mindful MATERIALS: Climate Health
Embodied carbon is an increasingly urgent consideration: massive emissions from manufacturing concrete, steel, foam, gypsum board, and other building products are happening right now. Some products save energy and carbon during building operation. Our resources help you minimize the use of the worst offenders and support climate health by preferring products that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sequester more carbon than emitted.
mindful MATERIALS: Climate Health
Deep Dives
Get up to speed on complex topics. You can also earn CEUs and download PDF Spotlight Reports.
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Wood: Is It Still Good? Part Two: Moving from Carbon to Climate
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Mass timber at scale could make climate change worse. Instead of embodied carbon alone, “climate-smart” practices focus on our increasingly fragile forests.
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Using Low-Carbon Concrete in Your Next Project
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Advancements in low-carbon concrete materials and strategies have led to greater adoption in much of the U.S. Now it's time to start using them.
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The Promise of Biobased Materials—and How to Use Them Now
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There is a lot of hype about carbon storage and other benefits of natural materials, but their potential is real. Read about those that are ready for prime time—and the ones we hope will take off next.
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The Urgency of Embodied Carbon and What You Can Do about It
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Building materials emit massive amounts of carbon long before the lights go on. Here’s how thoughtful design can reduce global warming impact.
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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Photovoltaics and Their Environmental Performance
Product Review
Renewable energy systems, particularly photovoltaic (PV) panels, have come under attack for using toxic materials and having a high carbon footprint. The truth is more complicated. -
An Award-Winning Energy Management Outlet
Product Review
RAB’s Lightcloud Outlet enables wireless monitoring and control of plug loads while allowing for demand response and other energy-saving scheduling.
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Fuel Cells: The Promise of Hydrogen Power
Product Review
Bloom Energy fuel cells provide on-demand electricity but use natural gas and release CO2. Switching to hydrogen could help change our energy future.
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New Blowing Agents Revolutionize XPS Industry
Product Review
Due to regulatory changes in Canada and certain U.S. states, manufacturers will be offering XPS with low global warming potential starting in 2021.
In The News
We break news down to the essentials and provide expert analysis.
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Climate-smart Mass Timber Is Coming
News Analysis
Better forestry practices and mass timber market development will benefit from tens of millions of dollars from USDA.
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Someday, Back-up Batteries Will Pay for Themselves
News Analysis
Most utility rate structures don’t encourage battery back-up systems. Here’s what needs to change.
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How to Identify—and Get Your Hands on—Climate-Smart Wood
News Analysis
The Climate Smart Wood Group is offering procurement guidance while simultaneously pushing toward better data.
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4 Big Questions as Building Codes Consider Embodied Carbon
News Analysis
Beyond “buy clean” procurement policies, a newer race is on to limit embodied carbon through codes. But the fate of the effort is uncertain.
Perspective
Thought-provoking opinions from the most trusted minds in sustainability.
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Learning Resources
Syllabus supplements and CEU content, with automatic reporting for AIA and GBCI.
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Biobased Building Materials: the Hype, the Hope, the … Hemp?
Webcast
This webcast explores the promising future of biobased materials in commercial construction.
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Wood's Latest Move: from Carbon Neutral to Climate Smart
Webcast
If we’re going to start using a lot more wood in buildings, we need to think hard about where that wood is going to come from and how it will be harvested.
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Let’s Get Real about Wood’s Carbon Footprint
Webcast
You’ve probably heard that wood products are carbon neutral. You might also have heard that timber harvesting causes immense carbon emissions. Which is it? Could it be both?
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Selecting Optimized Products for LEED Projects
Webcast
This pragmatic webinar walks you through the v4.1 version of the three Materials & Resources credits that encourage product-related disclosure and optimization.
