Ever since the premier of USGBC's two-day REGREEN workshop in Phoenix, AZ at Greenbuild last November, Annette, Rob, and I have been gearing up for a slew of green remodeling workshops across the country -- the REGREEN Roadshow. The REGREEN workshops are a lot of fun to teach (and take) for two reasons: one, the blend of builder/remodeler with interior design perspectives is completely refreshing; and two, the substantial and substantive group work woven into the workshop makes for an energetic and invigorating approach.

Now you might be saying to yourself: What? Interior designers and hard-core building science-builder types making sweet music together? You would be surprised at how well these perspectives can inform each other. Here is just one example:

Your clients TELL you they want new replacement windows. But what they actually want is to keep the way their windows currently look, not spend too much, and get real performance improvements (in terms of energy efficiency, thermal comfort, and daylighting -- without overheating during the summer). Whew. So you sit down with an interior designer, and all of the sudden you need to compare about a dozen options -- sash replacements, window films, cellular shades, awnings, shutters -- all with real (but different) advantages. What started as a rather simple choice ends up to be quite a puzzle, based on a weaving of sometimes competing aspects: energy efficiency, lighting, views, privacy, cost, comfort, even noise. It's just as much about interior design as it is hard-core remodeling.

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The last couple weeks I've written about two of the common myths of green building: that it has to cost more to build green and that green building is mostly about materials. This week I'll cover another myth: that green building products don't perform as well as conventional products.

A lot of people still point to products like early water-saving toilets, compact-fluorescent lamps, and recycled-plastic-lumber decking as evidence that new-fangled green products don't work very well. Clearly, there were some poorly performing products out there as manufacturers scrambled to respond to consumer demand and new regulations. But, for the most part, we've climbed up that learning curve, and current-generation products work very well.

Let's take a look at the history of a few of these product categories.

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The following is a video that we recorded at our booth at the 2009 Greenbuild conference, when we transformed BuildingGreen's booth into the "Ask LEEDuser" experience, including talks on specific credits from LEEDuser's "guest experts"--the top LEED minds on specific LEED credits.

Here, Joshua Radoff of YRG sustainability reviews some of the key considerations behind achieving SSc8: Light Pollution Reduction in the 2009 NC, CS, and Schools rating systems. (Links go to further guidance on the LEEDuser site.)

Josh covers what you have to do in terms of interior AND exterior lighting, and what you need from your designer. A highly recommended two minutes and 21 seconds!

Go figure I'd finish a feature article (Chemistry for Designers: Understanding Hazards in Building Products) saying there's no certification in the USA for products that are hazard-free and immediately a label gets launched. That's ok, I have no complaints with things moving fast in this field.

I haven't dug into the details enough to vouch for this system yet – but the Hazardous Substance Free product label (HSF Mark), launched March 1, looks pretty good at first glance, though only for powered products (appliances, heating & cooling equipment, lighting, and home and office electronics).

Products with the HSF Mark meet hazard restrictions set by ROHS, WEEE, or REACH (three European regulations addressing respectively, hazards in electronics, electronic waste, and a more general overarching program on chemical hazards in products). This means these products may still include listed hazards at the reduced levels acceptable in the regulation, or hazards we don't know about. But this is about as good as it gets right now, until people start proactively looking at hazardous properties instead of specific listed chemicals (the GreenScreen and BASTA systems mentioned in the feature article do this, but it's rare).

To use the HSF Mark, Manufacturers (and their supply chain) have to engage in a "hazardous substance process management (HSPM) system, which includes a 3rd party assessment and annual surveillance – so rather than just testing the specific product, they're looking at the whole process, which I think is better in the long run. The plan is to have an online database of these products – supposedly there are over 2000 certified HSPM companies now with products that qualify now - but we'll have to wait and see if this turns out to be truly useful to purchasers in the US.

Last week I wrote about one of the common myths of green building: that it has to cost more to build green. This week, I'll tackle another myth: that green building is mostly about materials.

