Material Selection
Selecting building materials can be complex. You have to take into account toxicity, performance, the environmental life cycle, cost, and other factors.
Understanding what makes a building product green is a long-term prospect. Green characteristics differ from product category to product category, and multi-attribute vetting is critical.
Material Selection
Deep Dives
Get up to speed on complex topics. You can also earn CEUs and download PDF Spotlight Reports.
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Innovative Products and Technology from the Greenbuild Expo
Feature Article
Our product editors pick some winners from the expo floor at Greenbuild 2013 while raising questions about some materials.
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Engineering a Wood Revolution
Feature Article
Engineered wood products are challenging concrete and steel in structural applications while proffering a lower environmental footprint.
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Can We Replace Foam Insulation?
Feature Article
There are a lot of reasons to avoid foam, but its high performance can make it a hard habit to kick, as designers are finding out.
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Whole-Building Life-Cycle Assessment: Taking the Measure of a Green Building
Feature Article
Why we will never understand the true impact of our buildings—and how we should try to anyway
Quick Takes
Jump straight to the essentials with these short explanations of green building concepts.
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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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Passive House Windows and Doors Continue to Wow
Product Review
Exciting new doors and windows featuring cork, composites, and low U-factors have come to U.S. markets.
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BuildingGreen Selects Top-10 Products for 2014
Product Review
Solving key design and environmental problems cost-effectively was the focus of this year's selection by BuildingGreen's editors of its top building products.
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Laminate Flooring: Worth a Second Look?
Product Review
Laminate flooring offers recycled content and low emissions in an economical, low-maintenance product that has overcome aesthetic and performance challenges.
In The News
We break news down to the essentials and provide expert analysis.
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Mass Timber to Be Recognized in Washington Code
News Brief
Supporters of Washington’s new mass timber law hope it will increase tall wood construction.
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Concrete Pours through Loophole in New Carbon Law
News Analysis
Buy Clean California requires contractors to specify lower-carbon products, but industry pressure quashed the law’s potential.
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California Law Uses Environmental Product Declarations to Drive Low-Carbon Procurement
News Analysis
Buy Clean California is the first law in the nation to address embodied carbon in construction materials.
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Reality Check for LEED v4 Product Credits
News Analysis
The three “Disclosure and Optimization” or “BPDO” credits in LEED v4 include both some pretty easy points and points that are not yet achievable.
Perspective
Thought-provoking opinions from the most trusted minds in sustainability.
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A New Edge in Specifying Green Building Products
Op-Ed
BuildingGreen will link our Web-based green products resource, GreenSpec, with the Healthy Building Network's Pharos Project to provide one trusted, authoritative, independent source for specifying green building products, information and research.
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Fixing the Perception Problem with Cradle to Cradle Certification
Op-Ed
Products carrying Basic and Silver Cradle to Cradle labels are on a path toward sustainability, but calling them "certified" is misleading.
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Concerns About Broadening LEED's Wood Credit
Op-Ed
Bill Edgerton, AIA, writes about his concerns that broadening LEED's wood credit would weaken LEED and erode USGBC's credibility.
Learning Resources
Syllabus supplements and CEU content, with automatic reporting for AIA and GBCI.
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Just For Fun
Something weird happens every April at BuildingGreen...
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