RedVector's Online Education in Sustainable Design and Green Buildings

In this 1-hour interactive online course, we discuss the concept of sustainability and the need for ways to rate the sustainability of a building design. In addition, the course describes three rating systems developed by the US Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and the goals each strives to achieve: LEED for New Construction (NC), LEED for Existing Buildings (EB) and LEED for Commercial Interiors (CI).

This 3-hour interactive online course describes the indoor environment quality (IEQ) of buildings and the variables that regulate it. It gives background information for the variables and their effect on people and for the design of buildings and systems to create a safe, healthy and productive environment. The course goes on to list the credits offered for optimizing the indoor conditions by the USGBC LEED®NC rating system and the requirements for achieving the credits.

This 4-hour interactive online course outlines a new, rigorous approach to understanding and practicing sustainable design (SD) that includes all of the major approaches to the discipline. We will use an integral lens to view SD from four fundamental perspectives: Behaviors, Systems, Experiences, and Cultures. We will also examine the four major contemporary worldviews on SD: traditional, modern, post-modern, and integral, drawing on findings from studies of the development of human consciousness, worldviews, and values. In doing so, this more integral approach offers the potential of a better map of the SD terrain, and thus the potential for a deeper, more relevant and effective practice of sustainable design.

Materials with low environmental impact that contribute to the creation of healthful, energy efficient buildings both now and in the future have the affect of moving our system of construction toward a condition of sustainability. This 3-hour interactive course is intended to be an introduction to the study of those materials and techniques that are both ecologically efficient and ecologically effective. Topics covered include: life-cycle analysis and defining characteristics of sustainable materials, environmental, economic, cultural, and aesthetic benefits, selection and analysis techniques, design for material and building reuse, construction waste management, regional and renewable resources, certified wood, and an overview of LEED MR (materials and resources) credits.

This 2-hour interactive online course is the first course in the sustainable approach to water in buildings, sites, and campuses series. It systematically introduces key concepts that help professionals understand the larger watershed and community water systems that local development practices impact, and the cultural, social, economic, and health benefits communities derive from earth’s water systems. Brief overviews of the LEED WE ratings and low-impact practices including water conservation and recycling, stormwater, water harvesting are included to help orient professionals to practices they may wish to learn more about.

This 1-hour interactive online course provides students with the conceptual foundation necessary for exploring many aspects of environmentally progressive site design. Aspects of site sustainability covered in the course include water, solar environment, natural ventilation, transportation, and civic patterns. Each is considered at a variety of scales ranging from the individual parcel to the neighborhood and placed within larger regional and global contexts. In this way, students are equipped to immediately begin making ecologically informed decisions about the site design of their projects, while simultaneously preparing themselves for further, more detailed study of various issues related to site sustainability.

This 3-hour interactive online course continues the development of study in Integral Sustainable Design Theory. Students examine four levels of evolving complexity for Sustainable Design. You will investigate each level of complexity for each of the Four Foundational Perspectives of Sustainable Design covered in the Introduction to Integral Sustainable Design Theory. The 16 Prospects of Sustainable Design outline the multiple approaches to the discipline with profuse illustrations and examples. The information presented in this course elaborates on the theory of sustainable design in architecture, and does not include practical instructions for design or construction of buildings.