This isn't quite as significant a misconception as it was a few years ago, but there are still a lot of people who think green building is largely about using products that are made from recycled waste materials, or agricultural products, or rapidly renewable products like bamboo. It is still common to hear about how "green" a building is because of the recycled-glass tiles in the entrance foyer or the carpet that's made from recycled soda bottles.

Using recycled-content and bio-based materials is a great idea, but materials are only one--relatively small--aspect of green design. Usually more important are the following:

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We've been writing about the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) in Environmental Building News since the organization was created in 1993. We've watched as FSC pushed the mainstream forest products industry toward more responsible forestry practices even as that industry fought to prevent or slow the adoption of the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Rating system because it awarded points for use of FSC-certified wood exclusively. And we've continued to recognize FSC-certified wood products through EBN product reviews and listings in our GreenSpec Directory.

One of my frustrations with FSC-certified products has long been that they almost always involve an upcharge over standard non-FSC-certified products. It's great that Marvin Windows or Armstrong Flooring offers FSC-certified products, but because the FSC wood is an option--a fairly expensive option--relatively little ends up getting specified.

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We've just filmed Episode #1 of our new LEED update show! We've got:

• A Tip of the Day (on LEED BD&C SSc8),
• A Q&A on LEED's Minimum Program Requirements featuring a discussion on LEED site boundaries by Phoebe Kincaid and Shannon Gray,
• and I can't say what the last item is, but let's just say that it involves WEc3 and a single guy walking into a LEED-certified bar and ordering a drink.

Check it out, and let us know what you think in the comments below. Questions or comments on the show? Email tristan@LEEDuser.com.

Even if a small house has lower levels of insulation than a larger house, it's likely to cost less to heat. 1. R-19 walls, R-30 ceilings, double-low-e (U=0.36) vinyl windows, R-4.4 doors, infiltration of .50 ACH, and R-6 ducts in attic; 2. R-13 walls, R-19 attic, insulated glass vinyl windows, R-2.1 doors, infiltration of .50 ACH, and uninsulated ducts; 3. Natural gas at $0.50 per therm; 4. Electricity at $0.10 per kWh.

Having written about green building for more than twenty years now, I've encountered lots of misperceptions. One of those is that green building always has to cost a lot more than conventional building. There are plenty of examples where it does cost more (sometimes significantly more), but it doesn't have to, and green choices can even reduce costs in some cases. Let me explain.

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Simple is good, but high-tech can be really cool. In the case of the Parans fiber-optic daylighting system (distributed in the U.S. by HUVCO), high-tech lets you distribute daylight up to sixty feet via optical cables--bringing full-spectrum natural light to various spaces within a home or commercial building.

Here's how it works: Sunlight is collected by one or more Swedish-made Parans solar panels mounted on the roof or a wall. A 39" by 39" (1 m²) SP2 solar panel has 62 Fresnel lenses, each of which focuses sunlight into a tiny optical fiber that's just 3/100ths of an inch (0.75 mm) in diameter. These 62 fibers are joined together into four bundles, each about a quarter-inch (6 mm) in diameter. These fiber bundles can transmit the light more than 66 feet (20 meters), delivering daylight to rooms on lower floors or interior. Five different luminaires are available for delivering light to occupied spaces.

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I'm a "Legacy LEED AP"--one of the 150,000 or so people who became LEED APs before the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) retired the old exam and overhauled the LEED AP program in 2009.

I've got questions. Is it worth opting in to the new system of LEED AP + a.k.a. LEED AP "with specialty"? GBCI is allowing legacies to opt into the new system until 2011 without having to take the new exam. If I opt in, how do I satisfy the 30 hours of continuing education requirements I'll be beholden to? Is that something I can do with a mix of presenting, self-study, LEED project work, and Greenbuild attendance, or will I have to seek out additional avenues?

If you're a LEED Green Associate (LEED GA) or already a LEED AP + you might share some of these questions.

The person I've been turning to for help lately is Mara Baum, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, EDAC, of Anshen + Allen. In her words: "When GBCI came out with the new LEED AP credentialing maintenance program last spring, I started to evaluate the program for our firm's 75+ LEED APs. What started as a quick look at GBCI's handbook evolved into a major research project."

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