BuildingGreen Report

If a tree falls in the woods, and there’s no one around to describe how the forest has been managed, is the tree carbon neutral?

This riff on the classic philosophical thought experiment is a practical question that SCS Global Services is seeking to answer for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).... Read more

We’re not far from the day when we will be able to walk into a building and test indoor air quality in real time from our phones, most experts say. The demand for this air-quality information continues to grow, especially in the wake of COVID-19 and the realization that good IAQ is linked with lower transmission risk. In the... Read more

Disclaimer: BuildingGreen is a technical advisory partner to mindful Materials.

When you think of mindful Materials (mM), you may think of stickers. That’s how the whole thing got started: HKS developed binder labels meant to help its designers quickly identify products in their product library that had transparency labels like health... Read more

By Brad Liljequist

Reading BuildingGreen’s provocative “Net-Zero Energy Isn’t the Real Goal: 8 Reasons Why” sparked a lot of emotions and thoughts—ranging from strong agreement to a fair amount of “Yes, but….”

Zero energy by itself has never been the full, holistic goal—which instead perhaps is best stated as: “to reconstruct... Read more

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are used as dirt and stain repellants and are found in carpet and textile treatments, coatings, sealants, and other building and consumer products. They are persistent in the environment, and some are known persistent, bioaccumulative toxicants (PBTs), yet the extent of their use is not fully... Read more

With racial equity coming into greater mainstream focus as a sustainability imperative, one question keeps coming up for building professionals, policymakers, and residents of communities affected by development: how do we move forward?

NAACP is offering answers. The group’s first publication in a series called Guidelines for Equitable... Read more

Even as the popularity of mass timber increases, sourcing Forest Stewardship Council-certified (FSC) wood is becoming more difficult, especially in certain regions of North America. It’s hardly good for the material’s carbon footprint to ship cross-laminated timber (CLT) and other members all the way across the U.S. or Canada... Read more

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are persistent, bioaccumulative, and linked to a number of negative health and environmental impacts. Some forms are toxic and possible carcinogens. These “forever” chemicals are now found on every continent and in the most remote places on the world. They are also common in the... Read more

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has established two new task groups relating to its large portfolio of buildings—the Federal Building Decarbonization Task Group and the Environmental Justice and Equity Task Group. The moves came in response to a sweeping executive order on climate and environmental justice.... Read more

Karina Hershberg’s transition from focusing on energy to focusing on carbon began six years ago. An electrical engineer at PAE Consulting, Hershberg was working on a project with deep sustainability goals. Net-zero energy (NZE) was a given. The team was considering taking the project entirely off grid and was thinking about a 300-year time... Read more

Net zero-energy (NZE) projects are a big step in the right direction, but we must start designing and operating them differently to accelerate the transition away from carbon emissions in the building sector.

In this report we list eight ways that NZE projects miss the mark on climate goals, including how they affect the electricity... Read more

With drought conditions continuing in much of the U.S., reducing water consumption is an ongoing priority and has made low-flow appliances a necessity. Commercial toilets in particular use a lot of water, requiring a gravity assist to move waste along pipes. Though there are some extremely low-flow toilets available, there is... Read more

“You can probably feel each other’s breath on you.” Renee Weeks is a social worker providing services for people experiencing homelessness at Upper Valley Haven in White River Junction, Vermont. Her empathy for guests comes through while she tries to imagine what it’s like to share cramped sleeping quarters with a stranger. “I... Read more

Katerra—a “vertically integrated” manufacturing, architecture, and construction company specializing in offsite construction—is shutting down its U.S. operations, according to reports from employees, who were alerted on June 1, 2021. Katerra was also a supplier of Forest Stewardship Council-certified mass timber components, and its shutdown... Read more

A zero-carbon building sector by 2050. We know we need to hit that target, but getting it done will require new insights, new products, new policies, and new funding.

“Many organizations that work with us have set corporate-wide greenhouse gas, renewable, or carbon goals,” said Maria Vargas, senior program advisor at the U.S. Department... Read more

Many K–12 schools have raced to improve indoor air quality (IAQ) during the COVID-19 pandemic, but major barriers remain, according to a report released by ASHRAE and The Center for Green Schools. These include aging HVAC systems. But help may be on the way in the form of billions in relief funding from the federal government... Read more

It’s award season for major architectural prizes: the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) Gold Medal and the international Pritzker Architecture Prize. These are considered the highest honors for an architect. The goal of the Pritzker Prize is “to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those... Read more

On April 5, 2021, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its information on COVID-19 transmission risks, confirming that the pathogen is primarily passed on through airborne respiratory droplets and not through surface contamination. As a result, antimicrobial treatments are not recommended to manage... Read more

Commercial furniture can be ruined by stains, and this is particularly problematic in busy healthcare settings where spill, fluids, and disinfectants can wreak havoc on upholstery. Design teams manage the issue by either using a coated fabric—PVC, polyurethane, or silicone—or a woven fabric that is coated with per- and... Read more

When you sign up for the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) 2030 Commitment, which asks firms to achieve net-zero modeled energy use by 2030, one of the first things you have to do is create a “sustainability action plan,” or SAP. But how?

A new guide from the institute, “Creating a... Read more