This post is sure to irritate people: Now and then, I check up on what Robert Bryce is writing, and the energy journalist has recently published "Five Myths About Green Energy" in The Washington Post. The "myths":

1. Solar and wind power are the greenest of them all.

2. Going green will reduce our dependence on imports from unsavory regimes.

3. A green American economy will create green American jobs.

4. Electric cars will substantially reduce demand for oil.

5. The United States lags behind other rich countries in going green.

You'll have to read the article to find out why Mr. Bryce labels these as myths. Or you could read his latest book -- Power Hungry: The Myths of "Green" Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future -- which seems to be the source of the article.

Mr. Bryce is the managing editor of Energy Tribune and he positions himself as something of a contrarian to popular...

Campus architecture and facilities news from around the Web:

• Cal Poly Pomona Breaks Ground for 3-Building Business-College Complex (left; Cal Poly Pomona rendering)

• Landscape Architect Designs Big Solar Array for U. of Buffalo

• New York U. Plans 12-Story Building for Programs in Washington

• U. of Iowa Center Monitors Energy Use Across Its Campus

State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, N.Y.

Building Type: Science

Construction Type: New

Cost: $36.6-million

Square Footage: 100,000

Architect: Mitchell/Giurgola Architects

Contractor: URS Corporation

Opened: 2009

This facility serves as research center for the wireless- and wired-information technology industries. The building also serves as the gateway to Stony Brook's new research-and-development campus, which the center is intended to anchor. The building contains flexible, open lab spaces, a multipurpose room, and supporting offices.

(Photo: Jeff Goldberg/ESTO)

Does your institution have a new building or a recently completed renovation? Make sure it gets included in our campus-architecture database.

Bridgewater State College, Bridgewater, Mass.

Building Type: Residential

Construction Type: Renovation

Cost: $28-million

Square Footage: 143,000

Architect: Pfeufer Richardson Architects

Contractor: Consigli Construction Company

Opened: 2009

Two boxlike 1950s dormitories were renovated and expanded to respond to changing student demands for social and academic interaction, as well as to update heating, air-conditioning, and safety systems, make accessibility improvements, and repair the building envelope. New student lounges and lobbies with clearly delineated entrances and circulation cores give the buildings a transitional style that helps define the entrance to the campus and offers a connection between historic and new architectural styles. The buildings remained occupied during construction, and the project achieved LEED silver status.

(Photos: Greg Anthony)

Campus architecture and facilities news from around the Web:

• Indiana U. Breaks Ground Today for Cyberinfrastructure Building (left; Indiana U. rendering)

• Southern Methodist U. Dedicates Engineering-Outreach Building

• U. of North Texas Students Approve $5-Per-Semester Sustainability Fee

• U. of Virginia Restores Appearance of 1921 Greek Amphitheater

The latest edition of DesignIntelligence features an article about the true costs of buildings, offering a useful metaphor: the building as iceberg.

"On average, only about 12 percent of an iceberg's volume sits above the water line. What's visible is quite small compared to the whole," writes Scott Simpson. "Studies have shown that over a building's useful life, the original capital cost accounts for only about 12 percent of the total — just like an iceberg. The true cost (and the real value proposition) lies below the waterline  — out of sight and out of mind. It's territory worth exploring."

Architects tend to focus on aesthetics and give too little attention to how a building works, how it uses energy, or how it utilizes space, Mr. Simpson writes. But those are the qualities that make for great design.

"Capital cost matters a great deal, of course, because it's most often...

Campus architecture and facilities news from around the Web;

• Brown U. Breaks Ground for Medical School in Providence's Jewelry District (left; Ellenzweig Associates image)

• Berkeley Chooses 3 Firms to Submit Proposals for Turning a Printing Plant Into University Art Museum

• Wallace State Community College Will Spend Over $15-Million to Fix Building With No Expansion Joints

• Landmark Toronto Arena Becomes Studio Space for Humber College

Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass.

Building Type: Science

Construction Type: New

Cost: $62-million

Square Footage: 108,000

Architect: Payette

Contractor: John Moriarty & Associates

Opened: 2009

This building is part of a larger plan to support interdisciplinary scientific discourse at Brandeis. Teaching labs for chemistry and biology occupy the two lower floors, with three floors of research labs above—two for the National Center for Behavioral Genomics and one for chemistry. The building also has an atrium, a two-story all-electronic library, and two classrooms, one with three-dimensional-projection capability.

(Photos: Warren Jagger Photography)

Does your institution have a new building or a recently completed renovation? Make sure it gets included in our campus-architecture database.

Campus architecture and facilities news from around the Web:

• Cal State's Dominguez Hills Campus Will Dedicate Library Addition by Carrier Johnson on Thursday (left; CSU Dominguez Hills photo)

• Former Military Gym at Augusta State U. Will Become Testing Center

• Madison's Landmarks Commission Approves New Fraternity House at U. of Wisconsin

• Western Kentucky U. May Get Land for Fraternities

The World Resources Institute has a proposed set of rules for counting the so-called Scope 3 greenhouse-gas emissions, reports Niles Barnes, a staff member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education and a former Buildings & Grounds guest blogger.

And he's not thrilled about what they prescribe, because they might have undesirable effects on colleges that have signed the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment. (Scope 3 emissions are those that are generated off site by activities related to the business of the campus, like air travel and commuting.)

The commitment, he points out, "requires that greenhouse-gas-emission inventories be consistent with the standards of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the World Resources Institute."

Here's the problem: The proposed rules may...