In 2003, the European Union exempted the flame retardant deca polybrominated diphenyl ether (decaBDE), used in building materials as well as electronics and furnishings, from the RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Directive, which restricts the use of brominated flame retardants (see

EBN... Read more

The socially responsible mutual fund company Calvert has released a study, conducted with the Boston College Institute for Responsible Investment, ranking the 13 largest homebuilders in the U.S. according to their green practices.

Bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical used to make polycarbonate and epoxy plastics, has come under fire recently for its status as an endocrine disruptor. The chemical is commonly used as an ingredient in consumer products, particularly reusable water bottles, baby bottles, plastic dishware, tooth fillings, and canned-food liners. It also appears in... Read more

Forests in the U.S. are currently certified using one... Read more

Air leaks may not be as dramatic as water leaks, but they cause plenty of problems. When a new LEED-certified building in New York formed icicles and ice dams, the owners brought in building-science consultant Terry Brennan of Camroden Associates to investigate. “The detailing of the air barrier was actually pretty good,” he says. The rafters... Read more

While the LEED for Homes rating system from the U.S. Green Building Council has garnered a lot of attention since its 2007 launch (see

EBN Vol. 16, No. 12), a less complex and comprehensive rating system, the HERS Index, has quietly been applied to hundreds of thousands of homes and is referenced by a growing number of programs.

If you wanted to know about all the environmental impacts of a product, common sense suggests that you would have to trace that product from the origins of its raw materials, through its manufacture and use, and finally to its fate at the end of its useful life. That’s the premise behind environmental life-cycle assessment (LCA)—a science that... Read more

On May 19, 2008, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) opened a public comment period for the most sweeping changes to its LEED Rating System since its original launch in 2000. The changes, which apply to all nonresidential LEED rating systems that have been formally released, are largely in line with the plan that USGBC laid out at the 2007... Read more

Does wind power increase carbon emissions? That was the question I asked in a recent post after seeing a analysis by Stanley Rhodes of Scientific Certification Systems, a major testing and certification agency for green building products, among other things. Stanley, who is a respected expert on life-cycle assessment, looked beyond the carbon... Read more

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I have a huge amount of appreciation and respect for (and some jealousy of) people plying artisan trades, and had a couple good conversations with AIA'08 exhibitors offering that sort of thing. John Canning & Company goes beyond artisan; check out the featured projects on their website. In my capacity as poster boy for the A Little... Read more