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GLOBAL GREEN USA & BRAD PITT ANNOUNCE WINNER OF SUSTAINABLE DESIGN COMPETITION FOR NEW ORLEANS; WINNING DESIGN REDUCES ENERGY USE BY 63%; SOLAR, GEOTHERMAL HELP LOWER ENERGY COSTS TO RESIDENT S CLOSE TO ZERO
US GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL AND AIA PARTNER WITH GLOBAL GREEN ON TECHNICAL JURY; STAGE II DESIGN JURY FEATURES MAYNE, EIZENBERG, HUFF

NEW ORLEANS, LA, September 7, 2006 - Global Green USA President Matt Petersen and design jury chairman Brad Pitt announced the winner, Workshop/APD (Matthew Berman and Andrew Kotchens) of the Sustainable Design Competition for New Orleans at a press event last week at historic Gallier Hall in New Orleans.

"The winning design integrated the latest proven sustainable technologies while drawing upon the wisdom of the past," said Matt Petersen, President of Global Green USA.  "These homes, once built, will help improve the lives of families by lowering energy costs and improving the health of the residents, while rebuilding a healthier New Orleans and creating smart solutions to the rising risk of global warming."

"We had a jury from all walks of life that also brought great expertise and conversations and dialogue to the table," stated jury Chair Brad Pitt at the press event.  "The members of the community, at least the members who have returned and are able to be here at this point, were able to play a role. That was one of the main criteria for the winning design -- that it worked with the community, that it answered to the historical significance and conditions of the neighborhood and that it was something the community would enjoy. We're very excited about that."

"If 50,000 homes were rebuilt according to the most conservative energy cost reduction goals we set forth in the competition, residents would save $38 million to $56 million EVERY year," Petersen continued. "Each high performance, energy-efficient, healthy home would also conservatively reduce carbon and greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 11 tons per household per year, the equivalent of taking 100,000 cars off the road."

JURIES
The Stage II finalist design jury met on August 30 and 31 to review the six finalist submissions and ultimately select the winner.  Brad Pitt, Chair, was joined by Pam Dashiell, President of the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association of New Orleans; Lauren Anderson, Executive Director, Neighborhood Housing Service of New Orleans, Inc. (New Orleans); Pritzker Award Winner Thom Mayne, Principal, Morphosis Architects (Santa Monica, CA); Pierre Andre Senizergues, Owner and CEO of Sole Technology, Inc.; Julie Eizenberg, Founding Principal of Koning Eizenberg Architecture; Ray Huff, Principal and Partner in the *rm Huff+Gooden Architects; Bob Berkebile, founding Principal of BNIM and founding Chairman of the AIA Committee on the Environment; David Orr, Chair, Environmental Studies Program (Oberlin College, OH); Yolanda Daniels, Co-Founder, Studio Sumo (New York, NY); Keith Butler, Investment Banker & owner of historic apartments in New Orleans (New Orleans & New York); and Matt Petersen, President of Global Green USA (Santa Monica, CA).

The Stage I open round design jury (which met for 2 days in New Orleans on July 13 and 14, 2006) included Pitt, Mayne, Orr, Daniels, Dashiell, Anderson, Butler as well as Bill Morrish, former New Orleanian and Elwood R. Quesada Professor of Architecture School of Architecture, University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA); Marion Weiss, Principal, Weiss/Manfredi Architects (New York, NY); and Walter Hood, Chair, Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, UC Berkeley (Berkeley, CA). The Stage I jury winnowed down 126 entries to 6 finalists which were announced on July 17, 2006 on the TODAY show.

A six member Technical Jury was created in partnership with the US Green Building Council and AIA's Committee on the Environment, and was chaired by Walker Wells, Global Green's Program Director for Green Building. The technical jury met on July 11 and 12 to provide extensive review of the green attributes of the designs. Additional jurors included: Bruce M. Hampton, Principle, Elton+Hampton Architects (Allston, MA) on behalf of Global Green; William D. Browning, Principal, Browning + Bannon (Washington, DC) on behalf of USGBC; E. Eean McNaughton, Principal, E. Eean McNaughton, Architects (New Orleans, LA) on behalf of AIA-COTE; Susan Maxman , Design Principal - Maxman Partners (Philadelphia, PA) on behalf of AIA-COTE.

