I've spent the last few years at BuildingGreen knee-deep in products research.

I'm a co-editor of GreenSpec—our print directory and web database of hand-picked, environmentally preferable products; and a co-editor of Green Building Products, a BuildingGreen book from New Society Publishers. I'm also an associate editor for our respected monthly professional journal, Environmental Building News.

Not done yet. I'm also the products editor for GreenSource, the member publication for the U.S. Green Building Council. BuildingGreen is a content collaborator that stunning magazine with McGraw-Hill, its publisher. Several personnel here are also on the masthead there.

For a couple years in the late '90s, I was the editor of The Last Straw, the international newsletter about strawbale construction and natural building. Yeah, I'm one of those people... but if you want to talk about something like nonchemical cooling tower water treatment systems, or bisphenol-A as a chemical precursor in the manufacture of epoxies and polycarbonates, I'm up for that too. There are plenty of envelopes to push, and I'm fortunate to be among some of the best envelope-pushers anywhere—you, reader, among them.

Over the years I've spent too much time on the internet, embarrassing myself as often as not. I'm pleased to be able to continue that tradition.

The photo was taken by Bill Steen outside the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, on the Capitol Mall in Washington D.C., during the creation of the Always Becoming sculpture installation. I didn't know he took it until it showed up in my email. If, when you looked at the picture, you said to yourself, "Hey—that's a psychrometric chart on his shirt," you might be a building science geek.

Interesting how it's at once forward-looking and backward.

These shorts were filmed at West Coast Green; for more like them, see revision.tv.

As a follow-on to The Great Passivhaus Face-off, take a look at this commentary from a couple years ago in the wake of a visit to Passivhaus examples in Germany by a couple well-informed British authors and researchers — The Passive House: thoughts and reflections.

It begins, "There were a couple of moments when the PassivHaus study tour seemed to lose all contact with normality and enter into a surrealist daydream..."

Two guys were walking down the hall. Professional-looking guys, architectorial. One of them said to the other, "It's called, um, energy... recovery ventilator."

BAM! That's what it's about. Yeah, there's greenwash, there's cynicism, there's impatience. But there's also people finding their way forward. We're all spread out along the learning curve, and that's something I have a difficult time keeping in mind. It's easy to feel like everything's too-little-too-late, and hard for me to give credit for good intentions where it's due.

And with that, I'm going to break with the blogging. I have an early flight, and am going to get ready for that. Perish the thought, I'm even going to skip our after-party. (Hey, it's my birthday — I'll do what I want.)

I may follow up with more yet today, depending on how tired I am after I get packed up and ready to flee. But most likely, the deluge will abate...

It was formulated specifically for bamboo, Smith told me, and they expect to have a complete conversion of their plywood and flooring by the first quarter of 2010 — no more MDI (their current zero-VOC offering — which is zero-VOC for the consumer, but not for the fabricating workers), and no more PF. Both of those adhesives will be discontinued in favor of the new SoyBond.

It's a move up in pretty much every way, he said: Better for the makers, the users, and the environment. "At the end of the lifecycle, having an organic based adhesive that will break down better than other current alternatives is a step forward all by itself — but it also really responds to the challenge of working in China." (See Bamboo in Construction: Is the Grass Always Greener?)

Their non-emitting MDI line carried a bit of a price premium over the low-emitting PF line; now, all product will be non-emitting. It seems that the price difference that existed between the two lines will about average out — it will all be the most righteous glued-bamboo stuff available, and will cost less than the previous most righteous glued-bamboo stuff available due to manufacturing economics. It's easier to make more of one line than less of two, even if there's no cost savings on the resin.

Testing to verify compliance with California 1350 begins next week.

As you'll recall, these are also the folks who offered the first FSC certified bamboo products.

I normally post the Top-10 green building products list just as Alex is starting the presentation. And this year, I just totally spaced it out.

BuildingGreen Announces 2009 Top-10 Green Building Products

Phoenix, AZ, November 12, 2009 — BuildingGreen, LLC, publisher of the GreenSpec Directory and Environmental Building News, today announced the 2009 Top-10 Green Building Products. This eighth annual award, announced at the U.S. Green Building Council's Greenbuild Conference, recognizes the most exciting products drawn from recent additions to the GreenSpec directory and coverage in Environmental Building News.

