We need to create buildings and communities that are more resilient to natural disasters and other shocks. These building products can help.
[Editor's note: Today's guest post is authored by Bill Walsh, Executive Director of the Healthy Building Network.]
When building products carry different green certifications, how do you know which product is best? Maybe there is a way to compare apples and oranges.As green certifications and labels have proliferated, so has greenwash. Even among legitimate certifications, conflicts and inconsistency have made them hard to understand.
What do you get when you cross National Poetry Month with National Architecture Week? We'll find out when you enter the first-ever BuildingGreen Haiku Contest!
Submit by Tuesday, April 10. You don't have to make one of these cute "haiku huts" to enter, but if you want to build one, click the photo to find the instructions on the Storyboard Toys website.
The incandescent ban is here, but LEDs have improved rapidly in the last couple of years and there are now several bulbs that meet Energy Star criteria.
Toshiba's A19 450-lumen LED bulb is the equivalent of a 40-watt incandescent bulb yet only consumes 8.4 watts.
We've been hearing for years that "they're going to ban the incandescent bulb"--is that for real?
Thanks to LEED and other standards, everyone's doing daylighting now--but not everyone is getting it right. Here's how it goes wrong--and how to do it right.
The Seattle Central Library has been lauded for its daylighting features, but many library patrons and staff have trouble with overheating and glare at workstations like these. Photo: Nadav Malin
After a long and arduous democratic process, the 2012 version of the IgCC is finished. Learn what it's all about and what it means for LEED and other voluntary rating systems.
How do you build a green building? Let me count the ways.
We've got ASHRAE 189.1, a large and growing handful of LEED rating systems, the Living Building Challenge, Passive House, and many others...and now there's also the International Green Construction Code (IgCC) just published by the International Code Council.
Even water is toxic if you have too much. How do we keep a potentially harmful but necessary nutrient like boric acid at safe levels in our buildings and our bodies?
What do you do about a substance that is a biologically necessary trace nutrient, long considered nontoxic, and in a multitude of products--but that is also now listed on a major European Union chemical hazard list due to evidence that it is toxic for reproduction?
From guerilla gardening to commando crosswalk painting, a new breed of urbanists is using illicit means to create livable communities.
Tactical urbanism in action: guerrilla crosswalk painting. Photo: credit Street Plans
The district heating and cooling system will replace coal boilers, cutting the university's carbon footprint in half and saving $2 million a year. It's also a learning opportunity for students.
This energy station for Ball State's ground-source district heating and cooling system is designed so that students and visitors can learn about the system and see how much energy it uses.
If we want to slow global warming, we need to stop being such tree-huggers and start embracing the world's forests. And yes, there's a difference.
This is part three in our "Wood Wars" series.
Part 1: Are FSC and LEED Killing American Jobs? A Look at the Evidence
It's not necessarily greener to source products made in the USA. But it sure does create jobs.
