BuildingGreen Report

News Brief

April 29, 2009

Representing a standard of consumer product performance for 100 years,

Good Housekeeping magazine’s Seal of Approval is expanding to consider environmental impacts. The new Green Good Housekeeping Seal will launch in the second half of 2009, according to the magazine’s publishers. Although the criteria for judging products have not been... Read more

News Brief

April 29, 2009

Affordable housing and transportation need to be planned together, said the secretaries of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) at a March 2009 House subcommittee hearing. DOT Secretary Raymond LaHood and HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan announced that a high-level task force with... Read more

News Analysis

April 29, 2009
PureBond hardwood plywood from Columbia Forest Products will not be subject to the formaldehyde testing requirements of the California Air Resources Board (CARB). Panel products sold in California will be subject to strict new Phase II limits on formaldehyde emissions (0.05 ppm for plywood) starting in 2010 (see

EBN Apr. 2008). The PureBond... Read more

Explainer

April 29, 2009

Thermal comfort is hard to define and even harder to achieve. The most common complaint about workplace environments is that they are too cold. This would be a fairly simple problem to fix if the second most common complaint weren’t that the same spaces are too hot.

According to ASHRAE Standard 55, which defines thermal comfort in... Read more

News Brief

April 29, 2009

The Green Building Initiative (GBI), which administers the Green Globes building rating system, and The American Institute of Architects (AIA) have signed a memorandum of understanding that expresses their intent to work in concert to promote green building.

Chris McEntee, AIA’s executive vice president and chief executive officer, praised... Read more

News Brief

April 29, 2009

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) will offer a new exam, starting in June, for Commissioning Process Management Professionals. Intended to help building owners and others find qualified people to lead the commissioning process, the certification considers people- and project-management... Read more

News Brief

April 29, 2009

Businesses seeking competitive advantage through sustainability are the target market for Ecoimpact, a partnership of Penny Bonda, FASID; Diana Horvat, IIDA; and Ken Wilson, FAIA. The Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm will offer such services as LEED training, industry analysis, tax-incentive guidance, and marketing help. Bonda is the... Read more

News Brief

April 29, 2009

Six high-profile environmental advocacy groups have joined forces to create a water certification label intended to change the way water is managed and valued worldwide. The “Water Stewardship” label, announced in March 2009 at the 5th annual World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey, will assure consumers that the water used to manufacture... Read more

News Analysis

April 29, 2009
In dueling March 17, 2009, announcements, leading building information modeling (BIM) software companies Autodesk and Bentley Systems staked out their positions in the energy simulation race. Autodesk established its dominance in tools for architects and engineers to use on design sketches, and Bentley solidified its claim on tools for engineers... Read more

News Brief

April 29, 2009
The Village in Burns Harbor, a mixed-used development on Lake Michigan in Indiana, has earned certification for land use through the National Association of Homebuilders’ (NAHB) National Green Building Program. The 60-acre (24 ha) development, when completed, will contain 265 single-family, semi-detached, and multifamily homes as well as a... Read more

Product Review

April 29, 2009
Two carpets from Beaulieu Commercial, based in Adairsville, Georgia, are among the first to be certified through NSF 140-2007e (also known simply as NSF-140), a multiple-attribute sustainability standard for building products. Developed by NSF International, this point based standard, approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI),... Read more

News Brief

April 29, 2009
On March 18, 2009, members of the nonprofit organization YouthBuild gathered on the Mall in Washington, D.C., to learn about green building and construct a home for a family in Texas. The program celebrated the 30th anniversary of the organization, which helps at-risk youth earn high school diplomas or GEDs while they gain usable skills by... Read more

Feature

Wind turbulence, safety, cost, and poor performance all make building-integrated wind a limited strategy.

April 29, 2009

The appeal of integrating wind turbines into our buildings is strong. Rooftops are elevated above ground, where it’s windier; the electricity is generated right where it’s needed; and wind energy can make a strong visual statement. Dozens of start-up wind turbine manufacturers have latched onto this idea since it fits well with a strong public... Read more

Op-Ed

April 29, 2009

There’s a tendency in the green building industry to focus too much on the high-profile, glamorous features at the expense of sensible measures that achieve most of the environmental benefit. The subject of our feature article this month, building-integrated wind—capping buildings with turbines that spin out a few kilowatt-hours from the... Read more

News Brief

April 29, 2009
The American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment (AIA-COTE) has announced its Top Ten Green Projects for 2009. Full profiles of these projects are available at www.aiatopten.org and at www.buildinggreen.com.

Charles Hostler Student Center: An athletic facility and gathering space at the American University of Beirut, designed... Read more

Blog Post

April 27, 2009
Electric ranges may actually be more efficient than gas ranges.

Which is better: a gas or electric range? Most serious cooks prefer gas, because it delivers heat instantly and is highly controllable. With typical electric cooktops, it takes longer for the burner to respond when turned on and when the setting is adjusted.

I used to be in... Read more

Blog Post

April 27, 2009
Electric ranges may actually be more efficient than gas ranges.

Which is better: a gas or electric range? Most serious cooks prefer gas, because it delivers heat instantly and is highly controllable. With typical electric cooktops, it takes longer for the burner to respond when turned on and when the setting is adjusted.

I used to be in... Read more

Blog Post

April 20, 2009
The Hallowell Acadia heat pump can operate at temperatures below 0 degrees and still perform significantly better than electric-resistance heat.

Last week's column looked at efficient but also very expensive ground-source heat pumps; this week we'll look at a less expensive option that's becoming more common even in our climate: air-source... Read more

Blog Post

April 18, 2009
All this week, webcasting service BrightTALK is honoring Earth Day by providing five days of free green building presentations. Many of the presenters are world-class. If you can't fit it into your schedule, the recorded sessions will be available on-demand later. Monday addresses Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability — the... Read more

Blog Post

April 16, 2009

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