The Pittsburgh Green Building Alliance and its partners are sponsoring a series of educational workshops, breakfasts and other events this fall to promote awareness of green buildling techniques with homeowners, contractors and building owners.

Here’s a quick rundown on some of the upcoming events;

August 25 - The Green Scene for Homeowners: Landscapes and Exteriors. The Green Building Alliance and Community Design Center of Pittsburgh have teamed up to offer this first-ever GBA series geared to the residential market. Homeowners will learn how to apply good design and green building principles to home renovation projects. This second program in the series features the principles of environmental site design and the importance of maintaining a good exterior to your home. The featured speaker will be Christine Mondor of Evolve EA. Cost: $15 for GBA members; $20 for nonmembers

Location: Construction Junction, 214 N. Lexington St., Pittsburgh, PA 15208

September 15 - The Green Scene for Homeowners: Reducing Your Bill$. The Green Building Alliance and Community Design Center of Pittsburgh have teamed up to offer this first-ever series geared to the residential market. This third program features representatives from Conservation Consultants, Inc., who will offer money-saving tips to reduce energy and water bills. Cost: $15 for GBA members; $20 for nonmembers

Location: Construction Junction, 214 N. Lexington St., Pittsburgh, PA 15208

September 18 - Technical Workshop: LEED for General Contractors & Construction Managers. This daylong workshop created by the U.S. Green Building Council is geared to design, construction and operations professionals who want to build on their existing knowledge of LEED through in-depth instruction on the integrated design process. Faculty will share insights and lead individual and team exercises on the certification process, including conducting charrettes, estimating costs and preparing documentation. Attendees should have previously completed a Technical Review workshop or have equivalent knowledge of the LEED Rating System. Location: DEP Cambria Office, 286 Industrial Park Road, Ebensburg, PA 15931

September 26 - Alliance Building Breakfast: LEED for Neighborhood Development. In the fourth of five Alliance Building Breakfasts this year, GBA will introduce the long-awaited, newest LEED rating system: LEED for Neighborhood Development. Unlike other LEED products, LEED-ND takes a step back from individual buildings and assigns a system to rate master-planned neighborhoods.

LEED-ND integrates the principles of smart growth, urbanism and green building into the first national standard for neighborhood design. LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a development's location and design meet accepted high standards for environmentally responsible and sustainable development. LEED-ND is a collaboration between the U.S. Green Building Council, the Congress for the New Urbanism and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Location: Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.

A registration form for all these events is aviable online. For more information generally, visit the Pittsburgh Green Building Alliance website.

8/3/2007