Green Built Alliance

06/06/2026

" The numbers are striking. Twelve social housing apartments across three floors, 800 square meters of living space — all printed on-site in just 34 days, down from an originally planned 50. That alone would be a headline. But what makes ViliaSprint² genuinely remarkable is that it’s the first building in France where both the load-bearing structure and every wall were printed directly on-site, with 100% of all loads transferred through the 3D-printed walls. No hybrid workarounds. No conventional skeleton hiding beneath the surface. The printer did the heavy lifting, quite literally."

Something significant happened in Bezannes, France — and the construction industry should be paying close attention. ViliaSprint², Europe's largest 3D-printed apartment building, has been completed, and it arrives less as a proof of concept and more as a genuine blueprint for what housing could l...

06/05/2026

" Community solar allows customers to subscribe to a portion of an off-site solar project and receive bill credits for the electricity generated. The model is especially important for renters, multifamily residents, low- and moderate-income households, and homeowners whose roofs are not suitable for solar.

ILSR tracks community solar capacity in states with formal programs that allow non-utility ownership. Its latest tracker notes that 19 states and Washington, D.C., allow community solar, though the organization’s capacity tracking is limited to states with accessible, regularly maintained success data."

ILSR’s Community Solar Tracker shows Maine, Minnesota, and New York leading the country in community solar deployment per resident. At the same time, state program designs continue to shape how quickly shared solar markets scale.

06/05/2026

📣NOW ANNOUNCING: Asheville Recovers Together Small Business Grants!
To support continued recovery from Tropical Storm Helene, Asheville Recovers Together is launching a $14 million small business grant program to help local businesses stabilize, rebuild, and move forward.
💰 Grants from $5,000 to $75,000 will be available to eligible businesses located within Asheville city limits that experienced financial losses due to the storm.
📣 Applications will open June 15 at noon!
💫This program is funded by and administered by and

Follow along for updates, eligibility information, and resources to help you prepare your application.
🔗 Learn more and get updates:
ashevillerecoverstogether.org

06/04/2026

"The Global Justice Report, published on Thursday, tries to overcome the shortcomings of mainstream approaches to the polycrisis, including the overly materialistic emphasis of traditional leftist parties, the questionable efficacy of the economic degrowth proposed by many ecologists and the lack of social impact studies by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The report aims to rectify those limitations by incorporating inequality studies, climate science and proposals for creating a political coalition capable of reforming the world’s financial architecture.

This “plan for equality and prosperity within planetary boundaries” is the product of 45 authors based on databases compiled by more than 200 researchers from around the world."

Global report provides an alternative to climate breakdown, political extremism and economic tensions

06/02/2026

" The project highlights local expertise — carpentry, joinery, cabinetmaking, tiling — while embracing sustainable choices: compact volumes, high-performance insulation, and low-carbon materials."

Completed in 2023 in Lac-Brome, Canada. Images by Ulysse Lemerise / OSA images. A New Chapter in a Victorian Village. On a quiet street lined with welcoming verandas and finely crafted woodwork, two women from Montreal found the...

06/01/2026

"

“We saw the signs going up,” Steve said, which read ​“Stop the solar grab.” But now, the couple believes, some of those same neighbors are probably envious. After all, the duo, who began raising hogs, sheep, and other livestock two decades ago as a second career, have netted tens of thousands of dollars each year on the panels, which began sending power to the grid in February 2024. The funds have enabled them to retire comfortably.

“They’re going to pay three times what this farm’s worth at the end of the day,” Steve said.

The grass beneath the panels in the solar field, a stone’s throw from the couple’s renovated 19th-century farmhouse, is maintained by an area shepherd and his 50-some sheep. All in all, Steve said, the solar array ​“has been such a win-win.” "

The legislation expands subscription-based solar farms from 250 to 875 megawatts and is the product of the state’s “new affordability politics."

06/01/2026

" Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions grew by 50% from 1990 to 2023. These emissions are causing the planet to warm at an alarming rate and contributing to the increasingly devastating storms, floods, fires and heatwaves the world is now grappling with.

But where exactly do emissions come from?

WRI's Climate Watch platform publishes comprehensive emissions data for all countries, sectors and gases, offering insight into the root causes of the climate crisis and where the world must take action to solve it. We analyzed the data to explain what's causing the most GHG emissions globally: "

Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are rapidly warming the planet. But where do they come from? WRI experts explain which sectors emit the most GHGs.

06/01/2026

" referring to local energy as “rinky dink” misses the two-fer value offered by customer-sited devices like solar panels. batteries, EVs and adjustable thermostats. Consumers buy them, like them, and benefit from them personally. And at the same time, those devices can serve the grid. Gasoline only moves a car. Electricity moves a car, and when the car isn’t moving, moves electrons on the grid.
We don’t need just more electricity. We need it at the right time and place

Perhaps the biggest flaw in the build-build-build mantra is the assumption that today’s energy challenges are simply a matter of producing more electricity. In reality, the challenge is delivering power where and when it is needed most."

The bottom line is that energy abundance isn't just about megawatts built, but about how effectively we use those megawatts.

05/29/2026

"Students at Huffman High School in Birmingham are building a solar-powered tiny home — a first-of-its-kind collaboration for the University of Alabama at Birmingham aimed at preparing teens for careers in construction and renewable energy. The tiny home will connect to the university’s Solar House microgrid.

The UAB Solar House itself began as a competition entry for the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2017 Solar Decathlon. Designed and constructed by Alabama college students to maximize energy efficiency in Alabama’s hot, humid climate without sacrificing comfort, livability, and style, the 1,000-square-foot home is powered by the sun."

A pioneering collaboration between UAB Sustainability and Huffman High School is giving students hands-on experience in solar technology while expanding Alabama’s model for resilient, off-grid communities.

05/28/2026

Are you looking for solutions to manage stormwater?

Learn how to support biodiversity, reduce flooding, and filter pollution with rain gardens!

Pollutants transported by rainwater runoff contribute to 70% of all water pollution.

We can do our part by collecting and filtering this water naturally, creating native habitat in our backyards!

This workshop, led by NC State Stormwater Extension and RiverLink will teach you how to build your own rain garden! Sign up at the link below.

Let’s make every raindrop count! 💧🌱

https://web.cvent.com/event/c5a92066-1dab-4819-a49e-e4de0816f4aa/summary