Yudelson J. - Reinventing Green Building: Why Certification Systems Arent Working and What We Can Do About It

Advance Praise for Reinventing Green Building

After single-handedly giving us a whole library of excellent books on green building, Jerry Yudelson has delivered his masterwork. If youre going to read one book about what the green building movement must do to address climate change, Reinventing Green Building should be your choice.

Robert Cassidy, Executive Editor, Building Design & Construction

Reinventing Green Building offers critical and candid research to illustrate the successes and shortcomings of certification models. He challenges the new professional leaders to re-conceptualize technological solutions to further the revolution that is needed to outpace the direction of the built environment.

Alison G. Kwok, PhD, Professor of Architecture,
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR

Jerry Yudelson is eminently qualified to write this book. What he has to say is always interesting, often provocative and worth reading.

Michael Deane, LEED Fellow;
Vice President, Chief Sustainability Officer,
Turner Construction Company, New York, NY

Jerry Yudelson promotes a new approach to sustainability for the 99%. Jerrys strategy is to cut through the bureaucracy and expense of the current rating systems, and to push for simple and profound change.

Steven A. Straus, PE, CEO, Glumac, Los Angeles, CA

If the 1968 publication of the The Whole Earth Catalogue was the birth of the environmental movement, then the challenge posed by Jerry Yudelson in this hard-hitting and clear-minded book is the maturing of global sustainability into adulthood. Bravo Jerry!

Jonah Cohen, AIA, Principal, Hacker architects, Portland, OR

With wit and courage, Jerry makes a clear-eyed assessment of the flaws of the current sustainable certification systems and lays out pragmatic and inspirational strategies to help us all achieve a better world.

Bob Shemwell, FAIA, Principal, Overland, San Antonio, TX

In his latest book, Jerry Yudelson lays out a clear case for why a new approach is needed, and presents a practical, well-researched and intelligent path to unlock this potential and generate the results we all strive for.

Alan Scott, FAIA, LEED Fellow, Director, YR&G, Portland, OR

Sustainable architecture, which today has a high degree of complexity, is not a closed concept but is in a state of continuous development. In his present book, Jerry Yudelson formulates inspiring new ideas on how we have to act to achieve better sustainable results.

Christoph Ingenhoven, Ingenhoven Architects, Dsseldorf, Germany

Jerry says: Owners feel that if youre smart enough to be hired to design a building and youre certified as a LEED specialist, you should be smart enough to document their project and give it a final certification. So do I! I couldnt agree more!

Richard J. Mitchell, AIA, LEED AP BD+C,
Managing Principal, MACKENZIE, Portland, OR

Either the green building movement will become more successful soon or it will be considered a failure in retrospective. In this context Jerry Yudelsons new book is a great step into this direction; its a must read for everyone who agrees that the built environment must change radically.

Thomas Auer, Dipl.-Ing., Founding Partner, Transsolar, Stuttgart, Germany

Our fragmented building industry would be well-served by this book which cuts to the chase on challenges confronting the whole business of building delivery and offers an optimistic and pragmatic path.

Khee Poh Lam, PhD, Professor of Architecture,
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

Reinventing Green Building is unique among the hundreds of books about green building. This book asks questions and postulates opportunities for dramatic changes to green building certifications. The timing of this book could not have been better. Weve hit the wall.

Nathan Good, FAIA, Principal, Nathan Good Architects, Salem, OR

Once again Jerry has looked around the corner for us and has the direction we are heading, and it isnt always pretty. A world scout in the truest sense of the word, he sees the hazards ahead and creates the necessary markings for a new trail.

Christian Klehm, LEED Fellow, President,
Energy & Environmental Solutions, Pittsburgh, PA

Jerry knows we must transform the building industry to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. This book makes a strong case for that transition and provides a vision of next-gen green building.

Mark Wilhelm, Corporate Director, Sustainability and Climate Neutrality
Initiatives, Ameresco, Inc., Phoenix, AZ

Finally, a book that doesnt just tell us how green building ratings are broken, but actually offers real solutions!

Lawrence (Larry) Clark, GGP, LEED AP, Principal,
Sustainable Performance Solutions, Miami, FL

Jerry Yudelson continues to exhibit a great understanding of the pulse of sustainable design in the built environment. This new contribution will propel the dialog beyond its current entrenchment. Reinventing Green Buildings will jump-start the industry to look ahead.

Ronald van der Veen, AIA, LEED AP, Principal,
NAC Architecture, Seattle, WA

Reinventing Green Building offers critical and straightforward research to demonstrate the accomplishments and deficiencies of certification models. With his analysis, Yudelson challenges the new professional leaders to re-conceptualize technological solutions.

Thomas Spiegelhalter, Professor of Architecture,
Florida International University, Miami, FL
and Spiegelhalter Architects, Freiburg, Germany

Jerrys ideas in this book are spot-on about disrupting the status quo with a sensible building rating system based on a simple-to-comprehend formula of KPIs driven by smart building technology and data analytics.

Brad Miller LEED AP BD+C and EBO+M, GGP, GHG-IQ, CDT
President, Environmental Concepts Company, Inc., Irvine, CA

I agree with Jerrys thesis that we need to dramatically improve our utilization of technology and innovative workflows to simplify the deployment of sustainable solutions into the built environment.

Paul Shahriari, CEO/Founder, ecomedes.com, Atlanta, GA

Through this book Jerry builds a fact-based case on why green building should be the rule rather then the exception, how we can simplify the pathway to get there using new and updated technologies. Simply put, it is a literary masterpiece!

Beth Holst, former VP Credentialing and Strategic Alliances/
Business Partners for Green Building Certification Institute
and US Green Building Council, Washington, DC.

Jerry Yudelson, a true champion of sustainability, proposes to expand green building certification to 25-percent far above the one-percent achieved by LEED using an approach that we should adopt immediately.

Hernando Miranda, PE, Principal, Soltierra, Inc., Dana Point, CA

Green certifications have arguably fallen short of their promise to transform the real estate industry. Casting a fresh eye on the green building movement, he proposes a smart, simple and sustainable approach to steer us back on course quickly and cost effectively.

Jiri Skopek, Managing Director, Sustainability,
Jones Lang LaSalle, Chicago, IL

By highlighting issues and identifying solutions, this book will accelerate the conversation to help increase adoption of green building strategies.

Kelsey Mullen, former director,
LEED for Homes Multifamily Program, Carlsbad, CA

Bringing together the importance of green buildings and the technological challenge with the Internet of Things and big data analytics, Jerry is way ahead of his time. The book is vital to press the reset button and start rethinking of how sustainability can be really integrated into the real estate business.

Dagmar Hotze, Sustainability Video-journalist, Hamburg, Germany