Not a decade ago, the words "green building" conjured visions of a junky eco-shack in the woods with walls made from used tires, rammed earth, or bales of hay. But today, "suburban homes":http://www.pardeehomes.com/index.php?startat=%2Fabout%2Fabout_press_releases_display.php%3FUID%3D61%26from%3Dec, "university dorms":http://lime.com/post/article/2006/01/17/college-campuses-go-green/ and even "the urban towers of commerce":http://www.popsci.com/popsci/bown2005/engineering/53babd0e9b927010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html are hitting the sustainable high road. Who knew that hulking monoliths of steel and glass could have a featherweight environmental footprint?

In "High-Rises That Have Low Impact on Nature":http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/02/arts/design/02gree.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin, The New York Times chronicles the growing shift toward green skyscrapers. In part, the trend owes much of its momentum to the "U.S. Green Building Council's":http://www.usgbc.org LEED certification program, which has set a gold standard for recognizing and evaluating the environmental performance of buildings. Nearly 3500 building projects across the country have registered for "LEED ratings":http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CategoryID=19 since 2000, and 400 have already been awared the stamp of approval for being sustainable, high-performance buildings. And make no mistake, buildings do perform: Commercial and residential buildings account for over 65 percent of electricity use in the U.S. and 3- percent of greenhouse gas emissions nationwide, according to a "Pew Climate Center study":http://www.pewclimate.org/docUploads/10%2D50%5FLoftness%2Epdf. The first building in the country to receive the platinum LEED rating was the Natural Resources Defense Council's "headquarters in Santa Monica, California":http://www.nrdc.org/cities/building/smoffice/intro.asp, made of sustainable materials with a rooftop garden and solar array. The first skyscraper to get a platinum rating will be "One Bryant Park":http://www.popsci.com/popsci/bown2005/engineering/53babd0e9b927010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html, soon to be constructed in midtown Manhattan sheathed in insulated glass for natural lighting and equipped with everything from on-site electricity generation to waterless urinals. Photo credit: "Cook + Fox":http://www.cookplusfox.com