New Building Simulation Plug-In for Google SketchUp: Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES), developer of software-based building performance analysis tools, is releasing a free plug-in to Google SketchUp and SketchUp Pro that allows users to run sustainability performance simulations and analyses on building designs. Once downloaded, the IES Toolbar resides in SketchUp and provides free direct access to IES’s VE-Ware, VE-Toolkits, and the full Virtual Environment application. Designers can run performance simulations on different design iterations to determine which building properties achieve the best results.
Green Education for D.C.-area Construction Workers: The Green Builders Council of DC in partnership with the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) have launched the first green-collar job-training curriculum for the Washington, D.C.-area construction industry. Its goal is to train construction workers and career and technical education students entering the district’s construction trades programs in environmentally sensitive construction methods and the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED green building rating system. Those completing the curriculum will earn industry-recognized credentials. The curriculum will be taught by NCCER-accredited training sponsors, including the Cardozo Senior High School Academy of Construction & Design.
EPA Launches WaterSense New Homes Pilot Program: Five home builders from around the United States are participating in the EPA’s WaterSense New Homes Pilot Program: Anderson Homes of Raleigh and Chapel Hill, N.C.; Aspen Homes of Windsor, Colo.; Cleantech Homes of Beverly, Mass.; Dorn Homes of Tubac, Ariz.; and Tim O’Brien Homes of Waukesha, Wis. They have committed to build and certify 35 to 50 new homes designed to meet the draft specification for water-efficient new homes by 2009 to demonstrate the benefits of WaterSense-labeled products and to test the process for inspecting and certifying new homes under the WaterSense New Homes program. WaterSense-labeled homes will be designed to be at least 20 percent more water-efficient than similar new homes built today, saving more than 10,000 gallons of water per year. The results of the pilot program will shape the final Water-Efficient Single-Family New Homes specification. For more information visit www.epa.gov/watersense/specs/homes.htm.
