BuildingGreen Report

Blog Post

November 19, 2007

Update: it has come to our attention that the U.S. Department of Energy is no longer supporting this Google Earth layer. We've created a Google Documents link where you can download the KMZ file for use in Google Earth.

I want to show off something that we have been working on that I'm really excited about. Working with the Department of... Read more

Blog Post

November 15, 2007
Sometimes it's hard to suspend disbelief enough to make an unbiased judgement about a product, particularly when it's from an industry with a history of charlatanry, if not outright chicanery. For instance, chemical-free water treatment—which most people associate with sticking a speaker magnet on a pipe under the kitchen sink. The systems I'm... Read more

Blog Post

November 15, 2007

Twice each month, BuildingGreen publishes an email news bulletin with current news and product information briefs. Sign up here—it's free. We will never share or sell your email address, and you may unsubscribe at any time.

New listings in the BuildingGreen GreenSpec Product Directory are online. Browse green product listings.... Read more

Blog Post

November 14, 2007
One of the posts at the gb.07 Journal (written by USGBC staffers Lauren Kuritz and Doug Smeath) is about the ASID / USGBC collaboration, ReGreen, "a collection of tools to help you focus your renovation projects toward sustainability, durability, comfort and style." Peter Yost, Jennifer Atlee (best researcher I know), Alex Wilson, Amie Walter,... Read more

Blog Post

November 13, 2007

I had an interesting conversation while waiting for Robert Murray's presentation on the construction outlook. A senior associate from one of the leading architectural firms pointed out that the concept of integrating sustainable design into a plan has, until now, been initiated largely by the designer/architect. One client of theirs, a box... Read more

Blog Post

November 13, 2007
A very interesting lunchtime presentation at Build Boston by Robert Murray, Vice President, Economic Affairs at McGraw-Hill. Some notes of interest related to the sustainable building, green building, and building trends/predictions in general: Green building as a part of construction trends is starting to effect the macroeconomic picture. This... Read more

Blog Post

November 13, 2007
Mark posted earlier about David Eisenberg and his organization, DCAT, getting USGBC's Organization Excellence Leadership Award at Greenbuild 2007. David has certainly been a great friend and mentor to many of us here at BuildingGreen. Personally, I have to say that no one has had more impact on my career in green building than Gail Lindsey (... Read more

Blog Post

November 12, 2007
I'm still clinging to the notion that the Integrated Project Delivery paper from the AIA is worth a look-see. (You may also see desperate beads of sweat on my forehead if you look closely.) I always believe everything Nadav says (almost), but having additionally spoken with a couple handfuls of other exceptionally well-informed smarties about it... Read more

Blog Post

November 12, 2007

In a brilliantly cruel stroke of scheduling irony, the morning after our party with the GreenSource folks at the Funky Buddha, we held a breakfast for our BuildingGreen Suite firm-wide subscribers: organizations that have an account for every person in their operation. It was some heady company to be in, with movers and shakers from the likes... Read more

Blog Post

November 9, 2007

Though Greenbuild '07 wraps up soon (and checkout time at my hotel is at noon), I've still got a number of things to report. There will be additional Greenbuild-related posts in the coming days about products, happenings, and a probably a slight meander about social and professional hierarchies. It will be nice to have a little more time to... Read more

Blog Post

November 9, 2007
To follow up on another reader comment, apparent fetishist Matthew suggested that "a fun report might be documenting the types of shoes people are wearing"—so I spent a little time shoe-gazing last night at the Leadership Awards celebration in the Merchandise Mart. Shiny black shoes were The Thing for both sexes. Some of the women had pointy-... Read more

Blog Post

November 9, 2007

I haven't yet posted from Greenbuild, mostly because this was my first time at the conference, and it took most of my mental energy just to sort through the experience of 22,000 people and all of the information I was taking in. Not posting, however, has given me some space to start thinking about some of the big-picture themes of the... Read more

Blog Post

November 9, 2007

While there were lots of highlights at Greenbuild, the only way I can really be productive at such a big conference is to narrow my focus. I'm researching water conservation and water efficiency for an upcoming EBN feature article, and I made great progress on that in Chicago. First, there was doubtless lots of water saved here by not... Read more

Blog Post

November 9, 2007
I wrote earlier today about grumbling at a Greenbuild session on life-cycle assessment, and I assigned the blame to bad news delivered by Stanley Rhodes of Scientific Certification Systems. The biggest shocker might have been Stanley's analysis that a given unit of electricity produced by wind resulted in increased greenhouse gas emissions... Read more

Blog Post

November 9, 2007

Based on some of the audience Q&A I think that much of the audience left grumbling after Thursday's session, "Demystifying Sustainability: A Life-Cycle Perspective," convened by the energetic Meredith Elbaum of Sasaki, with Stanley Rhodes of Scientific Certification Systems speaking along with Nancy Harrod of Sasaki and Melissa Vernon of... Read more

Blog Post

November 8, 2007
I hadn't had the opportunity to look in on it since Monday, but I see now that the good folks from GreenSource started posting to their Greenbuild blog a couple days ago. Content-rich!, and a decidedly more journalistic voice than the mumbles and barks I've been spouting here. (Most of what I've posted on BuildingGreen.com Live is a totally... Read more

Blog Post

November 8, 2007
Alex Wilson is about to begin the session presenting the Top-10 products added to GreenSpec and/or reviewed in Environmental Building News over the past year... and because I can, vested by the power of the internet, these are them, just for you, even before the standing-room-only crowd of a couple hundred here in the room gets to see them. (Only... Read more

Blog Post

November 8, 2007
Last night we and the GreenSource folks had an intimate, half-crazed private party for 350 invited green builders at the Funky Buddha—a curious and amazing place of several connected rooms filled with murals, sculpture, candles, conversation niches, and atmosphere. Drinks and laughter were the order of the evening. It turns out that I'm not as... Read more

Blog Post

November 8, 2007
Here's how self-absorbed I can get: I keep going back to the Greenbuild bookstore to see how many copies of Green Building Products are displayed. (I'm a co-editor with Alex Wilson.) It's not like I get royalties or anything; any of that funnels back into the company. It's just pure vanity, I guess. The stack goes up and down—three books, then... Read more

Blog Post

November 8, 2007
UTC Power, (the fuel cell folks), brought a hydrogen bus to Greenbuild and are giving people rides around the block. There's only a few of these prototypes on the road. While I'm sure the company would like to make more, the viability of a hydrogen economy is dubious, according to many. What's a bus have to do with green building? Lots.