Building Science
Parent
Building Science
Deep Dives
Get up to speed on complex topics. You can also earn CEUs and download PDF Spotlight Reports.
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Historic Preservation and Green Building: A Lasting Relationship
Feature
Rehabilitation of existing buildings is important to sustainability in buildings, but with historic buildings, green building and preservationism can diverge. With attention to preservation standards and suitable application of green strategies, however, those agendas can be aligned.
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Piping in Perspective: Selecting Pipe for Plumbing in Buildings
Feature
Potable water supply piping and drain-waste-vent piping represent a significant fraction of a building's materials. Choosing the greenest pipe for both applications, particularly deciding between metal pipe and plastic alternatives, requires evaluating a variety of environmental and human health impacts as well as durability and performance issues.
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The Challenge of Existing Homes: Retrofitting for Dramatic Energy Savings
Feature
Greenhouse gas emissions associated with residential energy use account for a fifth of all emissions in the U.S. Retrofitting existing houses to achieve a two- to three-fold reduction in energy use is necessary if we are to achieve the emissions reductions scientists say are required for avoiding catastrophic climate change. Here's a look at how it can be done.
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Antimicrobial Chemicals in Buildings: Hygiene or Harm?
Feature
Carpets, door handles, and a myriad of other building products now contain pesticides targeting fungi and bacteria, offering potential benefit to the indoor environment, but also raising health concerns. This article asks whether antimicrobial products live up to their marketing claims and whether relying on them is a sound path to a hygienic environment.
Quick Takes
Jump straight to the essentials with these short explanations of green building concepts.
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Constructed Wetlands for Wastewater
Explainer
Constructed wetlands, when used to treat wastewater, can keep nitrogen and phosphorous from the water supply and cut costs by controlling the size of drainfields.
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Programmable Thermostats
Explainer
Programmable thermostats can save a lot of energy, but to do so, they have to be operated correctly.
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Heat-Pump Water Heaters
Explainer
Heat-pump water heaters produce more than twice as much hot water per kilowatt-hour of electricity consumed as standard electric water heaters.
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How Electric Lighting Works
Explainer
How do incandescent, fluorescent, high-intensity discharge, and light-emitting diode lighting technologies work, and what are their relative efficiencies?
Product Guidance
Unbiased information from our product experts helps you separate green from greenwash.
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Tinting on Demand with SageGlass
Product Review
Glazing from Sage Electrochromics, Inc., allows users to change its visible light and total solar transmittance properties with the push of a button.
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Full Line of Residential LED Lighting Arrives
Product Review
In June 2006, Permlight Products, Inc., and Progress Lighting announced the introduction of a complete line of LED residential lighting products. To be sold as the HI-EF line, the licensing of Permlight's Enbryten Down line promises high-efficacy luminaires that meet strict California energy standards.
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Climate Energy Brings Combined Heat and Power Home
Product Review
The idea of combining electricity generation with the production of useful heat-referred to as combined heat and power (CHP) or cogeneration-has long been attractive. Now, after many false starts, a viable residential-scale CHP system is about to enter the market.
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High-Efficiency Refrigerators and Freezers from SunDanzer
Product Review
SunDanzer offers small, DC-powered, highly insulated refrigerators and freezers.
In The News
We break news down to the essentials and provide expert analysis.
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New Standard Puts Air Barriers to the Test
News Analysis
To test the performance of air barriers in real-world conditions, a new ASTM standard uses an eight-foot-square mockup of an exterior wall.
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President Bush Authorizes Energy Research But May Not Fund It
News Analysis
President Bush has warned he may not include funding for science and technology, authorized in a recent bill, in his budget request.
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Philips Introduces Lower Mercury Fluorescent Lamps
News Analysis
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LEED Delivers on Predicted Energy Savings
News Analysis
Data from the U.S. Green Building Council and the New Buildings Institute shows that, although varying widely in individual buildings, measured energy savings meet or exceeds predicted energy savings for LEED buildings on average.
Perspective
Thought-provoking opinions from the most trusted minds in sustainability.
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Net Zero Has Failed. We Need a Universal Carbon Standard for Buildings.
Op-Ed
The building sector’s current “net-zero” standards are not credible, not scalable, and don’t eliminate emissions. There’s a better way.
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This is the Universal Low-Carbon Building Standard We Need
Op-Ed
The building industry’s current net-zero-energy and net-zero-carbon standards got complicated for a reason, but they don’t have to stay that way.
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The Universal Low-Carbon Building Standard Does Six Things
Op-Ed
Here’s how we’re going to deconstruct “net zero” and rebuild it as a comprehensive standard that applies to every building.
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The Universal Low-Carbon Building Standard Avoids RECs and Unnecessary Complications
Op-Ed
RECs and carbon offsets lack credibility, and grid interactivity adds unnecessary complexity. That's why this standard leaves them out.
Learning Resources
Syllabus supplements and CEU content, with automatic reporting for AIA and GBCI.
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Just For Fun
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