BuildingGreen Report
April Fools
GSHPs have gone mainstream, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, and the hippest AEC professionals are so over them.
“I was specifying ground-source heat pumps before they were popular,” recalled Gea Snootfeld, principal at Seattle’s Maverick Design. “Most people installing them now don’t, like, actually, get it.”
Snootfeld is referring, of course, to the recent breakout of ground-source heat pumps (GSHPs) onto the mechanical heating and cooling... Read more
April Fools
A building project brings brothers back together, but a fast-moving storm challenges the project and the family.
Welcome to the second installment of BuildingGreen’s Biophilic Design series “Built Against the Howling Wind,” as we follow the Boar brothers’ journey of sustainable homebuilding from design considerations through project completion. We’ll look at the choices and challenges that triplets Kevin, Wilbur, and Hamlet ran into while selecting... Read more
April Fools
With headlines daily jumping the shark, scientists warn of dangers for Earth’s oceans and for humanity.
Long before Sharknado, far in advance of Shark Week, popular culture produced something historians have since dubbed “the best marine-animal metaphor since trained seals.”
Yes, we mean jumping the shark—a type of ridiculous stunt that heralds the imminent decline of a formerly respectable endeavor.
Experts now say this metaphor... Read more
April Fools
Outdated, inefficient buildings find a new path forward—and inward.
As the morning sun hits the east-facing curtain wall, Summit Ridge Office Park gazes down at its own reflection in the still waters of a man-made lake. Until recently, the building simply accepted what it saw there: a six-story, highway-adjacent office complex, first built in 1987. Once proud of its blandly handsome exterior, Summit Ridge... Read more
April Fools
Whistleblowers alert state health agencies to possible foot fungus scourge in laid-back Vermont, Silicon Valley workplaces.
Nonconformist, bohemian businesses in Vermont share a long-held footwear philosophy: “no shoes, yes service.”
And similarly, but also really differently, shoelessness has found a foothold among companies in southern California’s famously informal—even wacky—tech start-up scene.
“I love to scrunch the course carpet nodules... Read more
April Fools
Building on Texas’s reputation for environmentalism, which stems from its clean grid, Houston is aiming to rival Amsterdam and become a worldwide leader in urban bicycle commuting.
In a surprise move aimed at reducing the carbon impacts of commuting, Houston, Texas is banning cars from most of the city limits, expanding bicycle infrastructure into the suburbs, and even making right turns illegal. Mayor John Whitmore said residents overwhelmingly supported the initiatives in recent elections, and local businesses are... Read more
April Fools
A mass timber controversy compels BuildingGreen to bid a regretful farewell to its hippest and most popular event venue.
As the 2024 event season approaches for BuildingGreen’s Peer Networks, the Sustainable Design Leaders (SDL) have been looking forward to yet another summit at the beloved IslandWood venue on Washington’s Bainbridge Island.
But in the aftermath of Paula Melton’s two-part report released earlier this year, “Wood: Is It Still Good?” it’s... Read more
April Fools
The Inflation Reduction Act has nearly eliminated bursts of overinflation, reducing serious injury to American balloon artists.
Subcutaneous emphysema from blowing up a giant link-o-loon.
A case of Gillespie’s Pouches developed after a career of ballooning with bad technique.
Eye damage—or, Gosh forbid, blindness—inflicted by exploding latex.
There’s no question that overinflation comes with hazards aplenty—ever since Professor Michael Faraday... Read more
Product Guide
Standard outdoor lighting is left on for long hours and is often too cold a color; it also allows light trespass that disturbs people, wildlife, and ecosystems.
The best lighting is “efficacious” (... Read more
News Analysis
Forced labor and other inhumane practices are embedded in many common building materials. The building industry can’t solve this alone, but we can still take action.
This article has been prepared for informational purposes only; it is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, legal advice. You should consult your firm’s legal advisors before engaging in any transaction.
Disclosures: WSP Built Ecology is BuildingGreen’s content partner on the LEEDuser website, and BuildingGreen is... Read more
News Analysis
Engineered stone countertops may be causing a spike in lung disease, with cases seemingly tied to the material’s unique properties. Find out what design and construction teams should do—and why.
Grinders’ asthma. Stonecutters’ consumption. Potters’ rot. Silicosis.
Lung disease from breathing in dust is one of the oldest and most lethal occupational hazards for people working in the building trades. According to a “A Short History of Occupational Disease,” an article published by the Ulster Medical Society in 2021, evidence of... Read more
Feature Article
Many people hope mass timber will drive decarbonization—but scaling that up could make things worse. Instead of embodied carbon alone, “climate-smart” practices focus on our increasingly fragile forests.
This is Part Two of a two-part series on wood products. Part One focuses on the embodied carbon of wood products, exploring the origin and veracity of industry carbon-neutrality claims and considering the avoided emissions associated with using mass timber in place of structural steel or concrete. Part Two considers broader climate implications... Read more
Spotlight Report
Are wood products inherently carbon neutral?
Many people think they are even better: “net carbon storing,” or “carbon negative.” Because of this, the green building community has hoped that mass timber will drive decarbonization.
But it turns out that scaling that up could make things worse instead... Read more
Product Guide
Everyone wants to save water, but low-flow shower units have been faulted for delivering poor performance—leading people to spend more time in the shower or to remove the showerhead and replace it with an older, higher-flow showerhead.... Read more
Product Guide
Stone, wood, composites, sintered stone, tile, and other solid surface materials all have different environmental and health impacts. Plastic products engineered so scratches can be sanded out... Read more
Explainer
Life-cycle assessment and environmental product declarations reveal embodied carbon and other impacts, but it’s important to know their limits.
As part of its economy-wide decarbonization plan, the U.S. government is targeting a building-sector emission cut of 90% from 2005 levels by 2050—and a crucial component of that is reducing the embodied greenhouse gas emissions from building materials and construction.
To achieve this, we need better... Read more
Product Guide
Made from portland cement, aggregates, and water, concrete is one of the most useful and ubiquitous materials on the planet. The portland cement that holds concrete together is responsible for approximately 8% of anthropogenic carbon. That’s because production involves a process (calcination) that transforms limestone into portland cement and... Read more
Webcast
You’ve probably heard that wood products are carbon neutral. You might also have heard that timber harvesting causes immense carbon emissions.
Which is it?
Could it be both?
This on-demand webcast investigates these questions and others, using a scientific lens to examine wood’s carbon... Read more
Feature Article
Wood products are widely regarded as carbon neutral—or even better. With new research challenging that idea, a more cautious approach is emerging. Because the climate stakes are too high for us to get this wrong.
Editor’s note: Stephanie Carlisle, senior researcher at the University of Washington’s Carbon Leadership Forum, generously provided a technical review.
This is Part One of a two-part series on wood products. It delves into the climate impacts—positive, negative, and otherwise—of managed forests. Part Two considers more climate... Read more
Spotlight Report
Is wood carbon neutral? Can mass timber buildings be net-negative emitters?
You have probably heard both of those claims repeated by manufacturers, colleagues, and the media—but the World Resources Institute isn’t so sure. A WRI report released in July 2023 maintains that wood use is not carbon neutral “even if... Read more