Design Strategies
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Design Strategies
Deep Dives
Get up to speed on complex topics. You can also earn CEUs and download PDF Spotlight Reports.
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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.
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Controls Go Wireless
Feature
Particularly for lighting and ventilation controls in retrofit situations wireless systems offer potential energy, money, and resource savings. The technology is still new, however, and potential drawbacks like health risks, interference, and even the potential for increased energy consumption need to be examined.
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Is Nano a No-No? Nanotechnology Advances into Buildings
Feature
Nanotechnology takes advantage of the novel properties that particles can exhibit at a billionth of a meter in size. Those properties are being used in building materials, where they can improve thermal performance and the effectiveness of photovoltaics, among many possibilities. The field has little regulation, however, despite significant health and environmental concerns.
Quick Takes
Jump straight to the essentials with these short explanations of green building concepts.
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Standard Effective Temperature: A Metric for Thermal Comfort and Resilience
Explainer
Do you know how hot or cold your building would be if the power went out? You could be using thermal modeling to find out.
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Circadian Rhythm and the Role of Lighting
Explainer
LEDs with color tuning are now being sold, but do we really have the light formula for waking us up and putting us to sleep?
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Demand-Controlled Ventilation: Fresh Air Only When You Need It
Explainer
Balancing the need for fresh air with minimizing energy use is difficult. Demand-controlled ventilation is the responsive solution.
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Sitting Is the New Smoking: Fad or Fact?
Explainer
Active design is looking less like a luxury and more like a public health imperative.
Product Guidance
Unbiased information from our product experts helps you separate green from greenwash.
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BuildingGreen Announces Top-10 Products for 2015
Product Review
Transformative products eliminate toxic chemicals and fossil fuels, and improve building and site performance.
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LEDs Finally Hitting Stride in Supporting Health, Productivity
Product Review
By allowing tunability of color and intensity, USAI’s Color Select LED technology can match the natural daylight cycle and needs of end users.
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Faucets That Combat Infection Without Wasting Water
Product Review
New technology from Rada helps prevent life-threatening Legionella and other pathogens from growing in pipes and faucets—a big problem in healthcare.
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Solar Farms Offer Renewable Power for the Rest of Us
Product Review
Community solar allows customers with site limitations to purchase commercial-quality photovoltaic systems—and the Clean Energy Collective is making it easier.
In The News
We break news down to the essentials and provide expert analysis.
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EPA Seeks Stronger Regulation of Chemicals
News Analysis
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson outlined a broad set of principles that will guide Administration efforts to reform the 30-year-old Toxic Substances Control Act.
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Wind Turbine Certification Forthcoming
News Analysis
A new performance standard for small wind turbines being developed by the American Wind Energy Association will be used by the newly formed Small Wind Certification Council to certify wind turbine durability and performance based on standardized wind conditions.
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Mortgage Policies Threaten PACE Programs
News Analysis
Commercial and residential PACE (property assessed clean energy) programs have been steadily growing throughout the U.S. Now the secondary mortgage market has raise red flags that could kill the promising program, but states are fighting back.
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Regulators Zero in on HBCD Flame Retardant
News Analysis
Actions by both the U.S. and Canadian government on the brominated flame retardant HBCD suggest that further regulation of the chemical could lie ahead.
Perspective
Thought-provoking opinions from the most trusted minds in sustainability.
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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.
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Bring the Noise! It Can Help You Listen.
Op-Ed
Noise-canceling headphones and tightly sealed buildings have more in common than you might think.
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America’s Greenest Office Building
Blog Post
The Bullitt Center in Seattle is showing that a six-story, 52,000 square-foot building can meet the net-zero-energy, net-zero-water Living Building Challenge
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How Nature Creates Green Jobs—If We Listen
Blog Post
Biomimicry experts explore resilient design from environmental, social, and economic perspectives.
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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