The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), co-founded by Mike Italiano, David Gottfried and Rick Fedrizzi in 1993, is a non-profit trade organization that promotes sustainability in how buildings are designed, built, and operated. USGBC is best known for the development of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating systems and Greenbuild, a green building conference and expo that promotes the green building industry, including environmentally responsible materials, sustainable architecture techniques and public policy. USGBC was one of eight national councils which helped found the World Green Building Council in 1999.
Because of its name, USGBC is sometimes confused for a government agency or entity, but it is not; it is a private 501(c)(3), membership based non-profit organization. At the end of February 2010, USGBC had more than 18,500 member organizations from every sector of the building industry. USGBC works to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work. To achieve this it has developed a variety of programs and services, and works closely with key industry and research organizations and federal, state and local government agencies.
USGBC also offers a host of educational opportunities, including workshops and Web-based seminars to educate the public and industry professionals on different elements of the green building industry, from the basics to more technical information. Through its partnership with the Green Building Certification Institute, USGBC offers industry professionals the chance to develop expertise in the field of green building and to receive accreditation as LEED Green Associates or LEED APs with specialty.
Read more about U.S. Green Building Council: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
Famous quotes containing the words green, building and/or council:
“Nature’s first green is gold,”
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“The real dividing line between early childhood and middle childhood is not between the fifth year and the sixth year—it is more nearly when children are about seven or eight, moving on toward nine. Building the barrier at six has no psychological basis. It has come about only from the historic-economic-political fact that the age of six is when we provide schools for all.”
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“Parental attitudes have greater correlation with pupil achievement than material home circumstances or variations in school and classroom organization, instructional materials, and particular teaching practices.”
—Children and Their Primary Schools, vol. 1, ch. 3, Central Advisory Council for Education, London (1967)