Curious about what it takes to become the greenest restaurant in the U.S.? Just ask Michael and Helen Cameron. The pair’s Uncommon Ground restaurant on W. Devon Ave. in Chicago just earned the title of most environmentally responsible eatery in the nation. Their second location in the Lakeview district came in at No. 2. The two restaurants scored points in every category of criteria to earn 4 Star certifications from the Green Restaurant Association, with a rating system covering seven major impacts: energy use, sustainable food, water, waste, disposables, chemicals and green building. The couple bought the Devon Ave. location’s building in 2007 and gave the property a comprehensive rehab, including reinforced foundation and load-bearing walls, a rooftop deck made of recycled plastic and wood composite materials, solar thermal panels, energy efficient lighting, and locally made furniture. The Camerons believe in seasonal, local food, and it doesn’t get any more local than the restaurants’ certified organic rooftop farm, which it says is the nation’s first. [Read this article]

Last year the U.S. Green Building Council, home of the LEED Rating Systems, launched a new initiative aimed at educational institutions – The Center for Green Schools. The initiative was created in order to inform educators about the benefits of sustainable, healthy and energy efficient schools. One year later the USGBC and United Technologies Corp, a founding sponsor of the initiative, have released the inaugural Best of Green Schools list. The Best of Green Schools 2011 list recognizes top performers in 10 different categories. Among the honorees: Region – Sacramento area, Higher Ed Innovator – University of Texas at Dallas, K-12 Innovation – Public-Private partnership in Illinois. In March 2011, Lake Mills Middle School in Wisconsin became the first LEED Platinum certified public school in the United States. [Read this article]

San Francisco and New York took home awards from COP17, where the World Green Building Council honored the two cities for advancing green building. The council, which announced the awards earlier this week at the climate talks in Durban, South Africa, also recognized Mexico City, Tokyo, Birmingham in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Singapore for their work supporting sustainable building. “It’s a real honor to get this award,” said Melanie Nutter, director of San Francisco’s Department of Environment. “What it speaks to is a number of years of commitment by city leaders, city agencies, businesses large and small – a range of stakeholders who have been part of coalition efforts to move the ball forward by making buildings more sustainable and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.” San Francisco received the council’s Best Green Building Policy award. The award marks the third major green building accolade for the city this year. Siemens named San Francisco the greenest city in North America in June. The same month, the Green Building Opportunity Index deemed San Francisco No. 1 among the 30 largest office markets in the U.S. for a second consecutive year. [Read this article]

The sparse city center forever immortalized in the 1980s by Miami Vice is now a mega-metropolis densely populated by condos and skyscrapers – monolithic structures of steel, concrete, and glass glistening off the waters of Biscayne Bay under the warm Florida sun. And they continue to rise, year after year. Most of these new edifices are significantly more environmentally aware then their predecessors. Downtown Miami’s sustainable practices are usually adopted by people living in the area’s more affluent neighborhoods and not by the average, middle-income-earning Miamian who lives in one of several suburban communities abutting Miami’s city limits. The city of Miami’s shift toward sustainability isn’t limited to the downtown area. Its greening efforts are supposed to spread throughout the city through plans introduced by Miami’s Office of Sustainable Initiatives, which was launched in 2006. “Over the next century, escalating greenhouse gas emissions threaten to dramatically increase the earth’s temperatures and raise sea levels, making Greater Miami one of the most vulnerable urban areas in the world,” the climate action plan states. [Read this article]