BuildingGreen Report

News Analysis

February 1, 2010
Following negotiations with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the two U.S. producers and primary exporter to the U.S. of decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE) agreed in December 2009 to a three-year phaseout of the chemical.

DecaBDE is a brominated flame retardant that, along with other polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), has... Read more

Blog Post

January 28, 2010
Environmental Building News first introduced waterless urinals to the green building community--back in February 1998 in a product review of the No-Flush Urinal from the Waterless Company. In the 12 years since then, we've profiled as many as a dozen waterless urinals as they've entered the market.

Most waterless urinals, including those from... Read more

Blog Post

January 25, 2010

Benefiting from the 30% federal tax credit for energy improvements

There are some great opportunities right now to upgrade your home energy performance with support from federal tax credits. These tax credits, created as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 greatly expanded tax credits that had been put in place... Read more

Blog Post

January 25, 2010
The Family School is a "community of learners." Classes are composed of multiple ages and parents are active in the classroom. Each student's day is split between home schooling and coursework led by professional APS staff. Their parents may elect to participate in the classroom with their child. Monthly, parents are asked to attend workshops at... Read more

News Brief

January 21, 2010

As of January 2010, new single-family homes in Hawaii must be equipped with solar thermal water heating in order to receive a building permit.

When this law was passed in 2008, roughly 25% of Hawaiians were using the sun to heat their domestic hot water (see EBN Aug. 2008). Tax credits of 35% and a $1,000 rebate were available while the... Read more

Blog Post

While we continue to feel great about small companies embracing FSC, we also find it exciting when larger players enter the FSC world--because these companies will help FSC become more accepted by the mainstream timber and building-products industries.

January 20, 2010

 We've promoted the Forest Stewardship Council's wood certification program in the pages of Environmental Building News since FSC was formed back in 1994. We've always looked for companies offering FSC-certified wood products to highlight in EBN and GreenSpec. Over the years, most of those products have been from small companies; larger more... Read more

Blog Post

January 18, 2010
The PV system on this Lafayette, Colorado home, providing 100% of the power requirements, was installed with no money down through Boulder County's ClimateSmart program. The cost will be repaid through the homeowners' tax bill.

One of the greatest challenges to energy improvements is the financing needed to make those improvements.... Read more

Blog Post

January 14, 2010

Here at BuildingGreen.com, we recently announced our picks for the Top-10 green building products of 2009. The list is a pretty cool selection of newer products that could come in handy on your 2010 green projects. But what were your picks? If you were a subscriber to BuildingGreen.com (which, I feel compelled to add, is a steal at our trial... Read more

Blog Post

January 12, 2010
Every time I turn around, it seems, I'm finding out about some new, really cool green building product. It's time to start sharing this information. Starting this week, I'll be writing a weekly "product of the week" blog. I'll be skipping around from category to category. Not every product will be brand new, but I'm guessing that most will be... Read more

Blog Post

January 11, 2010
This deep-energy retrofit on Betsy Pettit's 100-year-old house makes sense whether or not climate change is happening. Photo: Betsy Pettit, FAIA.

How to build a stronger country and a cleaner planet

Last week's column took a quick look at the science of climate change and how scientific hypotheses have shifted over time based on new... Read more

Blog Post

January 7, 2010
If the jobsite for a green building isn't any safer than the jobsite for a conventional building, is something missing from our definition of "green"? That is the question raised by a new study, "Impact of Green Building Design and Construction on Worker Safety and Health," published in October in the Journal of Construction Engineering and... Read more

Blog Post

January 5, 2010
It could be worse. Happy New Year from BuildingGreen.com, and from our credit-by-credit guide to getting LEED done, LEEDuser. (Which, I want to add, is available for only $9.95/month!) I hope you'll enjoy this fun compilation of common (or not-so-common) LEED problems, with links to LEEDuser credit guidance. On a more serious note, you might also... Read more

Blog Post

January 5, 2010
There was a flurry of excitement in the office this morning because of a volley of comments that came into BuildingGreen.com about different products -- fantastic user insights on what works and doesn't in applying Murco joint compound, interactions between the Brac system and Toto toilets, and a cool unexpected benefit to DensArmor. This is just... Read more

Blog Post

January 4, 2010

Global warming deniers have garnered a lot of attention in recent years. From opinion columns and letters in our local newspaper to heated reporting on Fox News (whose trademarked slogan "Fair & Balanced" is often anything but), those who doubt the underlying science of global warming are receiving unprecedented access to the American... Read more

News Brief

January 1, 2010
California-based Harpiris Energy recently completed the first large multi-unit installation of its SunCache low-cost, plastic solar water heaters at a senior housing complex in Sacramento, California. (SunCache was named a top-10 product by BuildingGreen in 2008; see

EBN Dec. 2008.)

The Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency placed... Read more

Product Review

January 1, 2010
CalStar Products will begin producing bricks and pavers made from fly ash in its Caledonia, Wisconsin, facility starting in January 2010. Made from 40% high-calcium, type C fly ash and 60% local aggregates (along with proprietary ingredients), these products do not require energy-intensive firing or the use of portland cement. Fly ash is commonly... Read more

News Brief

January 1, 2010

The most recent Green-e Verification Report, released annually by the Center for Resource Solutions (CRS), shows a 45% increase in the U.S. certified renewable energy certificate (REC) market from 2007 to 2008.

The report found that more than 13 terawatt-hours (TWh) of Green-e energy were purchased last year—nearly double 2007 sales.... Read more

News Analysis

January 1, 2010
On December 7, 2009, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson released the agency’s ruling that greenhouse gases are a threat to humans. This ruling puts greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride—under the regulatory authority of EPA, which... Read more

News Brief

January 1, 2010

The Boston Architectural College (BAC) Department of Sustainable Design, a national leader in sustainability education for building professionals, will offer a variety of new certification options beginning in January 2010.

In addition to the existing certificate in sustainable design (now with two required courses), students and... Read more

News Brief

January 1, 2010

Changes to the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) proposed by the New Buildings Institute (NBI), The American Institute of Architects, and the U.S. Department of Energy have cleared the first hurdle on their way to adoption.

The proposals, modeled on NBI’s Core Performance prescriptive building guidelines, would result in 20%–... Read more