On behalf of the technical jury, Walker Wells and Bill Browning met with the six finalists in July, and provided extensive technical input and feedback. Additional consultations and review occurred via phone and email at each stage. Mr. Browning presenting detailed analysis of the six finalists' designs on behalf of Mr. Wells and the technical jury to the Stage II design jury. Global Green thanks US Green Building Council for the support of Mr. Browning's involvement and the technical jury.

HOLY CROSS AND NEW ORLEANS COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Global Green facilitated more than a dozen meetings to solicit community feedback over the 3 months of the competition.  Pam Dashiell, President of the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association of New Orleans served as one of the design jury members and described the role of the community process throughout the competition saying, "these green building designs breathe new life into our communities; the amount of community input was incredible." Finalists presented their designs to the Holy Cross residents, neighborhood association, and neighborhood stakeholders twice, and responded to input and feedback from the community in their final designs. Workshop/APD and the project team will solicit continued community input and involvement through presentations and neighborhood representatives and key technical experts participating in a charette process.

WINNING DESIGN AND CERTIFICATES OF EXCELLENCE
Global Green USA and Brad Pitt are committed to seeing The GREEN.O.LA Design by Matthew Berman and Andrew Kotchens of Workshop/APD can be viewed at http://competition.globalgreen.org/images/final_panels/. The other finalists designs are also available. The jury also selected two Certificates of Excellence.  The NOLA Shotgun Loft designed by Schwartz Architects received the Certificate for Excellence for Sustainability and Breathe designed by Eskew+Dumez+Ripple received the Certificate for Excellence for Architectural Distinction.

BUILDING THE PROJECT AND GROUNDBREAKING
Global Green USA and Brad Pitt are committed to seeing the GREEN.OLA design by Workshop built in the Holy Cross Neighborhood of the 9th Ward, and Global Green is currently exploring funding partners and appropriate developers to begin construction later this year.  Thanks to a contribution towards the purchase of the land in Holy Cross from Trizec Properties Inc, Global Green will be able to begin the process of acquiring the land and ultimately building the development which will include a 12 unit multi-family housing building, six single family homes and a community center.  The public can register to attend the Ground Breaking Ceremony in New Orleans at www.globalgreen.org, where the public can learn more about economical green building design principles they can adopt to reduce their impact on global warming.  A groundbreaking is scheduled January, 2007, exact date TBD.

COMPETION BACKGROUND AND SPONSORS
Brad Pitt co-sponsored the competition by helping to finance the cash prizes for the finalists and winning designs and also helping to raise the initial build funds.  Pitt was joined by competition sponsors Adam Joseph Lewis, Home Depot, Pierre Andre Senizergues, CEO of Sole Technology, Inc., Suzanne Freiwald, and Sean Cummings, a New Orleanian.  Global Green USA continues to solicit financial support for the building of the winning project.

The Sustainable Design Competition for New Orleans - Advancing the Sustainable Rebuilding of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast - combined Global Green USA's commitment to green affordable housing, sustainable cities, and climate solutions that work for communities, with Brad Pitt's passion for intelligent architecture. The idea for the competition developed from a conversation between Brad Pitt and Global Green President, Matt Petersen, at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York City in September 2005. The competition is a central component of Global Green's sustainable rebuilding initiative for New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, which began 10 days after the landfall of Hurricane Katrina.  This competition is an opportunity to give back to New Orleans, the birthplace of great culture, music, food, and architecture.

GLOBAL GREEN USA AND NEW ORLEANS
Global Green's Resource Center and work in New Orleans is supported by the Home Depot Foundation, Jerry and Ann Moss, donations from Global Green staff, and by dozens of other individuals.  The Resource Center provides green building information for homeowners, residents, builders and architects and represents an ongoing commitment to help New Orleans rebuild a sustainable city.

Global Green USA - the American affiliate of President Gorbachev’s Green Cross International – was founded by Diane Meyer Simon in 1993. Its newly opened field office and green building resource center will serve as a focal point of green building expertise for New Orleans residents and is the face of its “Healthy Homes, Smart Neighborhoods” initiative whose Honorary National Task Force includes: Julian bond, Gen. Wesley Clark, Leonardo DiCaprio, Morgan Freeman, Lee Hamilton, Pat Mitchell and David Orr. Global Green USA has been a national leader in green building for affordable housing, schools and communities for more than a decade and has influenced more than $20 billion dollars in green construction.