After a few bumps in the road, the committee behind Standard 189, a code-enforceable standard for green buildings, has released a third draft for public comment and hopes to have the standard finalized by January 2010. The newest draft makes it clear that what began as a minimum green building standard has turned into a high-performance one. It... Read more

In May 2009, the U.S. House... Read more

Vegetated roofs remain small oases amid a desert of more conventional roofs, but according to a survey by Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, a nonprofit industry organization, 3.1 million ft2 (290,000 m2) of green roof were installed in 2008, reflecting a growth rate of 35% over 2007.

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) have partnered to form the Climate Positive Development Program, which will support large-scale urban projects and real estate development with net-zero onsite carbon emissions. The program will include 16 projects in communities with a combined total of nearly one... Read more

The module consists of glass reflectors mounted on a two-axis tracking system that focus sunlight... Read more

EBN May 2008). Now, the U.S. Green Building Council has declared that the FSC-certified bamboo can be counted toward the 50% certified wood requirement of Materials and Resources Credit 7 (... Read more

The purpose of insulation is to slow down the movement of heat, and most of that effect occurs by slowing conductive heat transfer. The higher the conductivity of a material, the more quickly heat can move through it. Insulation materials are rated by their resistance to heat transfer, a term we call R-value. The higher the R-value, the lower... Read more

When I started writing this weekly column for the Brattleboro Reformer one year ago this week, the price of oil was spiraling to an all-time high of $147 per barrel. Residents were dealing with pre-buy heating oil contracts at over $4.50 per gallon. Panic was brewing.

Then, with a tanking... Read more

Over the past several weeks, I've written about water conservation as a strategy for saving energy and examined a number of water heating options. This week, we'll look at the issue of water waste while waiting for... Read more

Recently, I broke one of my long-standing rules and blogged about something BuildingGreen-related at my own blog. My Costanzian fears were indeed warranted, and I've been egged on to cross-post it to the Live blog. Here she is, warts and all: my unvarnished opinion on the very best parts of the BuildingGreen product GreenBuildingAdvisor.com./BF... Read more

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Twenty-five years ago, if you had predicted that I might be suggesting that electric water heating could be a good option, I'd have asked what you were smoking. I agreed with the argument that it's dumb to use such a high-grade form of energy (electricity) for such a low-grade energy need--a need that can... Read more