E-Newsletter


October 2006

New Buildings Institute is a nonprofit, public benefits corporation
making buildings better for people and the environment

Fall News from NBI

Board Members in the News
Two NBI board members were quoted in the Energy section of the October 16 edition of The Wall Street Journal  - board president David B. Goldstein in a prominent article entitled “Less Power to the People – Ten innovations that will reduce the amount of energy we consume,” and board member John Wilson in an article entitled, “Think Globally, Act Locally – Efforts to make homes and buildings more energy-efficient are focusing on the state, not the federal level.”

New Look, New Website
 As you may have already noticed, we’ve recently updated our look, changed our logo and given the NBI website a complete overhaul. The result is a more informative, easier to navigate site. Stop by and take a look around.

Energy Foundation Funding
We’re pleased to announced that NBI has received a $75,000 grant from the Energy Foundation to support a series of activities around our Getting to Fifty™ efforts. Key elements of the proposed work include:

  • Production of an executive-level publication that presents building owners and design team leaders with critical information regarding the strategies, costs and benefits of low-energy buildings.
  • Development of upgrades to the Getting to Fifty aspects of www.advancedbuildings.net to expand content and enhance usability.
  • Support of national and regional opportunities (such as USGBC, EPA Energy Star, ASHRAE, AIA and utility demand-side management activities) to promote substantially enhanced energy performance in commercial new construction.
The country has recently seen unprecedented advocacy for a dramatic leap in energy efficiency of new commercial buildings. While details differ, most advocates reference a near-term goal of a 50% reduction in building energy use. We initiated our Getting to Fifty project last March with creation of a database that helps get information to builders and designers on how others have already achieved 50% savings in similar individual projects. Recent climate change projections heighten the urgency of quickly getting to the 50% goal, but the task of achieving rapid, widespread adoption of design and technological solutions is more than any one organization can accomplish alone. To help move from "What's the goal?" to "How do we get there?" NBI is planning to develop additional technical and guidance resources and will be working with other organizations nationally.

NEEP Becomes an NBI Sponsor
Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships has joined the ranks of NBI sponsors. NBI has a long history of working with NEEP on a variety of projects, and we welcome this new phase of our relationship.

Revision of Advanced Lighting Guidelines in the Works
NBI's Advanced Lighting Guidelines (ALG), last published in 2003, is due for another major update to reflect advances in this rapidly changing field. In preparation for that revision, we recently surveyed those who downloaded the book from our website. The results show a wide variety of professions using the ALG; lighting designers and electrical engineers are the two most common. The chapters on application guides and lighting design considerations are the two most used, and the chapters on lamp types, light distribution and lighting controls are frequently used by over half the respondents. The most commonly requested enhancements are more frequent technology updates and more application examples. We will be working on the Advanced Lighting Guidelines update in the coming year and anticipate publication of the new edition by early 2008.

NBI Facilitates Training for California University Workers
Universities and colleges in California use huge amounts of energy and impact statewide demand, but sometimes design teams and facility management staff at these academic institutions have little opportunity for their own energy efficiency education. The creation of the training and education committee within the UC-CSU-IOU Partnership is addressing these issues, and NBI is active on the committee. This fall NBI is facilitating the delivery of three energy efficiency courses at California Universities on behalf of the Partnership. The courses address: 1) Best Practices for Beating Title 24 by 20%, 2) Use and Administration of the Itron System, and 3) Green Building for Project Managers. The Partnership training and education group continues through 2008 to reduce energy use in new and existing campus buildings.



NBI is pleased to announce that the U.S. Department of Energy has named the first recipient of the Jeffrey A. Johnson Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Building Energy Codes and Performance.


To catch up on earlier news, check out our previous newsletters - November 2005, January 2006, and May 2006.