Thinking Green: International Living building Institute (ILBI)

As we move forward in our industry to reshape the way we design and build we look for stepping stones to help us find our way. LEED Certified buildings are the first step. LEED is helping us understand the areas we need to concentrate on and helps with the hows. But as I stated in previous postings we need to be able to move past LEED requirements and create more sustainable building environments to reshape our surroundings.

The Living Building Challenge is a program initially launched and continues to be operated by the Cascadia Region Green Building Council www.cascadiagbc.org (a chapter of both the US Green Building Council and Canada Green Building Council) and has quickly become the most advanced green building rating system in the world.
Started by the Cascadia Building Counsel in 2006, it is comprised of 16 prerequisites and six areas of concentration. It takes LEED and pushes it to the next level. There are no points to be achieved just prerequisites. Check out my previous blog about all the details of this challenge.

The International Living Building Institute is where you can find educational forums and support on the hows of this movement. Check out their website www.ilbi.org.