Product Review
To the best of our knowledge, this product is now being marketed under the name Rauhsaser by Better Wall System of Kenora, ON.
CoverAge is a tacky name for a great product that all remodelers should know about. It is a paintable, textured wallpaper that’s made entirely of recycled paper (at... Read moreNews Brief
At first glance,
An Environmental Handbook for Florida Contractors looks like it deals only with the environmental regulations that Florida contractors must contend with. And, indeed, the Handbook describes in detail the requirements for complying with regulations at the federal, state, and local levels. But the book goes much further,... Read more
Explainer
Feature
Ozone depletion and global warming are two of our most serious environmental problems—and foam insulation materials containing CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) contribute significantly to both of these problems. The environmentally concerned builder or designer should make it a highest priority to avoid them. Even many of the non-CFC alternatives... Read more
Op-Ed
Introducing the first issue of our newsletter.
Buildings have a tremendous impact on the environment. In North America, buildings and the building industry account for about 30% of carbon dioxide emissions, 35-40% of ozone depletion, 20-30% of municipal solid waste, vast quantities of natural resource consumption, and dramatic loss of open space each... Read more
Feature
Susan Maxman is the first AIA president to make sustainable design a priority.
Q.Where would you say architects as a group stand on environmental issues?
A.Architects tend to be reactive rather than proactive. It is important that we take the lead on these environmental issues. The architecture schools in particular tend to be conservative. They just aren’t... Read more
Feature
Carefully stake the building site and driveway, remove trees that are within the excavation area or too close, then erect a fence to keep heavy equipment off fragile soils and away from nearby trees.
Protecting trees and the local ecosystem when building on previously unbuilt land is a vitally important—yet often overlooked—part of environmentally responsible construction. Healthy trees and shrubs can reduce a home’s environmental impact and directly benefit homeowners in a number of ways:
•Enhancing comfort by shielding the house... Read more
News Brief
The American Institute of Architects convention in Boston this past June was the setting for a changing of the guard in the American architectural establishment. The Institute’s first woman president took the reins, the Committee on the Environment became its largest and fastest growing committee, and the first installments of the Environmental... Read more
Forum topic
Colleagues,
Have any of you had the opportunity to implement the Tesla solar product? We're in learning more about the product, its track record, any concerns we might need to know about. Would love to hear! Thanks.
Forum topic
I would like to invite you to come see the progress of the Oakland EcoBlock on 4/21! Page is co-presenting at the ULI event and we have been pulling together the latest material. It would be great if you can join!
Posted yesterday on the OEB web page https://ecoblock.berkeley.edu/news/ Sign up here: https://sf.uli.org/events/detail/... Read moreForum topic
Hi all,
Thanks for your patience as we've finally compressed this video file enough to upload it onto the forum. You can watch the recording of "Are We There Yet? A Sampling and Exploration of Project Process Diagrams" here.
Enjoy!
-Amanda & the BuildingGreen team
Forum topic
We talked about products in Eastern region and Western region groups.
Guiding questions:
Better Product Choices On Every Project: How To Get There?
How do firms organize and communicate information on materials? Is it office wide or on select projects?
What do designers and project managers need to know? How... Read more
Forum topic
Hello Fellow Green Guru Members: I am pleased to be a new member of the Sustainable Community Design Leaders (SCDL) forum, and look forward to learning and contributing here. Also, in case you missed it, this week there were two important steps forward towards an eventual standardized Environmental-Social-Governance (ESG) reporting system... Read more
Forum topic
Wondering if anyone has a contact for good [sustainable] interactive water feature designer? A client is looking for a designer to add to our team and I figured this network would certainly have some insights. Project will be located in Omaha, NE.
Forum topic
The results from the "CogFx" study are compelling, showing that people in environments with low VOCs and low ambient CO2 levels score higher on tests of cognitive function. Specifically, they show that providing 40cfm of outdoor air per (actual live) occupant results in significantly higher scores than even the "Enhanced Ventilation" scheme... Read more
Forum topic
Hey, everyone! Reaching out to share about the currently-under-development IEA Annex 89: Ways to Implement Net-zero Whole Life Carbon Buildings. The current committee is really the who's who of building LCA in Europe, but it does seem like it suffers from a lack of North American representation. The one North American on the committee, in fact... Read more
Forum topic
We should probably agree on the correct spelling for what we at BuildingGreen are calling "BITuser." I noticed that on the Salesforce portfolio screenshot provided by Dennis, it's spelled "BIT User."
BITuser has the advantage of more closely resembling LEEDuser, but it has the disadvantage of looking a little weird in all-caps, as in... Read more
Forum topic
Hello friends,
Recently, as part of the AIA 2030 working group discussion – a topic came to light that was a conversation among (I believe) the SDL subset of our community, on a topic that is my personal obsession and daily focus – so I wanted to pipe up and share thoughts. BUT I want to respect the safe space, so if those of you in SDL... Read more


