Welcome and First Discussion Topic

[Second Nature]

Welcome to the Advancing Green Building discussion group!

This group currently consists of around 35 participants, including
leaders from colleges and universities, experts from the green
building industry as well as professionals working in the field of
sustainability. The mission of this group is to encourage sharing of
knowledge and resources as we explore the issues and challenges faced
by higher education institutions, especially under-resourced colleges
and universities, while building green on their campuses.

We would like to thank you for joining this group, and look forward to
your active participation on this discussion forum.

Let us open the discussion by addressing the challenges faced by the
under-resourced colleges and universities in their green building
efforts.

Second Nature interviewed representatives from a number of these
colleges and universities, and found the following to be some of the
primary challenges:

1. Isolation from higher education institutions with green building
projects,
2. Misconception about the cost and quality of green buildings,
3. Costly learning curve due to lack of internal expertise and
experienced consultants,
4. Problems with implementing the LEED certification system, and
5. Underperforming buildings that are not reaching expected water and
energy savings.

What tools and resources have helped your institution overcome some of
these challenges?
Also, are there any other challenges that you would like the group to
discuss?

Please reply to this message to send a response to the entire group.