USGBC Releases Research Agenda

In March 2007, the Research Committee of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) released a report finding that only 0.2% of federally funded research, about $193 million per year, is aimed at green building topics; USGBC then committed $1 million to green building research in June 2007 (see

EBN

Vol. 16, No. 6). In November 2007, the Research Committee (of which

EBN executive editor Alex Wilson is a member) released its

National Green Building Research Agenda, which lays out priorities for research that will advance building performance and market transformation. The agenda outlines four major areas of research: delivery process and performance evaluation; integrated building systems; buildings’ interactions with local environments; and buildings’ interactions with occupants. Along with its goal of guiding federal funding for green building research, the agenda will also guide the distribution of USGBC’s own research money, which will be distributed after USGBC issues a request for proposals in January 2008. The agenda can be downloaded from www.usgbc.org, under the “resources” heading.