The Sustainable Buildings Industry Council presented its 7th annual High Performance Building Awards in mid-January. The SBIC recognized buildings and initiatives that the nonprofit council considered “Beyond Green.” Winning projects were chosen not only for their real-world application of green design and construction but also because they can play an inspirational role in spurring green thinking in the larger building market. (The SBIC is one of many organizations focused on green building. Read this blog about the U.S. Green Building Council’s new green-home certification program for residential housing.)

Here’s a rundown of the three recipients of first-place awards:
• SmithGroup, Inc., an architectural, engineering, and design firm with offices nationwide, earned a first-place prize for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Molecular Foundry. This 96,000-square-foot facility (shown), part of the U.S. Department of Energy, is estimated to be 35 percent more energy efficient than a comparably sized conventional building. Its sustainable features include native landscaping, efficient irrigation, and high-efficiency lighting and windows. These award-winning features also helped it to achieve a LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

• The Rocky Mountain Institute, a Colorado-based nonprofit organization active in sustainable design, won for its High Performance Building Perspectives & Practice initiative, through which it shows clients, such as Wal-Mart, how to use energy and resource efficiency to their advantage.

• The Athena Institute, a nonprofit with offices in the United States and Canada, merited a first-place prize for its EcoCalculator. The calculator was designed to help building professionals evaluate the environmental impacts of buildings, also known as life-cycle assessment, or LCA. The LCA can be applied to new construction projects, retrofits, and major renovations for industrial, institutional, or residential designs.

Other 2007 SBIC award winners include the Bronx Library Center, in New York City; the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, in Pittsburgh; and the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection’s Green Construction Guide.

Essential information: To learn more about green building, visit the SBIC Web site and GreenerChoices.org, the free environmental Web site published by Consumers Union.