BuildingGreen Founder Recognized as Visionary of Green Building Movement

Alex Wilson, the founder of BuildingGreen and executive editor of Environmental Building News and GreenSpec, is the 2010 winner of the Hanley Award for Vision and Leadership in Sustainable Housing. Now in its second year, the Hanley Award is sponsored by The Hanley Foundation, EcoHome magazine, and publisher Hanley Wood. Wilson will receive the award and an accompanying $50,000 grant at the U.S. Green Building Council Hanley Award Dinner ceremony on November 17th at the Greenbuild conference in Chicago.

Wilson was selected for the honor from 12 distinguished nominees by a panel of judges that included Michael J. Hanley, President of The Hanley Foundation; Frank Anton, CEO of Hanley Wood; Joyce Mason, VP of Marketing for Pardee Homes; Nate Kredich, VP of Residential Market Development for the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC); and last year’s Hanley Award recipient Edward Mazria, FAIA of Architecture 2030.

“The Real Deal”

“Alex is the best example I know of the adage ‘It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you don’t care who gets the credit,’” said USGBC President and CEO Rick Fedrizzi. “He was paying attention to how the built environment affects people and the planet 30 years ago, and played an instrumental role in the early development of USGBC and LEED both as a hands-on participant and as a respected journalist. When it comes to visionary, Alex is the real deal, and this award is well-deserved.”

“EBN has been a voice of leadership for all of us,” said Bob Berkebile, FAIA of BNIM Architects. “In the green building world," said Berkebile, "Alex is the undisputed go-to person for deep knowledge about deep green, which is why GreenSpec is such a powerful force in stemming the tide of greenwash. His ability to put context to the science helps the rest of us make better decisions.”

Wilson has not decided how the $50,000 grant will be used, but it will certainly go toward furthering his lifelong mission to make the world a better place. “I hope to use the funds to step back and take a deeper look at the urgent challenges we are facing—and what we in the building industry can do about it.” Wilson said he welcomed comments on his blog or via Twitter to help him identify the greatest opportunities to tackle environmental challenges in the design and construction industry.

An independent voice for the green building movement

Wilson founded Environmental Building News in 1992 as the first publication in North America devoted to green building. Now in its 19th year, EBN has never taken advertising, a fact relished by its thousands of subscribers who appreciate its unbiased and independent thinking. Wilson has set a standard that the rest of the green building movement has worked to live up to—putting true environmental benefit, supported by data, over marketing and hype.

Wilson’s other contributions include:

• A fighter for health and environmental issues. In dozens of EBN articles since 1992, Wilson has been an outspoken advocate on high-impact environmental and health issues. These stances—such as those on CCA-treated wood, brominated flame retardants, and blowing agents in foam insulation with high global warming potential—have prodded more than one manufacturer to reconsider their process, ultimately influencing regulation and market transformation on a broad scale.
• A leader on green product market transformation. Since 1997 Wilson and BuildingGreen have published GreenSpec, the leading national directory of green building products. Under Wilson’s leadership, GreenSpec has always looked for the “best of the best” green products, and has raised the bar many times, helping set an industry-wide approach of standards and certifications that engage the market while leading it toward greater sustainability.
• A focus on deep thinking, education, and research. While green building is often at risk of being over-simplified, Wilson has continued to challenge the industry to think about deeper solutions. Ideas like passive survivability, biophilia, the impact of “green” buildings on global warming through their location and associated transportation impacts, and building-integrated food production, have been born on the pages of EBN or gained traction there in industry and government.
• A pioneer in search of fresh thinking. Wilson’s hallmark is his insatiable curiosity and enthusiasm for smart, green solutions. Wilson’s enthusiasm for innovation, and his advocacy for products and solutions that deserve our attention, is nowhere more apparent than in his two weekly blogs, Energy Solutions and Alex’s Cool Product of the Week.

A career devoted to the environment

Wilson has devoted his career to improving the environment through energy conservation, greater reliance on renewable energy sources, and the development (and renovation) of buildings that are both safer for their occupants and better for the environment. His full biography is available on BuildingGreen.com.

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Celebrating 25 years in business in 2010, BuildingGreen LLC, publishes Environmental Building News (available both in print and online), the online GreenSpec Directory of green building products, and LEEDuser, a support resource for project teams seeking LEED certification for their buildings. BuildingGreen has been the leading source the building industry turns to for unbiased, practical information about green building as well as direction for where the industry should be heading. For information, visit BuildingGreen.com. You can follow Alex on Twitter to keep up with his musings and his two weekly blogs (“Energy Solutions” and “Alex’s Cool Product of the Week”).

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