The U.S. Green Building Council announced several projects
that will receive grants from the organization, including a green roof energy
calculator.
The Green Building Research Fund was created to spur research that will advance
sustainable building practices and encourage market transformations. The USGBC
committed $2 million to the program, while the research fund is generating $1.1
million in matching funds and additional activities and partnerships. A quarter
of the fund is dedicated to research in K-12 schools.
“We’ve identified an enormous need for green building research,” said Rick
Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chairman of the USGBC. “The research
grants are part of USGBC’s commitment to better understand what is working and
what more can be done, which will inform USGBC’s programs and the entire
building industry.
“The selected proposals drive knowledge, policies, tools and technologies and
inspire corresponding industry and government-wide action,” Fedrizzi
said.
USGBC’s research committee, in its role as the grant selection panel, reviewed
216 pre-proposals and 38 full proposals, spanning a broad range of topics,
including K-12 school facility research. The field was narrowed down to 13
final selections.
“The portfolio of research projects address a range of critical environmental
needs in the building industry, encompass diverse approaches and proposed
outcomes, and are well-distributed geographically across the U.S.,” said Gail
Brager, chairwoman of USGBC’s research committee.
Research topics covered each of the
five categories of environmental performance that are addressed within the
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green building certification
system. Grants ranging from $90,000 to $250,000 were awarded to the 13 research
teams.
The research projects selected for funding also include an open source,
searchable database to assess the impact of environmental strategies on health
care facilities and HVAC control formulas for mixed-mode buildings.
For a complete list of winning projects, visitwww.usgbc.org.
U.S. Green Building Council awards project grants
December 1, 2008
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