Advisory group named to CEC study on green building

Designing buildings in an environmentally conscious manner can address the consumption of energy and resources and generation of waste in commercial and residential buildings. In the United States, buildings consume an estimated 65 percent of all electricity generated, 40 percent of raw materials and generate about 30 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions; and yet green building represents only a small fraction of new construction in North America.

The CEC study, Green Building in North America: Opportunities and Challenges, will seek to encourage the growth of this important practice by profiling the current status and prospects for green building, highlighting factors behind notable successes or difficulties, and identifying the potential for environmental benefits.

The advisory group is tasked with providing advice to the Secretariat on the design and development of the report. The group is also expected to provide the Secretariat with a statement and advice on recommendations to assist the Secretariat in its development of the final report to the CEC Council, expected in the fall of 2007.

Chaired by Jonathan Westeinde of Windmill Development Group, the advisory group is a multidisciplinary body composed of distinguished experts drawn from developers and architects of green buildings, green building trade associations, financial institutions, and real estate appraisers and brokers.

They are:

• Jonathan Westeinde (Chair), Windmill Development Group (Canada)
• Anne Auger, Office of Energy Efficiency at Natural Resources Canada (Canada)
• Bob Berkebile, BNIM Architects (US)
• Peter Busby, Busby Perkins + Will (Canada)
• Guillermo Casar Marcos, Ingenieros Civiles Asociados (Mexico)
• Patricia Clarey, Health Net of California and member of the CEC Joint Public Advisory Committee
• Karen Cook, EECOM (US)
• Evangelina Hirata Nagasako, Comisión Nacional de Fomento a la Vivienda (Mexico)
• Donald R. Horn, Office of Applied Science at the US General Services Administration’s Public Buildings Service (US)
• Benoit Labonté, Borough of Ville-Marie, Montreal (Canada)
• Susan L. MacLaurin, GWL Realty Advisors (Canada)
• Juan C. Mata Sandoval, Secretaría de Energía (Mexico)
• David Morillon, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Mexico)
• Scott Muldavin, The Muldavin Company, Inc. (US)
• José Picciotto, Picciotto Architects (Mexico)
• Marlo Raynolds, Pembina Institute (Canada)
• Diane Sugimura, Department of Planning and Development, Seattle (US)
• Kaarin Taipale, Helsinki School of Economics’ Center for Knowledge and Innovation Research (Finland)
• César Ulises Treviño, Mexico City Green Building Council (Mexico)
• Robert Watson, Natural Resource Defense Council (US)

Authority for the independent study comes from Article 13 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, the environmental side accord to NAFTA. As with other reports initiated under Article 13, the green building study will include input from prominent international and national groups, sector organizations, the private sector, interested members of the public, as well as the three national governments.

- 30 -

For more information, please consult www.cec.org/greenbuilding or contact Tim Whitehouse at (514) 350-4334.