Yesterday, Serious Energy's CEO Kevin Surace spoke at The MIT Club of Northern California. Among other things, Kevin described the idea of bringing a high-tech “walk through walls” mentality to the building materials industry. The goal?:  to challenge the industry with breakthrough innovative technology.

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While technological breakthroughs have helped create the green and clean market, financial programs have paved the way for their adoption. Solar exploded after solar leasing. Car networks, a la ZipCar, seem destined to become the way most Americans will initially experience electric cars.

And economic solutions are having a big impact in energy efficiency and green building. Programs such as Serious Solutions that deliver an end-to-end comprehensive building upgrade service at no upfront cost to building owners, are "genius" said David Pogue, the National Director of Sustainability at CBRE during a panel discussion on green building and efficiency finance sponsored by Wells Fargo in Palo Alto this week. "The technology has been there but no one has had the guts to do it," he continued.

Kevin Surace is the CEO of Serious Energy, and he's also the one of the best speakers in the country when it comes to detailing the opportunities created through energy efficiency. Energy efficient buildings consume less energy, which means lower power bills, which means cleaner air and less demand for burning coal or natural gas.

Green buildings also achieve higher rental and resale values, creating money in a relatively frictionless way, and put assembly line employees, contractors, electricians, and architects to work. It's a virtuous cycle if there ever was one.

But it's tough to do the performance justice in words. So here you can find some of his most recent speeches and press interviews.

If you are in real estate, you already know new building and housing starts are down. Now, the AIA has put some numbers around it. A new report shows that construction spending is down 27 percent since 2008, a loss of $300 billion in economic activity. Leanne Tobias at Greenbiz writes:

"As reported in a new study by the American Institute of Architects, construction spending in the U.S. has declined by 27 percent since 2008, an economic loss of close to $300 billion. (An additional $470 billion in construction-related spending also has been lost.) Private construction projects have been particularly hard hit, declining by more than a third, while public construction is down roughly 10 percent.

Freezing right now? Broiling? Can't see because of glare? Blame your windows. Serious Energy is holding the I Want Better Windows contest. You could be one of the winners of 250 square feet of iWindows. (click here to enter) or vote for one of the entrants.

Today's entry comes from Michael in New Jersey. He's at a hospital:

"We are a non-profit hospital. Our windows are 30 or more years older... It would be great to have warmer patient rooms and offices for the staff. My office is in the basement... No windows for me but it would be realy good for the building."

If you're sitting in your office freezing because of chilly weather outside or baking because of accumulated solar heat, you have a problem. And Serious Energy has the solution: the iWindow. It's an easy-to-install window we've created to help better insulate your building. The iWindow snaps into existing frames over the top of existing windows: no disruption to people indoors, no high installation costs. Fast. Easy.

And to let the world know about them, we're holding the "I Want New Windows" contest. Write in why your building needs new windows and you could be one of the winners of 250 square feet of iWindows. (click here to enter) or vote for one of the entrants. (See list here.) We will later tally the votes and select the winners.

Today's entry comes from Tanya W in Northern California. Unlike Nash in Montana, who is freezing, Tanya is being pounded by the heat:

Today's entry comes from Judy from Pennsylvania who works in a building that she says is stuck in the past:

"We in central PA tend to be 10 - 15 years behind the market for these sorts of technologies. It would be great for you to select this building -- a typical mixed use; older building commonly found in many older cities in the US -- so you can demonstrate how effective your product is for retrofitting older buildings."

Vote for Judy if you want her to jump into the modern age, or send us your own tale worthy of an extreme makeover.

Claire Broido Johnson, general manager of SeriousCapital, will host a webinar tomorrow at the Yale Center For Business and the Environment, on how energy efficiency is fast becoming a service.

We recently attended the Clinton Global Initiative 2011, in NYC, and had an amazing time learning about the exciting and important projects that community leaders, around the globe, are currently working on.

You can watch the full panel discussion here: