Look Before You LEED! Online Tool Offers Preliminary LEED for Homes Scores

A new LEED for Homes tool can help designers get the jump on certification--and is great for homeowners too.

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Natural Gas - Not as Green as it Used to Be

Oil and gas prices have diverged dramatically in the past few years. Graph: New York Times. Click on image to enlarge.

Natural gas has been in the news a lot recently.

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A New Cotton Insulation Enters the Market

Applegate Insulation has just introduced a new cotton batt insulation: Mr. Insulate. Photo: Applegate Insulation. Click on image to enlarge.

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Location Efficiency: The Energy Impact of Where We Build

A pedestrian-friendly streetscape in Annapolis, Maryland. Photo: Dan Burden. Click on image to enlarge.

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Froling P4: A High-End, High-Performance Pellet Boiler

Froling pellet boilers from Austria represent state-of-the-art in biomass combustion. Photo: Froling. Click on image to enlarge.

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Flame Retardant Used in Polystyrene to be Banned by EU

HBCD is used in all polystyrene building insulation--both extruded polystyrene (XPS) and expanded polystyrene (EPS).

by Alex Wilson

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Direct-Gain Passive Solar

Direct-gain passive-solar design was used extensively at the Cob Hill CoHousing project in Hartland, Vermont. A majority of the windows face south, with overhangs and window blinds that help block unwanted sun in the summer. Photo: Alex Wilson. Click on image to enlarge.

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Trombe Walls

A Trombe wall retrofit workshop that I was leading in the late-1970s in New Mexico. To this simple frame, a layer of glazing was added, and sunlight would heat up the dark-painted wall. Photo: Alex Wilson. Click on image to enlarge.

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Reducing the Carbon Emissions of Products Through the 2030 Challenge

The 2030 Challenge for Products aims to reduce the embodied carbon of building materials 50% by 2030. Graphic: Architecture 2030. Click on image to enlarge.

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Sunspaces - Solar Heat and a Place to Grow Plants

A solar greenhouse workshop from the late-1970s. Photo: Alex Wilson. Click on image to enlarge.

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LEED 2012 Points—or, How we'll eventually get points

This screen capture from the webinar shows how each piece of the matrix is filled in in the Assessment Tool. Here, you can see the three associators (relative efficacy, benefit duration, and benefit control) and their respective options.

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Martha Stewart GreenHouse: Trendsetter or Outlier?

Each year, Builder Magazine teams up with a homebuilder to roll out a cutting-edge "concept home" at the International Builders' Show. While last year's strictly virtual concept home was advertised as "the most innovative home never built," some critics think the 2011 "GreenHouse" might as well not have been built either.

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Greening the Pink Panther: Owens Corning's New EcoTouch Fiberglas

Owens Corning's new EcoTouch Fiberglas insulation is made with a non-formaldehyde, plant-based binder. Photo: Owens Corning. Click on image to enlarge.

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Heating with Oil or Gas: What's to Like?

Along with heating with wood at home, we rely on heating oil, burning it in this Buderus boiler. Photo: Alex Wilson. Click on image to enlarge.

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What's the Greenest Option for Home Heating?

Heating with wood pellets, such as with this freestanding Quadrafire Mt. Vernon pellet stove at our own house, can be the greenest option, since wood pellets are a renewable heating fuel. Photo: Alex Wilson. Click on image to enlarge.

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