BuildingGreen Report

Feature Article

Lots of manufacturers call their products “green,” but are they? Here's our guide to the high-performance attributes that matter.

July 7, 2020

When BuildingGreen started publication in 1992, simply finding building products designed with environmental benefits in mind was a big challenge. We responded to that challenge in the late 1990s by developing GreenSpec, a guide to the industry’s top green building products. In the years since, we’ve seen rapid advances in green building... Read more

News Brief

Significant challenges prevent the great majority of existing NYC multifamily buildings from being electrified, but these 480 buildings are prime candidates.

July 7, 2020

While some small buildings have taken to electrification retrofits, large multifamily buildings have been a harder nut to crack. Seeing “virtually no progress in this sector” in New York City, the Urban Green Council studied the reasons why and released a report detailing the existing multifamily building type that could... Read more

News Analysis

Private consultants, along with LEED, WELL, and AIA are all offering strategies for re-occupying buildings without unduly compromising occupant health.

July 7, 2020

Wary of returning to your usual workplace? You’re not alone. Zoom might be a strain, and the home office might not provide the work–life balance you need, but to many the alternative seems scary—even unthinkable. It would be crazy for people to return to offices and other workplaces without some kind of reassurance that the... Read more

Product Guide

July 1, 2020

Medium-density fiberboard and particleboard are non-structural panels manufactured from sawmill waste that is typically held together with phenol formaldehyde (PF), melamine formaldehyde (MF), or urea formaldehyde (UF), resins. Formaldehyde-free methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) resins are also used.

Particleboard is made from... Read more

Webcast

June 11, 2020

Whole-building life-cycle assessment (WBLCA) can help project teams reduce embodied carbon as well as many other environmental impacts of building materials. And it’s incentivized in LEED and other rating systems. But how do you do it? In this course, we’ll review the basics of WBLCA and then look in-depth at two software tools for conducting... Read more

Webcast

June 9, 2020

Dr. Gail Brager, Professor of Architecture at UC Berkeley, discusses the value of (mostly thermal) variability in terms of human experience, and implications for design of the built environment.

Gail begins with a visual argument for why variability is important, followed by some research examples showing evidence of the positive and... Read more

Product Review

Renewable energy systems, particularly photovoltaic (PV) panels, have come under attack for using toxic materials and having a high carbon footprint. The truth is more complicated.

June 8, 2020

As planet temperatures continue to rise, reducing carbon emissions from fossil fuel consumption is now our biggest challenge. Photovoltaic (PV) energy is often held up as our future.

Though PV already has a long history of solid performance, articles claiming PV is actually a net producer of carbon have been circulating for years. Other... Read more

Feature Article

Take a plain old building and turn it into something remarkable, and you’ll also help save the planet.

June 8, 2020

Older buildings—especially those from the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s—need our help. Many leave something to be desired in terms of aesthetics and comfort. But the truth is that they are part of the urban and suburban fabric now, and they aren’t going anywhere. As tempting as it might seem to tear them all down and replace them with... Read more

Op-Ed

How will the AEC industry—what we build and how we work—change post-pandemic? We asked leading lights in the green building world.

June 8, 2020

Downtown Chicago, like so many downtowns, has been largely empty to prevent the spread of Covid-19—followed more recently by protests and opportunistic looting (Central Camera, visible in this image, was badly damaged).

Photo: Raed Mansour. License: CC BY 2.0.

We queried some big-picture thinkers, and we got... Read more

News Brief

A team entirely new to Living Building Challenge successfully molded what is usually a water-intensive production facility to meet the highest of performance standards.

June 8, 2020

The International Living Future Institute recently certified the largest Living Building yet—the Alexander Valley Silver Oak Winery in California. This 109,000-ft2 facility consists of tasting rooms, a wine cellar, and production facilities, making it a relatively complicated project compared to others that have pursued the Living Building... Read more

News Analysis

From handwashing signage to humidification, here’s how the building industry can help combat the spread of infectious disease.

June 8, 2020

Lactation rooms, circadian lighting, nutritious food, and inviting stairways: through Fitwel and WELL, these have become more common ways to promote wellness through building design and operations. But what do these certifications have to say about illness? And specifically, about stopping the spread of COVID-19?

Fitwel:... Read more

News Brief

ASTM C1866 will make it easier to specify low-embodied-carbon recycled ground glass as a supplementary cementitious material.

June 8, 2020

Ground glass can be a low-global-warming-potential replacement for portland cement, but using it on a project has been difficult because there has been no standard way to specify the material. ASTM has published ASTM C1866, Standard Specification for Recycled Ground-Glass Pozzolan for Use in Concrete. ASTM C1866 will make it... Read more

Webcast

May 22, 2020

What weather data are you using to inform design? Learn where to access high-resolution climate projection data for your projects, and how to use it. Be an early adopter as the AEC industry moves from considering weather as static to using information about our changing climate to inform design.

News Analysis

Daylight, indoor/outdoor spaces, extensive plantings, and exposed wood are among the features of this year’s winners.

May 21, 2020

The American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment (COTE) has announced its Top Ten projects for 2020. If one theme shows through, it’s the almost universal embrace of natural daylight and plantings, along with commonalities like exposed wood and indoor/outdoor spaces.

Two awards went... Read more

News Brief

A life-cycle assessment of Katerra cross-laminated timber reveals opportunities for lower carbon impact.

May 4, 2020

Want to lower the carbon footprint of a mass-timber structural system? Consider the species of the lumber and where it’s coming from.

That’s one of the central conclusions of a life-cycle assessment (LCA) recently published in the journal Sustainability and summarized in a report by Katerra.... Read more

News Brief

The United Church of Christ says there is a moral urgency to tame toxic emissions from 100 plants located in populated areas.

May 4, 2020

In a recent report, The United Church of Christ, a denomination of Protestant Christianity, shames 100 U.S. manufacturing facilities with highly toxic air pollution records, calling it a “moral crisis” that more than 112,500 children under the age of five live within three miles of the facilities’ perimeters. 

... Read more

News Brief

The Illuminating Engineering Society’s white paper “Germicidal Ultraviolet (GUV)–Frequently Asked Questions” explains GUV and its potential role in fighting COVID-19.

May 4, 2020

The Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) has released the white paper “Germicidal Ultraviolet (GUV)–Frequently Asked Questions.” The report is aimed at healthcare applications, addressing the fundamentals of GUV light, its effectiveness, its safety, and more in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic.

... Read more

Product Review

Cleaning with soap and water is still the best defense against COVID-19 virus and other pathogens. Antimicrobials are not the answer.

May 4, 2020

COVID-19 self-isolation has drastically changed our behavior. We don masks and rubber gloves if we have to go outside and then wash hands incessantly when we get back … behaviors that would have seemed absurd just a few months ago. The precautions are well founded as we look for ways to “flatten the curve” and get a handle on... Read more

News Analysis

Flattening the COVID curve is also flattening electricity load curves, which may be a lesson for the building industry.

May 4, 2020

Just as COVID-19 has changed nearly every aspect of day-to-day life, the virus is upending deeply rooted patterns of the electric grid. Combined with initial signs of cleaner air, emboldened wildlife, and growing demand for local agriculture, some have wondered whether being confined to our homes has resulted in lower... Read more

News Brief

Older buildings are “CFC banks” because of phased-out refrigerants and blowing agents, according to MIT scientists.

May 4, 2020

The hole in the ozone layer is closing—but not as quickly as it should, according to researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In fact, buildings with older foam insulation, HVAC systems, and refrigeration equipment could delay healing by six years. The escaping CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) are blowing... Read more