Opinion

Drinking the Heat Pump Kool-Aid

Reader Thomas McGrath questions the choice of heat pumps over other forms of space heating.
Environmental Building News—November 1, 2009

Polystyrene's Track Record

Steve Russell, of the American Chemistry Council, suggests that the hazards associated with polystyrene are being overblown.
Environmental Building News—October 1, 2009

Watch for Other Toxics

Two architects argue that some of the alternatives to polystyrene, such as polyurethane, come with their own hazards.
Environmental Building News—October 1, 2009

HBCD Isn’t the Only Problem

Tom Lent argues that we should be looking beyond HBCD when thinking about toxic chemicals.
Environmental Building News—October 1, 2009

Polystyrene Chemicals Widespread

Polystyrene chemicals may be more widespread than most people think.
Environmental Building News—October 1, 2009

Changing Practices

A reader reports on changing his building practices with inspiration from Environmental Building News.
Environmental Building News—October 1, 2009

Rethinking Polystyrene Insulation

We should avoid using polystyrene made with the flame retardant HBCD in our buildings, using rigid mineral wool, polyurethane, cellulose, or other alternatives instead.
Environmental Building News—August 1, 2009

R-etro Leaves Some Gaps Unfilled

Reader Paul Eldrenkamp argues that although the R-etro foam insulation system makes installation easy, it doesn't make tricky detailing any easier.
Environmental Building News—August 1, 2009

BuildingGreen Launches LEEDuser

LEEDuser, BuildingGreen's new online resource, provides tips, strategies, and a documentation toolkit for project teams pursuing LEED certification.
Environmental Building News—July 1, 2009

Defining the Goal

A series of deceptively simple challenges have attempted to clarify what "green" building is, but have failed to set truly measurable goals.
Environmental Building News—June 1, 2009
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Join the Discussion!

Ezkote Green

Mark Piepkorn says, “Looks like we were following the same path at the same time. :)” More...

Mark Piepkorn says, “Hi Tom - yeah, this is confusing. It's made by a subsidiary of US Mix, US Spec. Through some convoluted...” More...

Tom Curtin says, “found it at us spec.com” More...

Tom Curtin says, “Does not appear on manufactuer website!!” More...


CBRE Experiments With One-Day Energy Reductions

Allyson Wendt says, “Ethan, I just looked back at their press release, and those savings figures are for the single day (it isn't...” More...

Ethan Goldman says, “It's impressive that they were able to coordinate and move that fast (though I would be shocked if all the...” More...


Green Roof Study Finds Big Variation in Stormwater Retention

David Lanfear says, “I am appreciative of this testing and am very interested in the ongoing findings. As I research and develop living...” More...


Structure as Finish: The Pros and Cons of Leaving Off Layers

David Ottavio says, “Thank you both for your comments. The project that we are looking in to using this type of system is...” More...

Martin Holladay says, “David, While earth tubes were promoted in the late 1990s and early years of this century by Passivhaus Institut founder Wolfgang...” More...

Alex Wilson says, “There was a lot of interest in earth tubes to temper or preheat air for ventilation back in the '80s...” More...

David Ottavio says, “We are looking at incorporating earth ducts into the cooling strategy for a project in the early stage of design. I'd...” More...


2030 E2

Allyson Wendt says, “Hi Bill, I haven't seen anything like that--tools that really measure triple bottom line metrics are just starting to be developed.” More...

William Marston says, “Is anyone aware of someone working on such a tool aimed at the 350ppm target? Of course such a tool must...” More...