In recent surveys, USGBC members and building industry professionals have stressed the need for greater access to green building information and education to keep pace with new developments, gain a competitive edge, and expand their professional skills.  

"There's a lot of information out there," says Carla Hendricks, a landscape designer in Bethesda , Md , "and with the recent explosion of interest, it seems like new information becomes available every day. The industry needs a comprehensive, reputable source to keep us on the cutting edge." To address the growing demand, USGBC is launching several new initiatives this year that will increase the availability and diversity of green building trainings for everyone from industry leaders to green building novices. These include a brand new Web-based training module, additional instructor-led trainings, and the launch of Green Building University , a Web-based program designed to bring enhanced access to the best green building educa­tional programs around. These programs will be supported by USGBC's new Department of Education and Research, which was created as part of USGBC's realignment in support of its strategic goals.  

The new Educational Partner program is an effort to identify and promote top Quality training offerings to serve the broad educational needs of the green building industry and support USGBC's mission of market transformation. By partnering with qualified training providers, USGBC will greatly expand its capacity to raise the awareness of green building practices and their benefits. Furthermore, these programs will provide professional development opportunities to building design, construction, and operations professionals seeking to be leaders in this rapidly evolving industry. Peter Templeton, USGBC Vice President of Education and Research, explains, "USGBC's goal is to educate as many people as possible about the benefits and practice of green building. The audience for this knowledge is growing in both number and diversity, so to achieve our goal, we have to take advantage of the incredible expertise that already exists. Partnering with organizations who share our mission will help us to achieve that mission more quickly."  

An Educational Partner may be a USGBC chapter or any member organization that has an effective green building curriculum supporting development of professional knowledge and market transformation. USGBC's chapters, for example, offer a wealth of educational programs in their communities, and will be encouraged to become educational partners, as well as to utilize the training offerings of other educational partners for their own programming. To ensure a broad range of offerings, USGBC may also engage non-member organizations as educational partners. Partnerships will engage training programs that respond to specific educational needs in the building industry, and the programs will cover a variety of educational formats ranging from conference sessions and short courses to certificate programs and seminars.  

USGBC is also working with member companies and organizations that already deliver short continuing education programs that advance market awareness of LEED. The Educational Affiliate program recognizes member companies that provide professional continuing education credits equivalent to no more than 60 minutes of instruction for their efforts to promote awareness of green building principles and practices. To ensure the dissemination of current and accurate information regarding the LEED rating systems, USGBC will work with educational affiliates to review and maintain materials for these short training programs and presentations.  

Educational Partners and Affiliate programs together with the LEED Workshops and Greenbuild educational sessions will provide the foundation for continuing education offerings to support maintenance of LEED accreditation. USGBC is currently developing a continuing education program to promote continuous learning and ongoing professional development of LEED Accredited Professionals. The details of this program will be announced in 2006.  

To facilitate access to these and other learning opportunities, USGBC is creating Green Building University , an online resource to organize and promote green building educational offerings. This virtual university will serve as a directory of USGBC educational programs including LEED workshops, USGBC chapter programs, Greenbuild educational sessions, and training offered through USGBC Educational Partners and Affiliates. Instructor led and Web-based training programs will be featured as well as educational resources and publications. The directory will be searchable to allow users to quickly identify training programs that meet their needs by topic, date, provider, location, or continuing education program. Green Building University will enable anyone and everyone interested in green building to increase their knowledge and help speed the transformation of the marketplace to green.

This is the first in a series of articles detailing the latest news and information that was released at Greenbuild 2005. All comments are the sole responsibility of the author. 

This article was originally posted 12/6/05.