Continuing Education credits for AIA, GBCI, and ILFI

Whole-Building Life Cycle Assessment: Promises and Pitfalls

Webcast

Whole-building life-cycle assessment (WBLCA) promises improved performance with reduced environmental impacts. Yet in practice it can bog projects down with confusing or even conflicting priorities, complicated by mountains of data.

BuildingGreen has arranged for four widely respected practitioners to share their LCA expertise, taking you from big-picture questions—Why should I worry about embodied impacts?—to practical details—How can I get good data on my building's concrete mix?

In-House Daylight Modeling: Three Firms Share How They Do It

Webcast

Getting consistent results when your artistic medium is the sun and sky can be one of the best design tricks to have up your sleeve—but it's also one of the most difficult to pull off. Is that window bringing in daylight or causing intolerable glare? Do you really know? The three panelists will show how they have used simulation to determine the difference, with overviews of daylighting, glare, and several case studies.

Raze or Retrofit? Six Extraordinary Answers to an Everyday Question

Feature Article

Saving a building is usually an environmental win, but thoughtful renovation isn’t easy. And there comes a time to tear things down.

The PVC Debate

Webcast

If, like a lot of people, your head has been spinning over the last decade as PVC has been debated to point where clarity is hard to find, we'll review the key context that underlies this whole debate—and where facts and opinions diverge.

Know Thy Client: 9 Un-Green Strategies for Delivering Better Buildings

Feature Article

Making all your projects high-performance means getting in touch with what your client really wants and checking “green building” at the door.

Cladding: More Than Just a Pretty Façade

Feature Article

Cladding materials should be chosen to minimize environmental impacts and help maximize a building’s energy performance.

Behind the Logos: Understanding Green Product Certifications

Feature Article

The number of environmental product standards and certifications is growing rapidly, putting numerous different "green" logos on products. This article reviews the key programs and evaluates their rigor, and offers guidance in using them to accomplish project goals.

Natural Ventilation: The Nine Biggest Obstacles and How Project Teams Are Beating Them

Feature Article

Designers are reinventing the art and science of passive comfort control even where climate and culture favor mechanical systems.

Are Cool Roofs Green? The Answer’s Not Black and White

Feature Article

Roofing choices are complicated by heating tradeoffs, climate effects, and condensation, but proponents say reflective roofs still make sense in most climates.

Climate Analysis for Architects

Webcast

For a lot of people, computer modeling is synonymous with energy modeling, and climate data is something you just input to your energy model. Kjell Anderson wants you to do energy modeling for your buildings, and he wants you to do it early—as BuildingGreen has advocated—not just for "keeping score" at the end. In this webcast, Anderson will demonstrate tools that are so easy that they can be used on every project regardless of budget or sustainability objectives, typically taking 3 to 5 hours once you have your system down—and almost no time for projects in a city where you have already done an analysis.