Frequently Asked Questions

General FAQs

Orders, Memberships and Billing

Technical FAQs

Webcast FAQs

Editorial Content

General Questions

What is BuildingGreen?

BuildingGreen, Inc. is an independent, mission-based consultancy and publisher based in Brattleboro, Vermont. For over 20 years, BuildingGreen has been the trusted source on healthy and sustainable design and construction strategies available online and in-person through our consulting and training services. Readers of BuildingGreen.com enjoy daily news coverage as well as deeper analysis of strategies, policies, and programs, as well as green products and materials. BuildingGreen previously published a monthly print edition of Environmental Building News (EBN).  BuildingGreen now publishes The Spotlight Report, which is available online for download and features new articles every other month. Current Spotlight Reports, as well as issues of our previous journal titles (The BuildingGreen Report, and Environmental Building News) are available for download here. BuildingGreen also previously published the GreenSpec product directory, which now appears as BuildingGreen product guidance on BuildingGreen.com and on our Designer Pages platform.

In addition, BuildingGreen publishes the LEEDuser website supporting LEED project certification.

Here's a taste of our current consulting, facilitation, and training initiatives.

What is BuildingGreen premium membership?

BuildingGreen premium membership includes online access to all BuildingGreen.com articles, webcasts, continuing education, and access to our BuildingGreen product guidance platform.

BuildingGreen provides product guidance in the form or Product Category Guides that help you learn what to look for when selecting green products that avoid negative health impacts. These guides link the user to Collections of Green Products on the Designer Pages platform. For more detailed instructions check our Product Guidance page. 

 

Orders, Memberships and Billing

I have lost or forgotten my password. How can I retrieve it?

Use the password retrieval page to have your password sent to your e-mail address. If you no longer have access to the e-mail address associated with your account, please contact us to reset your password.

How do I renew my BuildingGreen premium membership?

Follow this link, choose your preferred billing option and complete the checkout process.

I have purchased an auto-renewing premium membership. How do I cancel the auto-renew?

  1. Log in to your account
  2. Click the "Manage Auto-Renewal" link in the box to the left of your name
  3. Click the "Cancel my automatic renewal" button
  4. You will continue to have the same access to the site until your existing expiration date which you can view on your My Account page

The product is not what I expected. Can I get a refund?

Monthly auto-renewing subscribers can cancel their auto-renew at any time. Please see the previous frequently asked question for instructions. We offer a 100% money back guarantee on annual memberships. Please call contact us within the first 110 days of your membership to request a full refund.

How do I receive notification of new BuildingGreen.com content?

Every week, and more frequently when there is breaking news, we email the BuildingGreen Bulletin newsletter with fresh content to our members. Sign up for free basic membership to be placed on our mailing list and receive our weekly newsletter.

Technical

What browsers does BuildingGreen.com support?

BuildingGreen officially supports the latest versions of Edge, Chrome, and Firefox for the PC and the latest versions of Safari, Chrome, and Firefox for macOS. If you are using any of these browsers and having trouble with our site, please let us know. Users of older browsers (particularly Internet Explorer) are encouraged to upgrade their browsers for a more secure and enjoyable experience (both on our site and in general!).

I am having trouble viewing a PDF I downloaded from your web site. What should I do?

First, make sure you are using the latest version of Adobe Reader. We do not officially support older versions of Adobe Reader or other PDF viewing software. If you have confirmed you are using the latest version of Adobe Reader but are still having trouble, please contact us.

Webcasts

I can't make a scheduled webcast time. Will it be recorded?

Yes, nearly all our webcasts are recorded and offered on-demand to our premium members, along with downloads of slides. You can browse on-demand webcasts here.

Can I earn CEUs for attending a webcast?

Yes. CEUs are available for most of our live webcasts, and are automatically reported to accrediting organizations—most often AIA, GBCI, and ILFI. You will have to take a survey at the end to verify attendance. Most of our on-demand webcasts also offer CEUs. The specific CEUs available are displayed in our CEU catalog. You will need to take a quiz to verify meeting the learning objectives.

I need a certificate of completion. Do you provide those?

For on-demand webcasts and other CEUs—yes. For live webcasts, please fill out the survey at the end and include a note requesting a certification, or contact us.

There is an on-demand webcast on your site that does not seem to offer CEUs. What's up with that?

In some cases, a newly recorded webcast (within the last three weeks) may still be in the process of getting CEU approval. In other cases, this likely means that the webcast does not meet the standards of our CEU accreditors—probably because it discusses specific building products. In those cases, you may still be able to self-report self-study CEU hours according to the policies of the accrediting body.

I am trying to attend a live webcast and am having technical difficulties. Please help!

Not that this is helpful right now, but we recommend testing your connection to our webcast server prior to live events. Audio and visual display is through your computer—there is no dial-in number. Most A/V problems reported to us by webcast attendees are due to insufficient bandwidth on your end. Please check that your bandwidth is not competing with other high-demand applications. Try logging back in. Try contacting us if that doesn't work. If all else fails—we apologize, and as noted above, this will be offered as a recording!

Editorial content

Can I get a copy of your editorial calendar?

We do not publish an editorial calendar. We also do not sell advertising in our publications.

I love your site. Can I do a guest post?

In most cases, we do not publish guest posts. Please contact us only if you have exceptional expertise or insight, you know what our website is about and are familiar with our content, you are not looking to promote a specific product or service (i.e., you must be willing to let your expertise do the selling), and you can send us a sample of your work.