"Our selections of the Top-10 Green Building Products represent a wide range of product types in many different application areas," noted BuildingGreen founder and executive editor Alex Wilson. This year's list is particularly diverse, ranging from a recycled-content concrete block, to a flywheel energy storage system for data centers, a mobile solar generator for job-site power, and an advanced modular classroom for schools.

Energy-saving products among the Top-10 include a line of mineral wool insulation, an integrated rain-screen / insulation wall cladding for commercial buildings, a heat-pump water heater, and an energy control system for lighting in commercial buildings. A structural matrix system, Silva Cell, provides a support system for urban tree roots, helping trees survive in largely impervious environments and helping to manage stormwater runoff.

One of the nation's most innovative furniture makers, Baltix, is being recognized for new products that incorporate a variety of biobased, FSC-certified, and recycled-content materials. "Many of the Top-10 products this year have multiple environmental attributes," said Wilson.

BuildingGreen's Top-10 product selections, as in previous years, are drawn from new additions to the company's GreenSpec product directory. About 200 product listings have been added to the GreenSpec database during the past year. "New products are being introduced all the time, making it a challenge for our staff to keep up," said Wilson. [No kidding — Mark] "We also continue to come across products that have been on the market for years, but were under our radar screen." The GreenSpec database includes more than 2,100 product listings.

A major driver of the development of green products continues to be the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Rating System (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), which awards points for the use of certain product types, such as certified wood, or for the energy savings that green products can achieve. "Designers of LEED buildings are looking for green products, and manufacturers are responding," said Wilson. In the online version of GreenSpec, users can find products organized by LEED credits as well as by building category and the CSI MasterFormat structure.

The 2009 Top-10 Green Building Products are listed below. Complete descriptions and contact information are provided on BuildingGreen.com:

• Pozzotive Plus CMUs and Concrete Brick from Kingston Block
• Thermafiber Mineral Wool Insulation Products
• Invelope Integrated Wall Insulation and Rainscreen System
• Baltix Recycled- and Biobased-Content Office Furniture
• Project FROG Modular Green Classroom
• Rheem HP-50 Heat-Pump Water Heater
• Convia Energy-Management Infrastructure
• Pentadyne GTX Flywheel Energy Storage
• Silva Cell Subsurface Tree Protection and Stormwater System
• Mobile Solar Power Generator

Our booth is all about LEEDuser.com this year, fresh from its full launch. Throughout the Expo we've had guest experts from the LEEDuser team in to discuss specific LEED points. I've been tasked with videotaping those smart people talking about this fascinating stuff — fascinating for anybody who happens to be bent that way, not just LEEDies. The schedule has included:

• Josh Radoff of YRG Sustainability on NC SSc8: Light Pollution Reduction
  
  
• Penny Bonda on CI MRc3: Materials Reuse
  
  
• Erik Dyrr of KEMA Services on CS EAc1: Optimize Energy Performance
  
  
• Carli Bullock Jones on CI IEQc8.1: Daylight and Views — Daylight
  
  
• Lauren Yarmuth of YRG Sustainability on NC WEc2: Innovative Wastewater Technologies
  
  
• Chris Lander of Veridian on NC WEc2: Enhanced Commissioning
  
  
• Jenny Carney of YRG Sustainability on EBOM WEp1: Minimum Indoor Plumbing Fixture and Fitting Efficiency
  
  
• Nadav Malin of BuildingGreen – LEEDuser on NC MRc5: Regional Materials
  
  
• Valerie Walsh of LEED Management Services on NC MRc2: Construction Waste Management

The idea is that parts or all of this footage will end up on LEEDuser.

Even though I haven't been getting around the floor all that much this year, I suspect the post-show repercussions will be more intense than usual. Jane Kolleeny, the tireless Managing Editor of GreenSource, has been doing an amazing job of handing out my cards at booths with potential GreenSource products as she makes her rounds. Never has my contact information been distributed with such frequency and intensity. Go Jane go! Where does she get the energy? (Where will I?)