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:
-
slowing down climate change
-
dealing with global water shortages
-
avoiding depletion of nonrenewable resources
-
preventing public health problems associated with manufacturing
-
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.
-
Equity in Design and Construction: Seven Case Studies
Feature Article
From an affordable multifamily building to an iconic museum, these projects are designed and built to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion -
Re-forming the Building Industry: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Feature Article
People from marginalized communities are shockingly underrepresented in the U.S. building industry. It’s past time to change that.
-
Passive House on Campus: Eight Exemplary Projects
Feature Article
Passive House has energy, carbon, and comfort benefits for higher ed. But getting the details right isn’t easy.
-
The Urgency of Embodied Carbon and What You Can Do about It
Feature Article
Building materials emit massive amounts of carbon long before the lights go on. Here’s how thoughtful design can reduce global warming impact.
Quick Takes
Jump straight to the essentials with these short explanations of green building concepts.
-
The 8 Shades of Greenwash: How Many Do You Recognize?
Infographic
Most building products these days have an environmental angle to their sales pitches. Many are legit, but as ever, you still have to watch for the telltale signs of greenwash—the practice of inventing or exaggerating the environmental benefits of a product.
-
The Living Building Challenge Loves Me... It Loves Me Not
Infographic
Each Living Building Challenge (LBC) petal can elevate teams to new heights—or at times be the cause of unrequited love.
-
Our Buildings Are Killing Our Oceans
Primer
Carbon is more deadly than many other toxic substances we fret about every day. And acidification might be more of a problem than climate change.
-
Net-Positive, Regenerative Design, and Other Ways Buildings Can Do Good
Primer
Instead of making a big fat net-zero your goal, regenerative design encourages whole-systems thinking and projects that actually add benefit to the environment.
Product Guidance
Unbiased information from our product experts helps you separate green from greenwash.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
In The News
We break news down to the essentials and provide expert analysis.
-
At COP26, a United Plea for Climate Policy
News Brief
Leading AEC firms and organizations are challenging governments to step up climate commitments in a “1.5ºC Communiqué.”
-
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Transforming the Building Industry
News Brief
The BuildUp 2030 Framework from the Institute for Market Transformation is a comprehensive guide to radically reshaping the building industry.
-
A Resilient Government: Federal Agencies Respond to Climate Change
News Brief
With the release of new climate adaptation plans, EPA, GSA, and other agencies detail how their buildings will become more resilient.
-
States Wrestle with Making Net Metering More Equitable
News Analysis
California has blown open a debate about net metering and whether some rollbacks might be needed to ensure a more equitable and resilient grid.
Perspective
Thought-provoking opinions from the most trusted minds in sustainability.
-
After the Pandemic, What’s Next for the Building Industry?
Op-Ed
How will the AEC industry—what we build and how we work—change post-pandemic? We asked leading lights in the green building world.
-
Earth Day’s 50th Anniversary
Op-Ed
Fifty years out, the increased awareness of the environment is heartwarming and the accomplishments significant, but our challenges are greater than ever.
-
Let’s Bounce Forward from the COVID-19 Pandemic
Op-Ed
What lessons can we learn from the coronavirus pandemic that will help us end up in a better place when the crisis is over?
-
The Green New Deal—an Opportunity for the Green Building Industry
Op-Ed
Achieving the goals of the Green New Deal will be tremendously challenging—but not impossible.
Learning Resources
Syllabus supplements and CEU content, with automatic reporting for AIA and GBCI.
-
Resilient Design-Smarter Building for a Turbulent Future
Feature Article
Resilience is the new green. With decades of green building experience, we are ready to face climate change.
-
The Problem with Net-Zero Buildings (and the Case for Net-Zero Neighborhoods)
Feature Article
It can be tough to make an individual building into a zero energy building, while working at the community scale can offer up opportunities for energy efficiency and cost-effective renewable energy generation.
-
Wood: What’s Good?
Spotlight Report
Mass timber is lauded for being “climate smart”—meaning it helps mitigate climate change—because it stores carbon from the atmosphere instead of emitting carbon.
But is this true? -
Re-forming the Building Industry: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Spotlight Report
People from marginalized communities are shockingly underrepresented in the U.S. building industry. It’s past time to change that.
