• Green building features stand out at NASA's Sustainability Base
  Energy-efficient building features are numerous at NASA's $25 million Sustainability Base at the Ames Research Center in California. The building sports solar panels, fuel cells, a water-recovery system and building controls that respond to weather changes. The facility earned LEED Platinum from the U.S. Green Building Council and has been recognized as the most environmentally friendly federal building. San Jose Mercury News (Calif.) (free registration) (4/23)      

• Landscape architecture gains traction due to sustainability
  The demand for landscape architects has strengthened because of public interest in sustainability, said Thomas Tavella, president of the American Society of Landscape Architects. "We are getting involved in more jobs for sustainable sites," Tavella said. "The collaboration between landscape architects, architects and engineers is much better than it has ever been." Hartford Business Journal (Conn.) (4/23)      

Creating Accountability

• Kingfisher aims to support tree plantings, save on timber costs
  The parent company of U.K. do-it-yourself retailer B&Q already replaces 100% of trees felled to make its wood and paper products. It now plans to support tree-planting on land that has been recently deforested by buying the harvested timber. "This is revenue-generating for us and we shouldn't be shy about saying that. We have to make a business case for it," said CEO Ian Cheshire. The Telegraph (London) (4/22)      

WINDPOWER is the focal point for wind professionals serious about the business of wind. There are numerous ways to participate in WINDPOWER, and in every case, you will find value, exposure and knowledge through various mediums that reach the ever-growing audience of event attendees, business people, thought leaders and policy makers. Learn more today!

• Burt's Bees gets trees to sing company anthem
  Burt's Bees celebrated Earth Day by hiring sound designer Diego Stocco to meld taps, plucks and scrapes at lemon trees, coconuts and other plants into a jaunty all-natural version of the company's anthem. "It's a clean, clever concept with toe-tapping results," writes T.L. Stanley. Adweek/AdFreak blog (4/20)      

Featured Content

• What you could be doing to green your business
  Sustainability is a remarkably powerful tool for executives, with the potential to boost employee retention, reduce waste and lost productivity, and boost the bottom line, writes Andrea Newell. To maximize your CSR returns, aim to get employees involved, Newell advises. "Sustainability has to matter to everyone in the organization in order to be adopted, to be accepted, and to become second nature," she writes. The Glass Hammer blog (4/20)      

• GE's Immelt: U.S. wind power market "could run hot" this year
  The U.S. wind power market is "a wild card" and "could run hot" this year ahead of the scheduled expiration of the federal Production Tax Credit on Dec. 31, said General Electric Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt. GE said it received orders for 696 wind turbines in the first quarter, up 113% from the same period last year. "The U.S. market is very robust. ... The production tax credits end by the end of the year, and we're taking a really good share in the marketplace," said Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer Keith Sherin. RechargeNews.com (tiered subscription model) (4/20)      

Top five news stories selected by SmartBrief on Sustainability readers in the past week.

• New fried chicken oil will "affect all humanity," says CEO (CNNMoney/Fortune)

• When companies doing good isn't enough (Marc Gunther)

• How to use PowerPoint without boring people (SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Leadership)

• The billionaire who hasn't lost faith in wind power (SNL Interactive (free content))

• The problem with sustainable meat (The New York Times (tiered subscription model))

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

• Why leadership diversity is good for business
  Research shows that when companies move beyond gender tokenism, they get a powerful boost to their bottom line, writes Dana Theus. "Bring the best women and men have to offer into your leadership class and, in the mix, you have a powerful resource for company growth and performance," she writes. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Leadership (4/23)      

• Connect with us on Twitter
  Follow SB_GreenBiz on Twitter for more sustainability news from SmartBrief on Sustainability's lead editor, James daSilva. Join the conversation.      

Without transparency, sustainability efforts ring hollow." --Andrea Newell, editor at TriplePundit, writing at The Glass Hammer