By the end of Greenbuild, I was exhausted/troubled/elated with all sorts of conundrums swirling around in my head — not to mention a few partly written blogs, abandoned in favor of the next conversation...
As editor for our LEED how-to website, LEEDuser, I pride myself on staying top of all LEED-related news. But I guess I have not been staying glued enough to the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) website (this is the body that administers LEED certification, while the better-known USGBC runs the LEED standard itself).
Idling a medium-sized car just five minutes each day will crank out about 30 pounds of harmful pollutants in a year plus 300 pounds of carbon dioxide.
Idling a medium-sized car just five minutes each day will crank out about 30 pounds of harmful pollutants in a year plus 300 pounds of carbon dioxide.
National Gypsum introduced ThermalCORE at this year's GreenBuild conference, though the product is not yet commercially available..
In October, we published an article on social justice and green building. We've gotten several responses, including a letter from Raphael Sperry of Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility (below).
These shorts were filmed at West Coast Green; for more like them, see revision.tv.
link to video link to videoAs a follow-on to The Great Passivhaus Face-off, take a look at this commentary from a couple years ago in the wake of a visit to Passivhaus examples in Germany by a couple well-informed British authors and researchers — The Passive House: thoughts and reflections.
A little over a year ago I reported on the efforts of a local organization, Brattleboro Thermal Utility (BTU), to develop a wood-chip-fired "combined heat and power" (CHP) plant for the town. In that column I reported that BTU, on whose board I sit, was trying to identify a company to carry out a preliminary feasibility study for the project; we were also seeking funding for that study.
Two guys were walking down the hall. Professional-looking guys, architectorial. One of them said to the other, "It's called, um, energy... recovery ventilator." BAM! That's what it's about. Yeah, there's greenwash, there's cynicism, there's impatience. But there's also people finding their way forward. We're all spread out along the learning curve, and that's something I have a difficult time keeping in mind. It's easy to feel like everything's too-little-too-late, and hard for me to give credit for good intentions where it's due.
Dan Smith of Plyboo bumped into me and we took a walk over to the Smith & Fong booth. They rolled out a new soy-based adhesive just today... and unlike some things that call themselves soy-based, I'm comfortable saying that about this adhesive. It's 60% soy.
I normally post the Top-10 green building products list just as Alex is starting the presentation. And this year, I just totally spaced it out.
You know my card went into that bowl. It's a Sloan Uppercut, and yes — the flush handle toggles the light. It would go great with my Christmas Story leg lamp.
