The Big Picture
It’s easy to get caught up in the details—earning one more LEED point or getting that documentation you need for recycled content.
But it’s a lot easier to achieve all the project goals if the owner and the whole project team are in agreement about why you’re putting in all this work in the first place. Stuff like:
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slowing down climate change
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dealing with global water shortages
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avoiding depletion of nonrenewable resources
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preventing public health problems associated with manufacturing
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righting social wrongs
Here we set the scene, providing context that can help get—and keep—everyone on the same page about project goals.
The Big Picture
Deep Dives
Get up to speed on complex topics. You can also earn CEUs and download PDF Spotlight Reports.
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Wal-Mart: Every Day Low... Impact?
Feature
The world's largest company claims to have embraced environmental responsibility in everything from its supply chains to its waste stream, with goals of creating a prototype store with 30% lower greenhouse gas emissions within four years and doubling trucking efficiency within ten years. But how big a difference can the shift make, and is it enough?
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Passive Survivability: A New Design Criterion for Buildings
Feature
Buildings and their occupants are vulnerable to threats ranging from storms and rising sea levels to accidents and terrorism. In this feature article, EBN describes how to design and construct buildings to maintain livable conditions in the event of extended power outages or loss of heating fuel or water.
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Greening Your Electricity
Feature
Many businesses and homeowners are choosing to buy green power, including renewable energy credits (RECs). This article examines the environmental benefits of green power, including on-site renewables, what REC buyers should know about their purchases, and investing in energy conservation.
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Climate Change Dominates Greenbuild Conference Agenda
Feature
With several announcements at the 2006 Greenbuild conference in Denver, the U.S. Green Building Council signaled that it would use its LEED Rating System to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, by tightening LEED requirements and by increasing the number of buildings designed to LEED standards.
Quick Takes
Jump straight to the essentials with these short explanations of green building concepts.
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Weighting Environmental Impact Categories
Explainer
Life-cycle assessments (LCAs) score products or design options across a series of environmental impact categories. To compare two products with different impact profiles, it becomes necessary to weight those categories, a difficult process.
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Using Fly Ash in Concrete
Explainer
Fly ash lowers the environmental footprint of concrete and improves durability. Pouring and curing concrete with high levels of fly ash requires special treatment.
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Synthetic Gypsum
Explainer
Synthetic gypsum, used in drywall, is chemically the same as virgin gypsum but is created from a byproduct of coal-fired power plants. Are designer and contractor concerns about heavy metal contamination justified?
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The Precautionary Principle
Explainer
The precautionary principle employs "guilty until proven innocent" methodology, and suggests that we should avoid using questionable chemicals and materials until we know they're safe.
Product Guidance
Unbiased information from our product experts helps you separate green from greenwash.
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Building a Better Building Block-Pozzotive Plus
Product Review
Kingston Block & Masonry Supply has introduced a line of CMUs and concrete facing brick made with a post-consumer-recycled-glass pozzolan substituting for 30% of the portland cement as well as about 50% post-consumer recycled aggregate.
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LED Systems Provide Huge Energy Savings for Jobsite Lighting
Product Review
New LED technology is revolutionizing lighting on construction sites, but investing in the high-performing fixtures is a challenge for contractors who are used to disposable strings of light bulbs.
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Prize-Winning LED Outdoor Area Light
Product Review
EvoLucia's SCH cobra head uses the company's "Aimed Optics" technology to direct light from the LEDs onto an even pattern on the ground, maximizing the efficacy of the light.
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BioPCM: Finally, a Low-Cost, Practical Phase-Change Material
Product Review
A sea change for phase-change materials? BioPCM brings phase change into the 21st century with biobased mats.
In The News
We break news down to the essentials and provide expert analysis.
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AIA, BuildingGreen Ink Deal
News Analysis
A new agreement will bring BuildingGreen's resources to AIA's 77,000 members through AIA publications and member discounts on BuildingGreen Suite subscriptions.
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California Builders Pay for Degrading Air Quality
News Analysis
California's Central Valley, contender for the nation's worst air quality, will require builders to reduce the smog and particulate matter their projects cause, or pay into offsite air-quality improvement programs.
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USGBC Forms Research Committee
News Analysis
The U.S. Green Building Council's new Research Committee will strengthen the organization's role as a driver of research on the built environment.
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USGBC, ASHRAE, and IESNA to Develop a Green Building Standard
News Analysis
The proposed Standard 189P, to be modeled after LEED®, could get incorporated into building codes after it's rolled out in 2007.
Perspective
Thought-provoking opinions from the most trusted minds in sustainability.
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Staffing Changes at EBN
Op-Ed
EBN announces changes to its editorial team.
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When It's Greener To Build
Op-Ed
Building green is not just about reducing environmental impacts, but also about valuing the human need for harmony with the natural and built environments.
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Bringing Water Back into the Discussion
Op-Ed
Most Americans treat freshwater as if it were limitless and free, even as water shortage is becoming a reality in many areas of the United States. But there are many cost-effective ways to reduce that consumption.
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BuildingGreen Partners with Taunton Press
Op-Ed
BuildingGreen, publisher of Environmental Building News, announces a partnership with Taunton Press, publisher of Fine Homebuilding.
Learning Resources
Syllabus supplements and CEU content, with automatic reporting for AIA and GBCI.
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The Contractor’s Commitment: Lessons from the First Year
Webcast
The new “Contractor’s Commitment to Sustainable Building Practices" calls on firms to practice green building on the jobsite and beyond.
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ESG for AEC: Does it Change How We Approach Green Building?
Webcast
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting is an increasingly common expectation throughout financial sectors, and the real estate industry is no exception.
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The BuildingGreen Guide to ESG
PDF Guide
How to keep up with the environmental, social, and governance programs that are changing the building industry.
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ESG Deep Dive: A Virtual Roundtable
Webcast
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) programs and reporting platforms are changing how companies do business—including how they think about their building portfolios. These programs, along with emerging public policy, are driving more and more organizations toward decarbonization and other sustainable development goals.
Just For Fun
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