4/26/2010
We are often asked what it takes to acheive a Platinum LEED rating.  Recently Kelly Karmel was asked to give a presentation on this topic as part of Architecture Week for AIA Spokane.  She featured two of the firms LEED Platinum projects:  Missoula Federal Credit Union and the Council Tree Library.  The presentation gave examples of the successful strategies, which credits were awarded, and many photos of the beautiful result.  You can download her presentation here. Achieving_LEED_Platinum.pdf

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5/3/2010
The US Green Building Council announced the start of the Building Performance Initiative (BPI) late last year to enable ongoing assessment of energy and water efficiency for LEED projects.  Any LEED project can participate in BPI, though participattion is required for LEED 2009 projects under the new Minimum Project Requirements for all LEED 2009 programs. 

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5/24/2010
We recently attended the Living Building Road Show as part of our on-going education about the Living Building Challenge program.  One of the imperatives of the program is to exclude materials and chemicals that should be phased out of production due to health and toxicity concerns in the opinion of the Cascadia Green Building Council and Living Building Challenge developers.

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