Smackdown Week

All in one week the Department of Energy and the USGBC both get taken to task.  It was like a blogging Hanukah for me, with each day bringing a different gift of much needed criticism.  See I for one have been frustrated that these groups get a free pass so much of the time, mostly because they possess massive power.  Finally they are being looked at and quite frankly it’s about time.

The DOE was first hammered in this report of wasteful travel practices.  Then a newspaper took the DOEto task over claims from security agents about fraud, waste, and abuse.  And at the end of the week, even the White House tossed the DOE under the bus heaping the blame for the loan to out of business Abound Solar on them. All of the reports were pretty interesting reads, and hopefully it leads to more reporting over some of the other issues within the very stale organization.  My hope is no matter who wins on November 6^th; they take a hard and fresh look at the body.  It surely needs it at EVERY LEVEL.

Meanwhile the USA Today ran two days of stories about the United States Green Building Council and the whole green building world.  To me it was a fascinating takedown of a group that was pretty much bulletproof.  Whenever they got into any trouble, there was always some trade media, to carry their water for them.  Trade media can usually trump bloggers like me.  Now that one of the biggest newspapers in North America has taken a shot it will be interesting to see who comes to the rescue and how effective they are.  The basis of the articles included how business interests became a powerful force at the USGBC, and how “easy” it is to be green, including the all-famous “bike rack” piece.  I have been consistent saying that green building ratings are needed but they have to be valuable and real.  It’s an important part of our industry and future, and needs to be better.  Anyway it’s nice to see others agree.  The whole series can be found HERE.

Elsewhere

--  The Architectural Billings Index had a good month, best in two years actually.  Many industry and economic observers are expecting a solid 2013, and if the ABI holds true everyone with the exception of the west should have a solid 1^st Quarter.  Plus Dodge reported they think commercial construction will be up 12% despite some holes in the sector thanks to stingy lending from the banks.  I still remain positive about the future, with or without the ABI.

--  It was tough missing glasstec last week, but thanks to excellent tweets from Katy Devlin of Glass Magazine, pictures from Steve O’Hollaren of ICD, and tweets from Guardian, I was able to follow along.  Will be curious to catch up with those folks who attended the show to see what they thought about it.

--  One more week until the election and I just don’t know how folks in the swing states can deal with the insane amount of commercials.  I was in one particular state this past week and watched the commercials alternate from one side to another… over and over. 

--  Last this week... Hurricane Sandy, at the time of this posting was chugging up the coast- hopefully its bark is worse than its bite… stay safe everyone!

LINKS of the WEEK

--  I would be devastated if my Kindle account was wiped clean like this person…

--  This whole story just boggles the mind.  I can’t even fathom…

--  24 straight years with at least one brother on a football team… amazing.

VIDEO of the WEEK

Ok this is much longer than anything I normally embed… but this is Journey in a classic concert film that has narration from the legendary John Facenda of NFL Films.  So cool.  So if you like Journey, you will like this video…