Women and men are constantly compared to each other with touchy results (look no further than the race for the Democratic nomination for proof) and sustainability is no different. So what does this mean in Seattle? A panel at the AIA’s ReGeneration conference Monday will try to find out.

What do you think? Is one gender more prone to green living, building and working? Or are both perfectly equal?

The “Women in Green panel” from 1:30 to 3 p.m. on Monday will bravely delve into the subject of gender and sustainability. Here in Seattle, there’s no question that many of the brightest (and most powerful) green minds are women. Four of them - Anne Schopf of Mahlum, Lucia Athens of the city of Seattle’s Green Building Program, Amanda Sturgeon of Perkins + Will, and Judith Heerwagen, an environmental psychologist, will flesh out the issue.

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So you know what the greenest projects in the Puget Sound are…. but what about the country? If you want to find out, the AIA will host a reception in Seattle FOR FREE on April 6 that features submissions and project judging for the year’s AIA COTE Top Ten Green Projects. 

But to attend, you have to register first, and being a high profile event, this might fill up quickly. To do that, press here.

To whet your appetite for what you’ll see, I’ve included pictures of last year’s winners. The picture above is the Hawaii Gateway Energy Center in Kailua-Kona, Hi., by Ferraro Choi and Associates. The middle picture is Heifer International Headquarters in Little Rock, Ak., by Polk Stanley Rowland Curzon Porter Architects. The last picture is the Whitney Water Purification Facility in New Haven, Ct., by Steven Holl Architects.

Award judges include Glenn Murcutt, winner of the 2002 Pritzker Prize. The award winners will be not be announced until Earth Day.

The reception and viewing of award submissions will be at Kane Hall at the University of Washington from 6 to 8 p.m. This is the first year since the AIA COTE’s inception that the judging for the awards is taking place outside of Washington, D.C.

For more information on the awards, go here, or to check out a list of past winners and more photos, press here .