Elkhart, Indiana- The United States Green Building Council has awarded LEED Gold Certification to the AMBS Library. A June 4 celebration provided an opportunity for the seminary community to mark the final facet of the project which began with planning in 2004. Construction was completed in 2007, so the library could be ready to welcome students at the start of the 2007–2008 school year.

Honored in the event were librarian Eileen Saner, who had the initial vision to make the building a green building; and The Troyer Group of Mishawaka, Ind., the architectural firm; and DJ Construction of Goshen, the general contractor. Other key participants in the project were Primera Engineers of Chicago, and Marcus Sheffer of 7group, who led the green building design process.

Some of the key features included in the building are:

• A geothermal ground-source heating and cooling system.
• Triple-pane windows and efficient insulation reduce energy needed for heating and cooling.
• Carefully designed windows, including north-facing clerestories use daylight effectively and reduce use of interior lighting.
• Daylight sensors dim electric lights according to how much daylight is available.
• Building materials come from the region rather than being transported long distances. Cherry trees, already harvested from a nearby area, were used for 7,041 board feet of trim and 500 square yards of paneling.
• Rain gardens next to the building retain water runoff from the roof rather than sending it through city storm drains.
• Restored prairie grasses near the building minimize time and fuel spent on mowing.
• Paints, adhesives and fabrics that do not emit fumes keep the interior atmosphere healthy.

More information: www.ambs.edu/news-and-publications/events-and-news/certification

University Park, Pennsylvania- Liquid Assets: The Story of Our Water Infrastructure, is the winner of the American Association of Engineering Societies 2009 Engineering Journalism Award. The documentary focuses on America’s aging water infrastructure systems. Produced by Penn State Public Broadcasting, the project architect and executive producer is Tom Keiter, Director of Creative Development at PSPB and 7group partner.

The AAES Engineering Journalism Award recognizes outstanding reporting of an event or issue that furthers public understanding of engineering. Each year, one award is presented in one of three categories: daily newspapers, general circulation print media, or broadcast radio or television. Past Recipients of the AAES Award include the Washington Post, Fortune Magazine, Time-Warner, and the Chicago Tribune.

Liquid Assets, an integrated public broadcasting and outreach initiative, debuted in October 2008 and has aired on public television stations across the country. The program explores our complex and aging water systems – some which have been in the ground for more than 150 years. The documentary has been broadcast over 1,000 times on over 350 PBS stations coordinated with hundreds of community public screening and outreach events; over 15,000 free DVD copies have been distributed nationwide with copies requested for members of the U.S. Congress and Senate. You can watch the documentary’s trailer and learn about outreach activities associated with the show at liquidassets.psu.edu.

Penn State Public Broadcasting is committed to the concept of public service media: developing non-commercial programming on important societal issues and helping to foster community discussions in concurrence with the broadcast. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Keiter, a 7group partner, has been a documentary filmmaker for 25+ years and now focuses his work on issues of sustainability and green building. In addition to his role at Penn State, Keiter maintains groupPositive, a communications consulting group that has produced numerous projects on green building including the Building Green videos utilized in USGBC’s LEED training, This Remarkable Place, produced for the Heinz Endowments and the Green Building Alliance, and High Performance Buildings: Perspective and Practice with the Rocky Mountain Institute. His work has received national recognition from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (Emmys), CINE Golden Eagle, the International Film and Video Festival, and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

Kutztown, Pennsylvania- 7group’s John Boecker today announced that Scot Horst has resigned as president of the nationally known green building consultancy 7group to join the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) as its senior vice president for LEED.

“For anyone else, shifting from the private sector to the non-profit sector for a period of time might be surprising, but in many ways it’s quintessential Scot,” said Boecker. “Truth be told, 7group has long been more of an advocacy organization for improving the health of place than a traditional green building consultancy, due in large part to how Scot, and all of us at 7group have chosen to conduct our business and focus our efforts. Scot’s simply taking a logical next step in this phase of his mission-driven career. He’ll be missed in his role with 7group, but we’re all very excited about the leadership he’ll bring to the long-term vision of the LEED green building program, which is something every single person in the building industry should care deeply about. His clarity of vision, technical expertise, relationship-building skills, and uncanny way of aligning people around common purpose is a special gift – one from which everyone involved in green building will benefit.”

Horst is widely recognized as one of the key leaders of the sustainable design movement. He established his own firm, Horst, Inc., a sustainable materials consulting firm, in 1994, then in 1999 served as a founding partner of 7group, a cohesive team that serves the sustainability consultation needs of owners, developers, designers, contractors and product manufacturers. He is also president of Athena Institute International, a non-profit organization committed to the evaluation of environmental impacts of buildings through life cycle assessment. Scot will also be stepping down as a director and officer of the Athena Institute International. His employees at Horst, Inc., have started their own company and will continue their work through 7group and Athena.

Since 2005, Scot has served as chair of the USGBC’s LEED Steering Committee, the body that has principal responsibility for developing and implementing LEED, both in the U.S. and internationally. LEED is the nationally accepted benchmark for green building design, construction, operations and maintenance. For this work, he is the 2008 recipient of the USGBC’s Leadership Award in the LEED category.

Horst is a LEED AP, former LEED faculty member, and has been a contributing author to LEED reference guides. He is one of the 7group authors of The Integrative Design Guide to Green Building: Redefining the Practice of Sustainability, due out in April. He is a sought-after speaker and a frequently interviewed expert on all aspects of green building and its intersection with humanity.

“This is a very important time in our history as a country and as an organization,” Horst said. “This new role is a great opportunity to help create a built environment that heals rather than harms.”