BuildingGreen Report

Product Review

July 1, 1992
Syndecrete Pre-cast Concrete Aggregate

The company's promotional material is the epitome of environmentally friendly packaging—like a Ben & Jerry's annual report. The article reprints sent were even bound in a jacket made from corrugated cardboard. So we were quite intrigued by the product. Syndecrete™ is a lightweight, pre-cast,... Read more

News Brief

July 1, 1992

Energy Source™ Directory

Life has been a whole lot easier around the office since the

Energy Source Directory arrived. Assembled and published by Iris Communications, this is the most complete and most useful guide to specialized products and materials used in energy-efficient construction that we've seen. The 500-page directory is... Read more

Explainer

July 1, 1992
Curtain Trusses with Cellulose Insulation for a Timber Frame

Many timber-framers are aware of the problems with CFC-based foam insulation but continue to use urethane-core stress-skin panels because they haven’t found a better alternative. Well, here’s a technique adopted by a Massachusetts builder for low-budget timber frame homes. The... Read more

Feature

July 1, 1992

Ozone depletion and global warming are two of our most serious environmental problems—and foam insulation materials containing CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) contribute significantly to both of these problems. The environmentally concerned builder or designer should make it a highest priority to avoid them. Even many of the non-CFC alternatives... Read more

Op-Ed

Introducing the first issue of our newsletter.

July 1, 1992
Welcome to Environmental Building News

Buildings have a tremendous impact on the environment. In North America, buildings and the building industry account for about 30% of carbon dioxide emissions, 35-40% of ozone depletion, 20-30% of municipal solid waste, vast quantities of natural resource consumption, and dramatic loss of open space each... Read more

Feature

Susan Maxman is the first AIA president to make sustainable design a priority. 

July 1, 1992
Interview with Susan Maxman, President, AIA 20 June 1992

Q.Where would you say architects as a group stand on environmental issues?

A.Architects tend to be reactive rather than proactive. It is important that we take the lead on these environmental issues. The architecture schools in particular tend to be conservative. They just aren’t... Read more

News Brief

July 1, 1992

The American Institute of Architects convention in Boston this past June was the setting for a changing of the guard in the American architectural establishment. The Institute’s first woman president took the reins, the Committee on the Environment became its largest and fastest growing committee, and the first installments of the Environmental... Read more

Feature

Carefully stake the building site and driveway, remove trees that are within the excavation area or too close, then erect a fence to keep heavy equipment off fragile soils and away from nearby trees.

July 1, 1992

Protecting trees and the local ecosystem when building on previously unbuilt land is a vitally important—yet often overlooked—part of environmentally responsible construction. Healthy trees and shrubs can reduce a home’s environmental impact and directly benefit homeowners in a number of ways:

•Enhancing comfort by shielding the house... Read more

Forum topic

Hi Small Firm Sustainable Design Leaders!

Our call today at 1pm Eastern will focus on the ways in which your firm is impacted differently than larger firms on the variety of topics and issues that are reflected in the 2020 SD Leaders Winter Summit REPORT. Take a look at this report and especially at slides 14-33. Bring your observations... Read more

Reports, Courses, Study Guides, Live Webinars

A site license allows your entire organization to access and share the guide, and to keep a copy in your library.  

Avoiding Toxic Chemicals in Commercial Building Projects

We’re excited to be releasing the 2020 edition of Spec This, Not That. 

... Read more

Forum topic

Whether you’re attending Greenbuild 2024 or live near the Philadelphia area, join us for BuildingGreen’s annual Greenbuild Show & Tell! The event will take place from 6:30-9:00 pm on Tuesday, November 12th at Jacobs, with the first hour for socializing and the 5-minute presentations starting at 7:30pm. Light refreshments and beverages will... Read more

Forum topic

Hello to all,

Are you familiar with examples of commercial kitchens using all induction / all electric cooking, without gas or other fossil fuels?

For a dining hall for 1800 students, we are interested in precedents.

Thanks!

Tamar

Forum topic

They do, seriously.  They are fine people with tons of information, and without them, all of us Architects would be, well, out of luck.

So, we first want to say THANK YOU to all of our contractor friends who took part in our Contractor Coffee Talk on Tuesday. THAT WAS AWESOME!

We learned things like:

It is easier to divert... Read more

Quiz

This summit was pre-approved for 10 AIA HSW LUs and 10 GBCI CE hours.

Please complete the survey question to confirm your attendance and receive your CEUs.

By providing your credential numbers in your profile, you will enable us to automatically report these CEUs to the organization. Please first check your profile to be sure your... Read more

Forum topic

Here is a fundamental question regarding measuring operational carbon emissions that I'm sure many of you can clarify for me:  Let's say you are considering design options and you want to know the relative contribution of GWP of adding an additional inch of continuous insulation to the building envelope.  The GWP from embodied carbon will... Read more

Forum topic

On LEEDuser we divide checklists into multiple project phases. Specifically:

Before the performance period Construction Construction documents Design development During the performance period Operations & maintenance Pre-design Schematic design

How many of these phases are relevant for BIT best practices?

Note that we also... Read more

Author

Boyd is part of the marketing team at BuildingGreen, where he supports analytics and social media engagement.

Boyd’s experience before joining BuildingGreen includes a decade in the paddlesports industry guiding whitewater trips as well as 5 years working in beer and wine manufacturing with a focus on customer interaction as well as... Read more

Forum topic

Hello SDLs!

Here is the 2018 SDL Summer Summit Report, ENJOY!

In a couple of weeks we will share this report with the broader Green Gurus group. 

We are also working on setting up a webinar to present the 2018 SDL Summer Summit Report and discuss the Summit!

All the best,

RoseAnn

Forum topic

Hi everyone - in doing a carbon footprint for our firm, does anyone know if buildings that we design as Architects considered scope 3 emissions, or are they beyond the boundary of emissions? LMN's buildings, despite best efforts, are cumulatively multiple orders of magnitude above our scope 1 and 2 emissions. We have never included these... Read more