Blog

USGBC-CA Editor’s Note:  Welcome to 2026 and to our blog! We are eager to hear your insights and thought leadership that will inspire our collective audience, our community. And please read and engage with our authors! So let’s kick it off with this contribution from BREEAM, and email julie@usgbc-ca.org if you have a proposed post! The real […]

Across the globe, data centers are rising at an unprecedented rate, and with them, a powerful opportunity to rethink how we build, operate, and renew the digital infrastructure that drives our world. The scale of this build-out is staggering: the global data-center construction market is expected to nearly double from $240.97 billion in 2024 to […]

Smart, clean construction technology is transforming the industry—and CORE incentives can help you lead the way. The construction industry is entering a new era, one defined by innovation, sustainability, and smarter technology. As infrastructure demands grow and environmental regulations tighten, the need for cleaner, more efficient equipment is no longer a distant goal; it’s a […]

*If you are attending the Greenbuild International Conference & Expo next week, see below for Monday tour. Our Buildings Are Using Too Much Water In 2015, a 60-year-old cast iron water main burst in Lafayette, CA causing significant flooding and left residents without water. In 2018, a water main ruptured in Hayward, CA creating a […]

A New Law and a New Window for Action Signed into law on July 4, 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) introduces the most consequential federal policy shifts we’ve seen in years for commercial solar and battery storage projects. While the long-term goal is to stabilize and strengthen clean energy deployment across the […]

The California 2025 Title 24, Part 6 update marks a significant pivot toward decarbonization, electrification, and whole-lifecycle energy thinking. Examples of this transition include replacing the established energy metric of Time Dependent Value “TDV” with Long-Term System Cost “LSC,” tightening electrification requirements, embedding photo-voltaic “PV” combined with battery energy storage systems “BESS,” and enforcing smarter controls. With […]

This home, ZEROHOUZ, recently received a design award from AIA Los Angeles, for its’ “quiet radicalism” in Climate Positive design. Catch architect and homeowner Avideh Haghighi speak about it at the upcoming Net Zero Conference in Los Angeles, on Oct. 1st at 11:45 am, titled “Breaking Through Barriers: Cost-Effective Strategies for Electrifying Existing Homes & […]

Home is where health begins, the place we spend most of our lives. It’s where we seek refuge after long days, nurture our families and find comfort in the spaces that hold our most meaningful memories. Our homes are sanctuaries where healing, connection and well-being take root. Yet too often, the places we live are […]

We all know water is essential for life and economic growth, but the truth is we often treat it like it’s limitless. This “undervaluation” of water for so long has created a bigger and bigger problem that is now coming home. We have not been doing enough to save it, not encouraging enough innovation, and […]

The climate crisis isn’t arriving quietly. In 2024, the U.S. experienced 27 billion-dollar climate and weather disasters, just behind the record-setting 28 in 2023. Over the past three years, the annual average number of billion-dollar disasters has surged to 24.3, nearly triple the long-term average of 9 per year since 1980. Beyond reshaping how we […]

Energy efficiency, water conservation, and green building materials have long been at the forefront of corporate attempts to reduce environmental impact; however, sustainable foodservice is also a critical factor in reducing emissions—and addressing it is easier than you think. Globally, food is estimated to account for about 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, with the […]

I recently attended the Sustainability Delivery Summit in Chicago, and one theme came up again and again: language. As policies shift and public discourse evolves, we are compelled to revise the words we use to describe sustainability. Attendees asked interesting questions like: What terminology is appropriate now? What language resonates—or alienates—in today’s landscape? How should […]