Welcome to the Eco Development Initiative

The Eco-Development Initiative was launched by Audubon International to leverage innovation and best management practices and help create models for the proper siting, design, construction, and management of new developments

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Compass Pointe Awarded Audubon International's Gold Signature Certification

Audubon International is proud to announce that Compass Pointe, owned by The Harrelson Company LLC, recently achieved designation as an Audubon International Gold Signature Sanctuary. This voluntary environmental education and certification program is designed to work with new development projects to meet the organization's eco-design and development guidelines and criteria. These criteria are based on the Principles for Sustainable Resource Management and nearly twenty years of experience working with sustainable land development projects.

Phoenix, AZ Adopts Green Construction Code

Phoenix is one of the first cities in the nation to adopt a comprehensive code that takes a "whole project" approach to promoting safe and sustainable construction.

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Maximizing the Benefits of Plants in Eco-Design

Through "integrated site design," a comprehensive approach to sustainable building and site design, sustainable residential landscape architecture practices can not only improve water and energy efficiency, but also use plants to eliminate chemical fertilizers, produce food, restore ecosystems, and clean air. The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) offers a resource website focused on using plants wisely in design.
Click here to visit the ASLA resource website.

What Is a Net-Zero Home?

What is a Net-Zero Home? The answer is more complicated than you might think — looking at where the energy is produced and then how the energy is measured. The simple answer would be that a Net-Zero home produces as much energy as it uses. But it’s not that easy.
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Report: Sustainable Design Not Mainstream

According to the 2011 Green & Sustainable Design Survey, published by DesignIntelligence, sustainable design practices are not yet in the mainstream of architecture and design.
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How to Heal the Earth--One Land Development at a Time

In an exclusive article for Audubon International, Rick Harrison (author of Prefurbia: Reinventing Land Development From Disdainable To Sustainable) provides a summary of how to improve the way we plan and guide land development in order to be more sustainable by looking at what’s led us to where we are today.

Click here to read the article

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