shan Arora | July 23, 2013 A few years ago, who would have thought Georgia was about to become a center of national significance for solar policy and leap other states on the deployment of solar PV? At the end of 2010, Georgia had 5.7 MW of solar, a paltry sum given its abundant sunshine. Based on a July 11 Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) ruling, the state should have over 800 MW by the end of 2016. The story of how this happened so fast … Continue reading “At last, Georgia Sees the Value of Solar” Read More Tags: Solar
ECLC success story: Atlanta International School’s sustainable Early Learning Center Green Building Southface Staff | June 21, 2013 When planning a new 17,000 square-foot Early Learning Center, the project design and construction team had explicit goals of incorporating sustainability into the building and site. Read More Tags: EarthCraft, School
Sustainable Development and Green Building – A Southern Perspective Green Building Southface Staff | March 16, 2013 While this issue of the Southface Journal and the Greenprints Conference feature national thought leaders on sustainable development and green building, we felt it appropriate to hear a Southern perspective on these transformative trends. Dennis Creech has been executive director of Southface for 35 years. He helped incubate the EarthCraft program before the term green building was in the vocabularies of most design and construction professionals and he has participated in numerous initiatives at local, regional and national levels to … Continue reading “Sustainable Development and Green Building – A Southern Perspective” Read More Tags: EarthCraft, Energy Code, Energy Efficiency
Grants to Green: Greening Metro Atlanta Nonprofits since 2008 Green Building Southface Staff | March 16, 2013 Grants to Green was launched in 2008 as a partnership between The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, Southface and The Kendeda Fund. The program provides assessment and implementation awards that evaluate and improve the operations of nonprofit facilities in the 23-county metro Atlanta area. Some of the opportunities identified in the assessment report can be completed immediately without financial or technical assistance. For infrastructure-intensive opportunities, organizations can also apply for an implementation grant to pay for the cost of effective … Continue reading “Grants to Green: Greening Metro Atlanta Nonprofits since 2008” Read More Tags: Gooduse
Finding Common Ground with Historic Preservation: Notes from the Field Green Building Bourke Reeve | March 1, 2013 In recent years there has been growing interest in both the green building and historic preservation communities to find practical solutions to energy use issues in historic structures. Design, construction, planning and preservation professionals are taking new approaches to old problems and common ground is being found. Here are a few examples of Southface’s recent energy efficiency work on historic structures. Historic Stone Mountain City Hall, Stone Mountain, GA Built from locally quarried granite, Stone Mountain’s historic city hall is … Continue reading “Finding Common Ground with Historic Preservation: Notes from the Field” Read More Tags: Energy Efficiency, Historic Preservation
Thought Leaders on Sustainable Development Part III Communities Southface Staff | March 1, 2013 By 2050, 70 percent of the world’s population will reside in cities. This shift from rural communities uniquely positions cities to become hubs for innovation and incubators for sustainable development solutions. While indicators show the economy to be in recovery, sustainability agendas continue to fall victim to strained city budgets. Lack of political will and government stagnation present further challenges. How do cities advance their sustainability agendas in this tough environment? Douglas R. Hooker: Great cities can bring out the … Continue reading “Thought Leaders on Sustainable Development Part III” Read More Tags: Better Buildings Challenge, LEED
Meet a Southfacer: Chandra Farley About Us Chandra Farley | March 1, 2013 As project manager for Southface events, Chandra manages the upcoming Greenprints conference, the annual Visionary Dinner and other events including the bi-annual Solstice parties and EarthCraft Awards. Read More Tags:
The Future is Bright for Solar PolicyRenewable Energy Southface Staff | January 20, 2013 Author: John Sibley What is the future of solar power in Georgia? The future is bright. Solar power has begun to take off in our state. The installed capacity of solar electric systems more than doubled in 2011. We have about 700 systems and over 20 megawatts (MW) of capacity, providing enough electricity to power more than 2,000 homes. Even more dramatic growth is coming. Georgia Power has about 50 MW in the pipeline for the next couple of years … Continue reading “The Future is Bright for Solar” Read More Tags: Solar
Meet a Southfacer: Shan Arora About UsGreen BuildingRenewable Energy Shan Arora | January 10, 2013 Shan Arora is a project manager with Southface’s Sustainable Communities Team. An environmental advocate since an early age, he transitioned into sustainable community development after working in the international trade and tax fields for a decade. Read More Tags: Hydroelectric, Solar, Staff, Transit, Wind Energy
