This is Part Two in a two-part series. Part One covers IAQ equipment and low-carbon concrete.

In the first part of our Greenbuild 2023 product coverage, we looked at low-carbon concrete and IAQ monitors—showcasing innovative solutions to some of our most pressing building concerns. This second installment covers several cool categories... Read more

Product and material selection is one of the most time-consuming parts of achieving a green and healthy building certification like LEED, WELL, or (perhaps most famously) the Living Building Challenge. Project teams must sort through hundreds of products to find safer cleaning solutions, low-VOC furniture, or air purifiers that meet performance... Read more

Just as project teams have started to get a handle on the huge decarbonization and resilience incentives of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), one of the law’s most significant provisions for the building industry is about to radically change.

On January 1, 2025, for the first time in its almost 50 years, the Investment Tax Credit for... Read more

PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), forever chemicals, are one of the biggest environmental challenges facing the world today. There are more than 10,000 PFAS, some of which are persistent, bioaccumulative toxic chemicals. So why don’t we just ban products that use them?

That’s hard when you don’t know which PFAS are being used... Read more

We know that decarbonizing existing buildings is crucial to meaningfully reduce the carbon footprint of the building sector, but retrofitting older building stock, especially multifamily housing, is a formidable challenge. A new initiative, Community Climate Shift, hopes to demonstrate that it can be done rapidly—and equitably.

Just 2%... Read more

“The imperative for health-driven building policy has never been more pressing. Buildings must be fortified for health.”

This statement is part of an open letter addressed to elected officials and policymakers, and signed by six former U.S. Surgeons General, six CEOs, five executive directors of leading public health organizations, and... Read more

This is Part One in a two-part series.  Part Two covers heating and cooling, interiors, structural systems, and a construction jobsite product.

With COVID-19 in the rearview mirror (mostly), Greenbuild seemed like it was on the rebound as well. The sessions I attended were lively and topical, and the... Read more

The organization that created LEED is now advancing a whole new certification concept—one that doesn’t start with an L for leadership.

Also, only existing building portfolios need apply. And the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Portfolio Accelerator, which is still under development but is due out in 2024, will have no points and no... Read more

Update: This article was corrected on November 29 to reflect a deadline extension that EPA alerted us to. The application deadline is January 16, 2024.

An Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) grant program called Reducing Embodied Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Construction Materials and Products is out to help manufacturers fund the creation of... Read more

Please note: LEEDuser’s informal 45-minute coffee talks are not approved for continuing education units.

This lively conversation features:

A beloved resource by Terrapin Bright Green was recently updated with pandemic-era lessons that make an even stronger financial case for biophilic design. The Economics of Biophilia is now in its second edition and is free to download. (Disclosure: Paula Melton, BuildingGreen’s editorial director, helped edit the report.)

The report... Read more

Just as people began suffering through last summer’s heat waves and bracing for hurricane season, the Biden administration published a press release touting its resilience efforts, including Heat.gov, the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard, and the National Climate Resilience Framework. The White House also pointed to a rapidly expanding... Read more

Building professionals looking to reduce embodied carbon don’t have to go very far before tripping over the claim that new buildings—and even entire cities—can become carbon sinks instead of carbon emitters through the use of mass timber. 

But in a space often characterized by murky math and madcap marketing, the Climate Smart Wood... Read more

The U.S. building industry’s decades-long battle against climate change has focused outsize resources and effort on new construction. But existing building decarbonization must become a central mission, and soon, according to an analysis from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).

Steven Nadel and Adam Hinge, the... Read more

Wyatt Ross of CMTA and Chris Colasanti of JB&B Consulting Engineers contributed to this article. 

This article has been prepared for informational purposes only; it is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult your firm’s tax, legal, and accounting advisors before... Read more

Concrete is responsible for about 5% to 8% of the world’s anthropogenic carbon emissions, and that is largely due to the binder that holds it together, portland cement. So creating a low-carbon concrete that does not use portland cement is the green building industry’s holy grail. One manufacturer claims it has ended the quest.

Climate change is threatening outdoor construction workers. Extreme heat and dangerous air quality from wildfire smoke are becoming more frequent and prolonged, occurring in places that have not previously experienced them. And without federal regulations in place, employers must make judgment calls about safety breaks and work stoppages in an... Read more

Last week, I saw the future. Here is what it looked like.

The Biden administration will soon release a national standard for zero-emission buildings. The standard will apply to new construction and major renovation, but details are not yet available on whether or how it will address existing building operations.

Citing climate action as a “north star” for the administration, national climate... Read more

PFAS “forever chemicals” are persistent in the environment and have a number of potential negative health and environmental impacts. Yet they pervade our lives—and are even infiltrating remote ecosystems once considered pristine.

PFAS are everywhere, from microwave popcorn packaging to industrial metal coatings, so... Read more