Unique boreal habitats in Alberta, razed to make way for strip-mining of tar sands. Mixed hardwood forests in West Virginia, bulldozed for mountaintop-removal coal mining. Illegal clearcuts in Oregon fragmenting old-growth habitat for endangered species.

Besides being destructive practices that happen... Read more

Policy wonks have been saying for years that water is THE critical resource on our... Read more

I’m about to start teaching another round of my online course, Resilient Design, at Boston Architectural College (BAC), and this provides an opportunity to reflect on teaching at BAC and, more broadly, the online... Read more

A new certification will make it easier for project teams to locate products eligible for a LEED v4 credit that addresses ingredient disclosure and hazard screening (Building Product Disclosure and Optimization—Material Ingredients).

Developed by Clean Production Action (creators of the GreenScreen... Read more

Fannie Mae, the leading provider of multifamily financing, has announced that it will offer owners of certified green buildings a significantly lower interest rate on their loans. The lower rate applies to a multifamily building’s refinance, acquisition, or supplemental mortgage, so it encourages existing buildings as well as... Read more

Following its controversial choice to give equal status to LEED and Green Globes (Feds Put Green Globes on Pedestal with LEED), the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has completed a technical review of LEED v4 and is seeking public input on the results. The new review applies the methodology from a 2012 Pacific... Read more

Our recent webcast, Deep Material Vetting That Won’t Chew Through Your Design Budget, included a “homework” assignment: Chris and Scott of Re:Vision Architecture asked... Read more

ON-DEMAND WEBCAST

Part 4 of Kjell Anderson's "Early-Design Modeling: New Tools and New Approaches"

Most whole building energy simulations require a mechanical system design, making them unsuitable for early-design modeling. In response, architects and energy modelers are turning to shoebox models, with one or just a few zones.... Read more

California Senator Jerry Hill is calling for crumb rubber—the ground pieces of old tire that are used for artificial turf fields—to again be put under the microscope amidst concerns that the material emits harmful compounds or acts as a carcinogen.

So far, the few risk evaluations that have been... Read more

With the local science fair coming up, 14-year-old high school freshman Steven McDowell told his teacher he planned to solve California’s current water crisis—one of the worst in the state’s history. The incredulous teacher had his doubts, but McDowell set out to prove him wrong and began tinkering with a system that combines... Read more

When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking. Build tight; ventilate right. Thou shalt not steal.

Simple, memorable rules are great tools, but everyone knows they don’t apply in every situation: real life is confounding, complex, and context-bound. The cardinal rule of thumb is that there’s... Read more

About a year ago, I posted my green building products wish list. One of those wishes came true: introduction in June 2014 of a polyisocyanurate boardstock insulation containing no halogenated flame retardants from Johns Manville.

So what’s on my list now? Can concrete that sequesters carbon go to scale... Read more

It was a Living Building Challenge project team’s worst nightmare.

After months of vetting—most LBC teams report eight or more hours of research per product—to achieve the stringent rating system’s requirements, the team for the Bechtel Environmental Classroom at Smith College discovered a forbidden... Read more

Note: The article has been corrected to express savings in metric tons.

Slight reductions in transportation energy can have massive carbon benefits for existing buildings, according to new research—much greater than similar reductions in building energy use.

The study, “... Read more

ON-DEMAND WEBCAST

Part 3 of Kjell Anderson's "Early-Design Modeling: New Tools and New Approaches"

While airflow analysis isn't part of most building simulations today, it is part of nearly all low-energy buildings.

Unfortunately, many architects aren't well-positioned to take advantage of this opportunity because they aren... Read more

All that Advil we take for small aches and pains is adding up in our wastewater, says new research, and it’s affecting wildlife, the plants we eat, and even the water we drink.

Levels of ibuprofen currently found in the environment significantly hamper early root development of lettuce plants, according... Read more

Spray polyurethane foam (SPF) is a widely preferred high-performance product due to its impressive insulating value and air-sealing properties—yet the high global warming potential (GWP) of the standard SPF blowing agent (HFC-245fa) has seriously compromised its environmental performance. Now SPF manufacturers are adopting... Read more

Facebook, Kaiser Permanente, and Autodesk are among major buyers that have pledged to purchase furniture that contains no chemical flame retardants. HDR Architecture and Perkins+Will have also signed the pledge.

Initiated by the Center for Environmental Health (CEH), the purchasers’ pledge currently... Read more