Federal Links

• FedCenter.gov is “the Federal government's home for comprehensive environmental stewardship and compliance assistance information.” http://www.fedcenter.gov/
  
  Architecture students: Research Federal environmental compliance programs and policies, green building design, and national sustainability programs.
  
  
• An overview of the Interior Department’s sustainability practices. http://www.doi.gov/greening/sustain/index.html
  
  Architecture students: Find information on conserving energy and water in buildings and facilities (“green office practices”), ideas for environmental education and promotion efforts, innovative solutions to environmental justice issues, and project examples.
  
  
• The “sustainable buildings” section of the Office of the Federal Environment Executive (OFEE) website. Highlights this government office’s considerable efforts in the area of green design, and includes links to reports, design initiatives, resources and events. http://www.ofee.gov/sb/sb.htm
  
  Architecture students: Learn about the construction and operations of sustainable buildings, their effects on ecosystems, challenges to indoor environments, and what the Federal government has done to create healthier and more resource efficient models of construction, renovation, operation, maintenance, and demolition.
  
  
  
  
• The Information Bridge, under the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), can be used to search full text documents and bibliographic citations to DOE’s research report literature. Coverage: 1994 – present. http://www.osti.gov/bridge/
  
  Architecture students: This site can be used for researching full text resources on topics such as environmental sciences and renewable energy.
  
  
  
  
  
• The Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (DOE) site provides links to resources from several DOE environmental programs such as Biomass, Building Technologies, and Federal Energy Management. http://www.eere.energy.gov/
  
  Architecture students: Find ideas for energy-related projects and resources for assignments on energy topics. Also search information on energy-related internships and job listings.
  
  
  
  
  
• Many Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) programs support the goal of achieving sustainable outcomes. This website provides access to many of them, arranged by categories of the Built Environment; Water, Ecosystems and Agriculture; Energy and the Environment; and Materials and Toxics. http://www.epa.gov/sustainability/
  
  Architecture students: To assist you in researching environmental sustainability, each of the categories listed above contain sections on programs & policies, research tools & technologies, and assessments & performance measures.
  
  
  
  
  
• Environmental innovation initiatives from the EPA http://www.epa.gov/innovation/index.htm
  
  Architecture students: This site provides a variety of resources to encourage innovation in environmental development. Find links to creative environmental practices evolving in the U.S., in the private sector, EPA programs, and in other governmental and non-governmental institutions.
  
  
  
  
• The National Science Foundation’s Environmental Sustainability program supports engineering research on ecological protection and maintaining stable economic conditions. This site provides information for research grant proposals in the four areas of green engineering, industrial ecology, ecological engineering and earth systems engineering. http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=501027
  
  Architecture students: Individuals interested in funding opportunities for research and education grants and training projects can find detailed information on programs that specifically target graduate or undergraduate students.
  
  
  
  

State and City Links

• California’s Division of the State Architect’s sustainability resource pages
  http://www.sustainableschools.dgs.ca.gov/SustainableSchools/introduction.html
  
  Architecture students: Explore this site for detailed information on planning, designing and constructing sustainable schools. Sustainable building practices described here incorporate nature's "free" services (wind, sun, thermal properties, greenhouse principles, light, etc.) to create a high quality indoor environment. Links to case studies and “high performance” K-12 and higher education facilities projects are also provided.
  
  
  
• Sustainability links from the Washington State Department of Ecology
  http://www.ecy.wa.gov/sustainability/links.htm
  
  Architecture students: If you are researching sustainability, this site contains an impressive number of links to regional and national electronic resources. It is broken into categories such as sustainable business and economies, building, think tanks, communities, agriculture, and government & education.
  
  
  
• “Green Building is Smart Business in Albuquerque” The information on this site is designed to provide information on making Albuquerque a sustainable city. It has many projects and ideas that could be utilized by any city committed to a healthy environment.http://www.cabq.gov/sustainability/green-goals/green-building
  
  Architecture students: Many green building issues are highlighted here. The city of Albuquerque outlines their “green goals” and how they are working toward becoming a sustainable city. Specific solutions and programs are offered for alternative transportation & fuels, clean air & water, recycling, and green building initiatives.
  
  
  
• New York City Mayor’s Office of Environmental Coordination. Site contains information on environmental review (CEQR), brownfields, and green buildings. http://www.nyc.gov/html/oec/html/home/home.shtml
  
  Architecture students: Find information on green building guidelines for schools (New York City), NYC Green Building Design Competition winners, other project ideas, and grant opportunities. The details of implementing green building laws and standards provide a good example for supporting assignments in subject areas relating to sustainable architecture and construction.
  
  
  
• The resource page for the City of Seattle’s Office of Sustainability and Environment
  http://seattle.gov/environment/building.htm
  
  Architecture students: This site offers a detailed description of a forum held in 2004 described as a “Regional Forum on Sustainable Infrastructure: Sustainable Streets and Streetscapes.” Representatives from Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland met to increase awareness of sustainable infrastructure activities and programs in the three cities and to discuss major technical and implementation issues about sustainable streets and streetscapes in urban areas. The findings, program descriptions and ideas on this site could be used as a model for planning projects in many architecture studies areas such as urban planning and landscape architecture.
  

Statistics

• FedStats provides topic links from A to Z, a statistical reference shelf, links to agencies by subject, and more. http://www.fedstats.gov/
  
  Architecture students: This comprehensive statistics site is produced by the federal government, and can be used to gather data to support research in many subjects related to architecture. Using the drop-down menu under “Agencies by subject” you may select a broad subject area such as demographics, energy or environment to link to agency pages with descriptions of the types of data they publish and links to specific statistical reports.
  
  
  
• Full text access for the most recent and earlier editions of the Statistical Abstract of the United States. Note sections on Solar and Renewable Energy and also Geography & Environment. http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/
  
  Architecture students: The Statistical Abstract of the U.S. is a widely used authoritative reference source published by the Census Bureau. It contains current and historical statistics gathered from many federal agencies on a wide variety of topics. An example of using the Stat Abstract’s data tables to enhance an architecture-related research report or project might include providing construction and/or population and/or crime statistics over a span of time to illustrate growth in a specific geographic area.
  
  
  
• A statistical summary of buildings and the environment compiled by the EPA’s Green Building Workgroup, 2004 http://epa.gov/greenbuilding/pubs/gbstats.pdf
  
  Architecture students: This report provides an overview of the significant environmental impact of buildings and development on our society. It has many statistics that summarize the basic facts and through the footnotes, gives links to the sources of this statistical information to provide further detail and context. Some of the useful sections of the report include buildings, indoor environment, water, waste, and energy statistics.
  
  

Other Links

• This is the home page for the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), a non-profit organization with the mission of transforming the building industry to sustainability. http://www.usgbc.org/
  
  Architecture students: “The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a non-profit composed of leaders from every sector of the building industry working to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work.” This site contains a wealth of knowledge about green building education, programs, resources, and USGBC chapters. It also includes information on the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™, described as “the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings.”
  
  Current documents from The Center for Sustainable Systems, University of Michigan on sustainable architecture. http://www.umich.edu/~nppcpub/resources/compendia/architecture.html
  
  Architecture students: Descriptions and full text documents of sustainability architecture modules are provided on this site. They include introductory materials, recycling, sustainable design, building materials and case studies. Other useful resources include selected readings, annotated bibliographies, reports, and links to sustainable architecture educational online resources.