BuildingGreen Report

2021 was a year in a string of years of unprecedented weather-related events: mega tornados, record-shattering heat domes, and ever-expanding forest fires. But even in a year like this, the Marshall Fire stands out as something new: a grass fire that turned into an urban firestorm--destroying entire suburban communities on Colorado’s... Read more

Resilient design is getting a makeover at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The organization, which acquired the RELi resilience rating system in 2017, will cede ownership as of January 1, 2022. RELi (pronounced “rely”) will return to its developer, The Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability (MTS), while USGBC works to... Read more

U.S. federal government operations could approach carbon neutrality by 2050, thanks to a sweeping sustainability plan and associated executive order announced by President Biden on December 8, 2021.

The plan includes requirements regarding building operations, embodied carbon, electric vehicle procurement, purchasing of less toxic... Read more

BuildingGreen’s editorial team has followed the development of LEDs since the first CFL replacements were commercially available. We’ve looked at their energy use, light quality, tunable lighting, outdoor lighting, new technologies, and more. But we’ve largely shied away from covering individual products for their design... Read more

Baton Rouge is breaking. Since 2003, four different districts of this city in Louisiana have seceded in order to create their own school systems. The latest, St. George, is in transition and simultaneously facing a legal battle challenging the election results that led to its secession. The proposed new city, whose citizens argue that the Baton... Read more

U.S. households with low median incomes (LMI) spend 14.5% of their paychecks on energy for heating, cooling, and appliances—almost double the percentage spent by non-LMI families—according to a Groundswell study conducted by data scientist Elvis Moleka, Ph.D. This higher energy burden exists despite programs designed to... Read more

Although disparities between predominantly white and predominantly non-white neighborhoods go back hundreds of years, 20th-century government-sponsored discrimination was a key turning point in segregating our cities, creating the maps we have today. In fact, it all began with maps—maps released during the New Deal era by the Federal Housing... Read more

“You are not a political party” was the subject line of a recent email we received at BuildingGreen.

The message was a response to a short news story we did on racism and sexism in built-environment workplaces. The body of the email included the line, “We want relevant content.”

We may be inching toward net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

More than 3,000 businesses and 700 cities had signed onto the United Nations’ Race to Zero commitment ahead of COP26 (the 26th Conference of the Parties), held in November 2021. But is 2050 soon enough? And how does this commitment... Read more

“Blah blah blah,” said many protesters’ signs during COP26 (the 26th Conference of the Parties, where the governments and other parties come together to make international commitments on climate change). The accusation of empty words echoed a September speech delivered by climate activist Greta Thunberg.

Although the news (or lack... Read more

One of the first actions President Biden took in office was releasing an executive order requiring the largest federal agencies to submit climate adaptation plans; these would identify risks and explain how the agency would address them. Now, more than 20 agencies have released their documents, many of which include elements... Read more

Interior design is inherently people-centered and can have dire impacts on the environment, the national board of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) declares in a new position statement on climate, health, and equity. The organization says it’s time for its industry to commit to these “three tenets of design... Read more

Since 1992, Energy Star has been the standard for choosing energy-efficient appliances. Run by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Energy Star program rates products that perform well above industry average; they are available for dishwashers, clothes dryers, water heaters, and more. The residential products that go above... Read more

Twenty-nine companies—making up one-third of the global mining and metals industry—have now committed to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. All are members of the International Council on Mining and Metals.

Many minerals and metals that are mined are used for decarbonization of other sectors—as is the case for metals used for... Read more

At Greenbuild, Green Seal announced that its current paint standard, GS-11 Version 4.0 for Paints, Coatings, Stains, and Sealers, now meets LEED v4.1 low-emitting materials credit requirements, as well as those for WELL v.1 and Fitwel.

In the early days of LEED, paint only had to comply with South... Read more

Window air conditioners are one-trick ponies: they only do cooling. They are also inefficient and noisy, they use problematic refrigerants, and they block the view out the window. But their relatively simple installation and functional, but inefficient, performance have made them ubiquitous, especially in older buildings where... Read more

We know where we need to go: toward a more equitable and environmentally responsible real estate industry. How to get there—quickly—remains elusive.

If you’re looking for a roadmap, consider the BuildUp 2030 Framework for the Transformation of Real Estate recently released by the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT), a nonprofit... Read more

The building industry is tired of waiting for change.

“We call on all sovereign governments to ramp up their Nationally Determined Contributions, and 2030 emissions reduction targets, to limit planetary warming in line with the remaining global 1.5ºC carbon budget,” reads a communiqué to policymakers... Read more

Looking for a comprehensive resource on eliminating the carbon impact of buildings?

The Building Decarbonization Practice Guide, a project of the William J. Worthen Foundation, promises to be that resource. The first two chapters have now been released, already totaling 75 pages, out of seven chapters planned. Once complete, the... Read more

A recent equity toolkit released by the NAACP recommends conducting racial equity impact assessments (REIA, pronounced “REE-uh”) to help guide work on projects and policies. But what is a REIA, and how do they work?

REIAs are an emerging way of analyzing the community impacts of a policy or project.... Read more