Living Building Leader Program Educates Practitioners on the Latest in Green Building
In 2006, the Cascadia Region Green Building Council announced its Living Building Challenge. (For a description of the challenge, see Moving Beyond LEED.) Its goal is to move green building practices beyond LEED Platinum, aiming for buildings that have zero impact upon their environment. So far more than 50 Living Buildings across the United States are in the design or construction phase.
To augment the Living Building Challenge, Cascadia is developing a companion program known as Living Building Leader. This program will provide a venue for members of the building industry to share knowledge and develop green building skill sets. Living Building Leader is launching a series of sessions covering green building topics which will be taught by experts from fields relating to sustainable building; the sessions are intended for professionals who already have experience in green building.
- » See also: The Green Elements of CAR Expo 2009
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The sessions will not be offered at a physical location, but will be web-based, helping to reduce their carbon footprint. The sessions will , however, be live and fully interactive, utilizing eLearning, an audio broadcast platform that includes chat functions and application sharing.
There will be 36 required sessions in all, with content reflecting the six ‘petals’, or categories, of the Living Building Challenge. The sessions will each be three hours long, and will occur on Wednesdays throughout the year from 9:00 a.m. to noon (PST). Each session will conclude with an exam; through successful completion of these exams (and a final, comprehensive exam) participants can pursue Living Building Leader designation. Individual sessions can also count as continuing education credits for various professional organizations.
The Living Building Leader program launches on June 4th with a session led by Jason F. McLennan, CEO of Cascadia, about the importance of spirit and meaning in the design of buildings.
To see more details on the program, or to register for session, see: http://www.cascadiagbc.org/lbl
Image courtesy of Cascadia Region Green Building Council
For other articles on green building programs and standards, see:
http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/05/21/watersense-the-new-symbol-of-water-conservation/
http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/05/19/leed-version-3-is-coming/
This is an important step in moving North American construction beyond, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle into a more comprehensive “Cradle to Cradle”
construction mindset. Congratulations to Cascadia GBC for their forward thinking culture!
Cascadia GBC is, as you say, forward thinking. I am following their work closely, and you will see them referenced quite often in my upcoming GBE posts!
Cheers, and thanks to John and Kristin for your kind words regarding our work here at Cascadia GBC.
As the new(er) program coordinator, I wanted to offer an update to our new program format, as well as info on some of the amazing scheduling slated for 2009. You can find the ‘about’ section of our website hyperlinked to my name above.
Thanks for the shout-out! It truly helps us to continue producing valuable work.