Green building is about building better buildings — better and healthier for the occupants, better and less expensive for the owners and operators, better and less demanding of the environment. In part because it just makes sense, green building is rapidly entering the mainstream.
In Northeast Ohio, more and more new buildings are "green" in some significant way. This section will track the progress. Let us know if you'd like to add a page about your project. (A more complete directory of local green buildings is maintained by the Cleveland Green Building Coalition.)
Local resources
- Affordable Green Housing Center of Environmental Health Watch
- Northeast Ohio Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council
- EcoCity Cleveland web resources on green building
- Cleveland deconstruction study (pdf)
- CMHA goes green, estimates $4M savings
- Cleveland State University's High Performance Building Technology Initiative
- LCCC's LEED Silver Entrepreneurship Innovation Center
- A green convention center for Cleveland?
State resources
- Office of Energy Efficiency at the Ohio Department of Development has a list of certified HERS (Home Energy Rating System) raters who do energy audits. Contact Tim Lenehan (614) 466-8434.
- Ohio Department of Natural Resources 2003 Waste Characterization study (6MB)
National resources
Home
Office
- E4S Top Ten characteristics of a sustainable office
Local Resources
jeffreybowen Says:www.clevelandhabitat.org
contractor recycling
p.j. doran Says:recently, i found that contractors in portland, oregon are responsible for separating recycleables (plastics, cardboard, lumber and gypsum board) on jobs within a specific price range- i believe it is 50,000 and over. i'm curious as to what it would take to get a program like that running in ohio.for the last 10 years, i have worked on the restoration of homes and buildings and have pulled a fair share of recycleables out of trash piles and have separated and taken said items to recycling. it is extremely sad to see the waste that comes from construction projects knowing that probably 75% of that waste could have been recycled and saved from a landfill. now multiply the project i'm invlved in times the number of consruction projects going on daily- that's ALOT of unnecesary waste. it wasn't until recently that i found out gypsum board (drywall) is recycleable. there is machinery specifically made to reclaim not only the gypsum powder, but the paper backer, too. drywall scraps account for a large portion of overall waste, especially in new construction. just google gypsum board recycling and learn all the facts. if an incentave coulod be made for contractors to recycle, i wonder if any would climb aboard the green wagon? someone would also have to assume responsibility of buying nthe machinery to recycle the product...... any takers?
construction/deconstruction recycling
Susan Miller Says:The Restore at Cleveland Habitat for Humanity reuses and recycles many construction materials Cleveland Habitat Restore.
Other resources for deconstruction and construction waster recyclers and initiatives are listed below:
Cuyahoga Solid Waste District Construction Materials
Cuyahoga Solid Waste District
Excel Download of Recyclers list
This list does not mention gyp board, but you might email Thomas Meyer at Habitat as he has a handle on all the construction materials they recycle or email Chris Kious at St Clair Superior as he is involved in deconstruction discussions in the region or email the Green Building Coalition
Sad not to reuse or recycle, yes, but it is also included in fees for most tear down companies that they will resell the metals, bricks, etc rather than pay the tipping fees of putting this stuff in a landfill. There is much discussion going on regrading deconstruction and construction waste management in Northeast Ohio. It is difficult to get all constrcution sites on the same page as there are so many people working in the industry. Beyond that there is the education communication process for individual homeowners who clean their garages and throw away many recyclables. Where I live in Cleveland Heights, if we put out something on the tree lawn that might be recyclable, we hope that the scrappers will take advantage of it for a day before we rescue it and take it ourselves to the Restore or to Habitat. Cleveland's scrappers are industrious. Check out this post for a business idea.
construstion recycling
p.j. doran Says:thanks for the info about habitat, i've actually used the re-store quite a bit and find it to be a useful source for the drop-off of certain materials and also the re-use of many items... most of the recycling problems i personally encounter are with plastics packaging (most of wich are NOT recycleable) and cardboard packaging(most of wich ARE recycleable). i will also check out the availability of gypsum board recycling in the area. thanks again for the info...
Cleveland Heights expands recycling
Marc Lefkowitz Says:I'm not sure if other cities in the area are jumping on this, but Cleveland Heights recently announced it has expanded pick-up of plastic consumer products like pop bottles and take-out containers that have #4,5, and #6 stamped on them.
Does anyone know if other cities do this too?
building green in NYC
Susan Miller Says:7 World Trade Center and Hearst Building: New York's test cases for environmentally aware office towers.
With all the new development around University Circle, which new developments will be green buildings? Hmm… Maybe the West Quad, MOCA, CIA’s new ARTY APTS? With health the focus of the massive building projects being undertaken by Cleveland Clinic Foundation, which of them are green buildings?
Jeff Buster poses questions about Gehry/Lewis collaboration at Case here.
It is an interesting discussion about concern for aesthetics vs. concern for the environment as they relate to architecture. Can it be green and beautiful and affordable simultaneously? And, a pressing question -- when will Cleveland get its big, newsworthy, new and fancy green building that will attract the public? Offices are one thing, but a museum, a theater; a gathering place is entirely different from a media standpoint.
With all that glass, will the CMA be able to afford to heat and cool the lobby of their new building re-design? Maybe they have a green plan for said challenge. If so, they might do well to suggest it to the media. It could reassure the art-loving public that museum goers will not be footing that gas bill with admission fees in the future.