Championing the Changemakers
Championing the Changemakers in Sustainable Design & Building
Image: Piranka
The Waltham High School project by Consigli Construction participated in the Contractor’s Commitment. (Photo: Mortiz Schmid, Consigli Construction Co., Inc.)
Feature article
Constructing Change: The Contractor’s Commitment
The Contractor’s Commitment to Sustainable Building Practices calls on construction firms to practice green building on the jobsite and beyond. Here’s why the whole industry needs to get behind it.
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Now Updated!
WELL v2 AP Study Guide
Our WELL AP exam prep materials are now updated to the latest version based on the actual v2 exam! Know what you need to know and what to remember.
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Photo: Benjamin Benschneider
Niews Brief
The Investigation That’s Killing the Solar Industry
More than 300 solar energy projects have been canceled or delayed as the U.S. Department of Commerce investigates China. And SEIA forecasts that the solar power installations will be down by 46% for 2022 and 2023.
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Mohawk’s EcoFlex One cushioned carpet backing has improved environmental performance and manages moisture well, simplifying installation. (Photo: Mohawk Group)
Product Review
Offsetting the Impacts of Cushioned Carpet Tile
Mohawk uses high recycled content and carbon offsets to reduce the embodied carbon of its EcoFlex One cushioned carpet tile.
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Spark Therapeutics research lab and office uses smart glass in its skylight. (Photo: Jacobs; Jeffrey Totaro, 2021)
Feature Article + CEU Spotlight Report
Is Using Smart Glass Smart?
Electrochromic glazing holds the promise of less glare and better energy efficiency with fewer attachments. The reality is much more complicated.
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News Brief
Drastic Water Restrictions Early this Year in California
Unprecedented water restrictions have been ordered for more than 6.6 million residents in Southern California. The goal is to reduce overall water consumption by 35%.
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News Brief
Thousands of PFAS Compounds added to ILFI Red List
The International Living Future Institute has added thousands of PFAS compounds to its Living Building Challenge Red List.
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News Brief
Washington Is First State to Electrify New Construction
A mandate to require all-electric heating and to restrict the use of natural gas in commercial and multifamily construction has been passed in Washington state.
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OP-ED
LEED Must Lead on Climate
The world urgently needs the building industry to tackle climate change, and LEED has to be part of that.
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OP-ED
USGBC Response: Help Create the Next LEED version
USGBC responds to an earlier op-ed, “LEED Must Lead on Climate.”
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Kährs Upofloor offers Zero Sheet, shown here, as well as Zero Tile. (Photo: Kährs Upofloor)
Product Review
Resilient Flooring: Finding the Green Sweet Spot
What’s the best resilient flooring? Is resilient flooring even sustainable?
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Featured Topic
Explore our full knowledge base »
Aerial view of 2015 flooding in Harris County, Texas. (Photo: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)
Resilient Design
Resilience is the capacity to adapt to changing conditions and to maintain or regain functionality and vitality in the face of stress or disturbance. It is the capacity to bounce back after a disturbance or interruption.
LEARN THE BASICS
- Washington D.C. Releases Resilient Design Guidelines
- Standard Effective Temperature: A Metric for Thermal Comfort and Resilience
- DC Power Supply Integrates AC and Renewables
GO DEEPER
- An Advocate’s Guide to Resilience Regulations
- Focus on Resilient Housing
- The Four Core Issues to Tackle for Resilient Design (And the Programs That Can Help)
- When Hurricane Harvey Hit, the Texas Medical Center Stood Ready
RELATED TOPICS
Explore our full knowledge base »
Maintain Your Credentials
Constructing Change: The Contractor’s Commitment
Health and wellness are in high demand in sustainable design. Soft daylight, superb indoor air quality, enhanced thermal comfort, great ergonomics … all these design elements and more are becoming standard for students, patients, and office workers. There is a stubborn gap between green design and green building. But a group of industry leaders is out to close it with a program called the Contractor’s Commitment to Sustainable Building Practices. In this course, you’ll learn all about the new commitment—who’s signed, why it’s important, and the impact it’s already having on the industry.
Is Using Smart Glass Smart?
The sun streaming into our buildings can be both a benefit and a nuisance. Controlling its glare and solar heat gain in order to maximize energy efficiency, occupant comfort, and views to the outdoors is difficult. In commercial offices and all-glass buildings, the impacts are multiplied. Low-e glazing and exterior or interior shading systems are most often used to manage daylight, but there is another option—electrochromic glazing, sometimes called smart glass, switchable glass, dynamic glazing, and other names (in this report, we’re going to call it “smart glass” and are not covering thermochromic and other light-blocking glazing technologies).
Waste Not, Want Not: Case Studies of Building Material Reuse
The construction sector’s take-make-waste approach to materials needs an overhaul. Materials and construction account for an estimated 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions annually. At the other end of the life cycle, demolition in the United States annually generates 90% of some 600 million tons of construction-sector debris. Getting trashed alongside are the cultural, economic, and environmental values those materials embody. Indications are, though, that this staggering, decades-long profligacy is about to change.
No more red lines: Undoing Our Legacy of Urban Segregation
Although disparities between predominantly white and predominantly non-white neighborhoods go back hundreds of years, 20th-century government-sponsored discrimination was a key turning point in segregating our cities, creating the maps we have today. In fact, it all began with maps—maps released during the New Deal era by the Federal Housing Agency (FHA).
The beneficial intersections of Energy, Resilience, and Health
How can the returns of sustainable building strategies with less quantifiable benefits, like resilience and wellness, be paired with more predictable returns of energy efficiency to calculate an overall return on investment? Where are we in the market in terms of sustainable building codes, and how much do we need to improve beyond code to get to high-performance, resilient, and wellness-oriented designs?
The Building Green guide to thermal insulation
The BuildingGreen Guide to Thermal Insulation provides detailed guidance on insulation products and practices, including recommendations on what insulation to use and what to avoid. It's a treasure trove of information for architects and designers, builders, and anyone who is actively considering the impact of insulation on the quality of your indoor environment and the world.
Spec this not that
Designers and specifiers from numerous leading firms are figuring out that it is possible to identify healthier products and materials and still create gorgeous, energy-efficient, occupant-friendly buildings—without busting budgets or getting overwhelmed by complex health and chemical data.
Lighting Design for Health and Sustainability: A Guide for Architects
What do we mean when we say sustainable lighting? In this PDF report, we take a closer look at lighting as an essential element in quality environments that support health and wellness while reducing energy use.
