Green Build Bulletin | September, 2008

Leading Edge Green Building Design

In April, Jerry Yudelson was privileged to receive a tour of a nearly completed green building, the new headquarters in Luxembourg for the European Investment Bank, the world’s largest bank. Nearly 700,000-sq.ft., the six-story structure sits on and is built into a hillside with a view of both the wooded hills of the country and the city center of Luxembourg. Designed by Ingenhoven Architekten of Dusseldorf, Germany, the project features a low-energy, high-performance design on a very difficult site. Jerry predicts that this project will be another award winner for Christoph Ingenhoven, the firm’s leader.

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Greening the Retail Sector

Despite the difficulty of using the LEED rating system for retail, Yudelson Associates working on a number of projects that are seeking certification for stores, including a group of inline stores in the Tucson area, a new prototype for a major national chain and a large new shopping center in Utah. Challenges include meeting energy and ventilation prerequisites and getting in early enough in the design process to upgrade the building envelope and in some cases to write “green lease” provisions. Click here to watch a video interview with Jerry Yudelson on the ICSC website. Once there, click “The Green Shopping Center Revolution” to watch the video.

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Wired Research

For the National Association of Electrical Distributors, Yudelson Associates is looking at energy efficiency and green building market opportunities. Almost all of the re-lamping, changing over to variable speed motors and drives, building controls and similar measures flow through electrical distributors, so we’re profiling the best business opportunities for NAED members and providing guidance on market entry strategies. Click here to read the press release about this research project.

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Another New Green Building Book

In the last half of the 20th century, part of every educated American’s upbringing was to make a “grand tour” of Europe, to learn from a more advanced or cultured society (or so we imagined). Over the past year, I’ve been making a “green tour” of Europe (especially Germany and the U.K.), looking for new sustainable building technologies and approaches that can be used in the U.S. The result of this research will be forthcoming, first in a research report for the Mechanical Contractors Education and Research Foundation and then in a book for Island Press, due out in the spring of 2009. Click here to see an overview of our green building books, currently available and on the way.

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Sustainable Momentum

Designing sustainability strategies for the real estate development industry continues to become a larger focus at Yudelson Associates. Recently, we were hired by a private Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) to help them with a corporate makeover into a more sustainable concern. We find it to be really heartening to meet with CEOs and Presidents of successful companies wanting to move their organizations wholly into the sustainable mainstream. The trick of course, in this tough economic environment, is finding a way to continue doing business and making a profit, that is, keeping the business sustainable. Our approach to sustainable strategies focuses on working with in-house task forces to bring them a set of measurement tools and a game plan for developing sustainable programs over a one to three-year period. Read more about our sustainability planning, reports and studies.

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Upcoming Keynote Speeches

Jerry Yudelson continues to travel actively as a keynote speaker to spread the message of green building and its many business benefits and opportunities. Here are some highlights of his up-coming schedule: