With homeownership at historic lows, many residents in Chicago and around the nation are turning to rental properties for living quarters.

Developer AMLI Residential broke ground last week on a luxury 50-story apartment tower in downtown Chicago that will be built for LEED Gold Designation and designed as part of Chicago’s Green Permit Process.

The high-end AMLI development will include lots of luxurious features, including a pool, fitness center, theatre room and in-unit floor-to-ceiling windows that provide natural night and beautiful city views.

The building will also include a no-smoking policy in which offenders found lighting up anywhere on the property, including in units, will have to send $250 to the American Lung Association.

Want to find out more about this pet-friendly residential tower, including its green features and expected completion date? Check out our story:

Construction Commences on Chicago Luxury Tower

and then check back to Chicagoland Real Estate Forum for updates on this exciting project.

Lakeside is a proposed community to be built along Lake Michigan on Chicago’s South Side where the U.S. Steel’s South Works manufacturing plant used to sit.

The 500-acre site will include enough single-family homes and high-rise units for 50,000 residents, retail and entertainment space, a marina and a new high school.

The Chicago Lakeside Development Master Plan is a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) certified community from the U.S. Green Building Council and will include these environmentally friendly features:

*Large open spaces, compact walkable neighborhoods and access to bike paths and public transportation.

*1.7 miles of additional lakefront access, 91 acres of lakefront park and 125 acres of green space.

*On-site and off-shore wind development.

*Geothermal/lake water cooling.

*Solar panel inclusion.

*An innovative stormwater management plan.

Want to learn more about this new community? Read our story:

Untapped Chicago Real Estate About to Bloom

Then, check back to Chicagoland Real Estate Forum for updates on this exciting project.

Called the Cube, the home is designed with all the furnishings one person needs. In addition to a kitchenette, table, two chairs, lounge and small bed, it contains a full sized shower and a composting toilet.

Among the home’s many green features are LED lights, an air-source heat pump, and an energy-efficient fridge. Plus, with the use of solar photovoltaic panels, it produces at least as much energy as it uses. To see the home and read about its additional features, check out the full article, “The Cube Project: What Would You Give Up To Live In A Tiny House?”

For a true green builder, this may be a dream house. But for the rest of us, it’s a little far fetched. Many demonstration projects go to extremes to show all of the things that can be done, while working home builders are faced with trying to build green within real-life budgets and real homebuyer preferences.

After you’ve seen the article at the Equifax Personal Finance Blog, come back here and tell us if that project gives you any ideas you can use now. What will help you as a green builder incorporate more environmentally friendly components into your next home?

215 West, located at 215 W. Washington St. in downtown Chicago, is the first rental residence to be built in the Loop in the last 15 years and is one of the city’s only high-rise apartment buildings to be developed for LEED certification.

The 50-story tower was constructed with energy, lighting, water and material use in mind. As a result, residents will see lower utility bills while leaving a smaller carbon footprint on the neighborhood.

The pet-friendly building has amenities as well, with a fourteenth floor that rivals country-club living.

The building was recently awarded the LEED Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council and the Green Building Certification Institute.

Want to learn more about 215 West and its amenities? Check out our stories at ChicagolandRealEstateForum.com:

Loop Chicago Real Estate Designated Green

Green High Rise in the Loop Ready for Renters and Their Furry Friends

In the latter, you’ll find out upon what historic site 215 West was developed.

About the Project:
Project Location: 3310 Shoshone St in NW Denver

Owner / GC: Urban Green Development

Project Goal: A fundraising project to showcase and network sustainable building contractors and green suppliers.

Background: Being built in one of Denver’s “hot spot” building neighborhoods, NW Denver’s historic Highland area, “The Green Cube” will be the city’s first LEED Platinum single family home, the highest sustainable/built green rating possible. When complete the home is expected use just 40% of the energy of a code built home.
The home is scheduled to open in late fall off 2011 as a Green Built Show Home in conjunction with U.S. Built Green Council, and will be featured on the DIY Network throughout the process. The home will bring together area contractors, suppliers using sustainable and reusable products as well as serve as a fundraising project to support an annual scholarship fund enabling North High students to pursue careers in the Green Building Industry. When complete the Show Home will host tours, open houses, seminars and special events all raising money for North High career scholarships.

The Show Home will host 3,000-5,000 trade professionals and consumers during the month of July 2011 The project offers the opportunity to partner and network with the nearly 100 green trades, suppliers and services required to build the home from start to finish. Please contact Brett Robben at 303-433-6212 or email brettrobben@comcast.net

The 2010 WasteWise award winners were:

Better World Books, Georgia — This company collects and sells new and used books online. They also donate a portion of each sale to help literacy initiatives worldwide.  In 2009 alone, the company recycled 7,090 tons of materials, which is equivalent to removing 2,900 passenger vehicles from the road for one year in terms of carbon dioxide output.

Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp (FCCC), South Carolina — Freightliner is the nation’s largest producer of diesel-powered chassis for the RV and walk-in van industry.  By taking a ‘green’ initiative, the company has gone from dumping 125 tons of solid waste per month in January 2008 to zero landfilling in September 2009. Not only is this great news for the environment, but it has also saved FCCC $157,598 in 2009 alone.

Fetter Group, Kentucky – Fetter Group, a printing company out of Louisville, has switched to reusable plastic shipping boxes and no longer uses “proof approval stickers,” eliminating the production of more than 10,000 proof stickers per year.  In 2009, Fetter Group was able to add $250,000 to its bottom line through its efforts to reduce waste.

Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Legal Services –The Division has implemented several environmentally friendly practices. Its paper reduction efforts saved Florida taxpayers more than $1 million in 2009.  TBy switching to electronic processing tools, paper use was reduced by 1.5 million pages per year, saving  more than $85,000.

Georgia Environmental Protection Division, Tradeport Complex – In 2009, employees recycled 100 tons of traditional recyclables and diverted one ton of used coffee grounds for use in home compost bins. These efforts saved taxpayers almost $6,500 and eliminated greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to nearly 37,000 gallons of gasoline.

The WasteWise program is a free, voluntary partnership that helps businesses reduce their environmental impact and find cost savings through innovative waste reduction and recycling activities. Currently, over 2,700 participants and endorsers are involved in the program.

For more information on the WasteWise program and the award winners, visit http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/partnerships/wastewise/events/2010awardees.htm.

Exelon City Solar was constructed on 41-acres of land that had previously been vacant for 30 years, and consists of 32,292 solar photovoltaic (PV), or solar electric, panels that convert the sun’s rays into energy. This translates to 14,000 megawatt-hours of energy a year. That’s enough energy to meet the needs of 1,500 homes.

The clean energy produced by Exelon City Solar works to displace more than 30 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per year. That’s the same as taking 2,500 vehicles off the roads.

The solar power plant is part of “Exelon 2020″,  Exelon Corporation’s plan to lower its carbon footprint by reducing, offsetting, or eliminating 15 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.

However, reducing Exelon’s carbon footprint is not the only thing this power plant is doing. The construction of the $60 million solar power plant created 200 jobs in the Chicago area.

Exelon City Solar moves solar power plants to the mainstream by providing a visual example that large-scale solar energy is possible.

For more information about Exelon Corporation, visit the website.

For more information about other green building projects in the Chicago area, visit greenbeanchicago.com.

Click here for more Chicago Real Estate news.

Big deal, just another community, right?  Nope.  The Park Run community is comprised of two condominium buildings, with a total of 23 planned, making this the first multi-family housing complex to receive this certification.

Congratulations to The Jones Company!

The challenge has arisen for other condo and apartment communities to be built green, so hopefully we should see more of them.  With more consumers looking for an environmentally responsible home, The Jones Company should simply be the first with many more builders to follow suit.

Certification under the National Green Building Standard is awarded by the NAHB Research Center, a subsidiary of NAHB.  To become certified, a home is measured on energy efficiency, environmental construction, site and lot design and indoor air quality.  The builder also has to educate homeowners on proper maintenance and operation to keep their home running green.

The Park Run community utilized the expected Energy Star appliances and lights, energy-efficient windows, low-flow faucets and low-VOC flooring in their homes.  What really sets it apart though, was the handling of the site.  All unused building materials were recycled, and the landscaping uses plants native to the area to avoid excess watering.

Are you currently building green?  Check out the NAHB green scoring tool from the NAHB Research Center to determine if you’d be eligible for certification.

Steven Ribeiro of Aldeia, LLC, the Developer of Independence Station is pleased by the changes to the rating system. He believes that LEED v3.0 challenges developers to make buildings more energy efficient then ever before and hopes that other developers will out-score Independence Station in the future.

The 57,000 square-foot Independence Station is set to open in 2010 and will host real and virtual offices, residential units, a restaurant and Internet cafe, DC-powered data storage facility, research facilities, product beta testing facilities, new product showcasing, and classroom space for professional as well as community outreach purposes. In addition, unique and highly efficient solar charged electric cars will be part of the project, as well as a large-scale rainwater harvesting system.

Eco tourists and residents will be able to enjoy and learn about sustainable practices in the building’s one- and two-bedroom condominiums, with the goal of living well on just 17% of the total lifestyle energy that the average American now consumes in alignment with the very aggressive year 2050 goals of the 2,000 Watt Society.

This collected data will be published on an open source basis for all to study to set new benchmarks for responsible energy consumption in daily living. A planned second phase of the project will include onsite food production and natural waste water treatment.

To keep track of the progress at Independence Station, Become a Fan of the World’s Greenest Building.

Developed by Minerva Properties, this Atlanta golf community was named the 2005 Community of the Year by the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association and was also selected to receive the 2006 Grand Award for Outstanding Development by the Georgia Urban Forest Council. Since winning these prestigious awards, Heron Bay has continued their efforts to preserve the integrity of the area surrounding the Atlanta Lake Community.

Heron Bay began their extensive tree initiative program in 2002 when a beautiful American Beech Tree on Heron Bay Boulevard was saved. Since that time over 3,500 trees have been planted in the common and amenity areas of Heron Bay. Minerva has also partnered up with Henry and Spalding Counties to create tree-lined streets, planting trees on 50 foot centers twice yearly. By planting during the dormant season, this project has seen a survivability rate of almost 99%.