"Before" - well-intentioned recyclers have added plastic wrap and other items to the bin.

I know I have been guilty of putting a plastic food containers in the plastic recycling container and hoping it’s the right thing.  The new recycling labels from the Sustainable Packing Coalition will help me, and many of our clients, recycle correctly and save money for the recycling facilities and make Elaine and Crystal’s dumpster diving adventures less adventurous. – Webly Bowles, LEED AP BD+C, Senior Consultant

Here is the "After" - sorted to remove anything not currently recyclable.

Here’s the link:   http://www.how2recycle.info/  

The Recycling Label

With some help from green trade show experts over at Boothster, GBS will be exhibiting at booth #5347S.

Principals Ralph DiNola and Elaine Aye will be speaking at the conference. Alan Scott will be recognized as an inaugural member of the LEED Fellow Program, GBCI’s new and most prestigious professional designation.

We’ll be live tweeting from the event, so be sure to follow @GBSconsulting on Twitter and look out for trending #Greenbuild.

Now, we’re excited to unveil Building Insights Training to host and manage an array of training programs including but not limited to LEED exams to earn your LEED accreditation. We’ve developed a unique approach that will help companies align their organizations and engage their staff around sustainability practices.

Special features of our new Building Insights online training site:

• Individuals can access learning at their own pace

• Corporate clients can manage content and track users performance and participation, which is especially useful in rolling out large-scale trainings and employee engagement initiatives.

• Corporate clients can also have the training sites specifically branded for their internal clients or resell training content at a minimum cost.

We decided to launch with our LEED Green Associate Exam Prep course because of its wide market appeal. If you haven’t got your credentials yet, this is a great way to help differentiate yourself in a competitive job market. We’re also adding more content and developing customized content for clients to deliver via the site and in conjunction with live training and facilitation services. Stay tuned for these upcoming trainings:

Credentialing Maintenance and Continuing Education
Individual USGBC Education Reviewing Bodies (ERB) approved courses and Complete LEED Credentialing Maintenance Program (CMP) Programs to help you meet your credential maintenance needs. We’re a proud continuing education provider for AIA, USGBC and BOMI.

Planning, Design and Construction
Courses will cover all aspects of the integrated design process for planners, architects, engineers, contractors and owners/occupants.

Operations and Maintenance
Courses will cover everything from foundational green building operations to the technical skills needed when managing resources across large portfolios.

Technical Services
Courses include commissioning, energy design simulation, and carbon emissions reduction.

Capacity Building
These trainings will be targeted to the needs of sales, operations and management staff as well as other stakeholder groups.

Major companies across the nation are getting employees involved in their sustainability programs and training is a great tool to make this happen. Interested in finding out some of the benefits? Read this piece on employee engagement from GreenBiz.com.

Check out our new website and let me know what you think!  ~ Holly Brunk, GBS Training Manager

Circus? No.. outlet shopping!

GBS has been working with a global sports and fitness retailer for more than a year to assist in growing their retail green building portfolio. Ralph and I started by conducting an assessment on their brand experience stores and one factory outlet. It was clear that their retail stores had made improvements towards using less energy and purchasing sustainable materials, but there was still more that could be implemented. The LEED framework was a useful benchmark tool to help excel their stores into green building history.

Over a year ago, Ralph and I conducted a series of trainings to help the retailer’s design, construction, and operations teams understand the importance of green building and the process of how it can be incorporated into their prototypical approach. Because the best way to learn is through immersion, we started with the newly released LEED for Retail 2009: Commercial Interiors Rating System. The design team (GBS, The Townson Company, McCall Design Group, and Hirsche Engineering) worked to develop the new prototype design by incorporating green building features into the project drawings and specifications. During construction I worked closely with the general contractor (Commercial Contractors) to review submittals and tracking logs to ensure the outlined green building parameters were being met. With all construction waste tracked, commissioning complete, fixtures installed, lighting perfectly positioned, staff trained, and merchandise waiting for the crowd, it was time to open the store.

Here I am with Kevin, welcoming the shoppers

There was no better time to open at the brand new Outlet Shoppes at Oklahoma City than on tax-free weekend in Oklahoma. All hands were on deck to complete the shopping center and the surrounding stores for last Friday’s opening Oklahomans even lined up the night before to be the first to experience this new shopping center. As for LEED certification, the new factory store is expected to achieve LEED for Retail 2009: Commercial Interiors Gold certification with 70 points! This is the retailer’s first LEED Gold store. What a great way to kick off the company’s future 15 anticipated LEED-certified stores across North America in the next few years!

Here are some details that helped the global sports and fitness retailer’s factory outlet store in Oklahoma City obtain LEED Gold:

• 100% wind power RECs purchased

• 91% ENERGY STAR-rated equipment and appliances

• 89.5% of construction waste was recycled (by weight)

• 54% of wood is FSC-certified (by cost)

• 45% lighting energy-use reduction

• 33% water-use reduction

• Low- / No-VOC paints, coatings, adhesives, and sealants used throughout

• Mercury-free LED lighting