Letter from the President

At the GBI, we couldn't be happier about the recent University of Arkansas announcement that all of its new buildings and major renovations must achieve a Green Globes™ rating of two globes or the equivalent under LEED®.

When we sat down to develop the GBI's 2007 program, our goal was to build on the achievements made during our first two years and expand our areas of activity, where possible, to reach broader segments of society with practical tools such as Green Globes. 

With more than 4,000 degree-granting institutions across the country, educational outreach became an obvious priority. As building owners, universities have an opportunity to address major issues such as climate change by minimizing their environmental impact—while at the same time lowering costs, creating healthier and more comfortable environments for teachers and students, and reducing their liability exposure.  As institutes of higher learning, they also have an opportunity to influence the degree to which sustainable design practices are embraced by the next generation of architects and engineers, by incorporating the use of real world design tools in the classroom. 

The GBI is uniquely positioned to support these objectives. The Green Globes modules for New Construction and Continual Improvement of Existing Buildings are ideally suited to assessing and improving the environmental performance of our nation's schools—and are a user-friendly source of guidance for students of architecture, engineering and other building sciences. As an added benefit, we'll also take the opportunity to solicit feedback and use what we learn to continually improve the Green Globes tools.

Sincerely,

Ward Hubbell
President