BuildingGreen Report

Blog Post

August 21, 2008

This press release just came through; sounds like it will be a pretty great resource. It's not up yet though — check it out in a few days.

The Natural Environment Research Council — the UK's leading organisation that funds research into the environmental sciences — is launching an online version of its award-winning magazine, Planet... Read more

News Brief

August 21, 2008

As part of Utah’s effort to reduce its energy use by 20% by 2015, most state employees are moving to a four-day work week as of August 2008. About 17,000 people—80% of state workers—are working from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday. The State expects to save about $3 million in energy costs annually by closing offices on Fridays, and... Read more

News Brief

August 21, 2008

The Certified Green Dealer (CGD) program, launched in January 2008, educates and certifies retailers selling green building materials. To become certified, a retailer must have three-quarters of its salespeople watch eight online videos and pass a test on basic green building topics such as mold, insulation, and air-sealing.

According to... Read more

News Brief

August 21, 2008

With an $18.8 billion transaction, two giants in the chemical industry have merged. Dow Chemical has agreed to acquire smaller company Rohm and Haas, which has found a niche in the specialty coatings and materials market. According to Dow, the two companies share several synergies, particularly in the coatings and biocides divisions, that could... Read more

Blog Post

August 21, 2008
Across the nation a teardown epidemic is wiping out historic neighborhoods one house at a time. As older homes are demolished and replaced with dramatically larger, out-of-scale new structures, the historic character of the existing neighborhood is changed forever. Neighborhood livability is diminished as trees are removed, backyards are... Read more

Blog Post

August 19, 2008
The U.S. Green Building Council has announced that LEED 2009 is open for a second public comment period, from now until September 2, 2008. LEED 2009, according to USGBC's update, is "a new version of the rating system that delivers against key environmental and human health impacts" (emphasis added). Forgive my tendency for flip comments about... Read more

Blog Post

Although not as green as cellulose, batt insulation makes sense under certain conditions.

August 18, 2008

Last week's column addressed cellulose insulation, which is the greenest and one of the most effective insulation materials available. But it isn't always practical or affordable to install cellulose. To insulate walls with cellulose, it's usually necessary to hire an insulation contractor, and if the job is very small--bumping out and... Read more

Blog Post

August 15, 2008
Here's a fun exercise that a group of architects, designers, and others completed today as part of the Designing for a Living World symposium that I'm attending, hosted by Interface at Shelburne Farms in Vermont. It's a little thing I call... "Headlines from the Future." Here's the deal. Take these ten topics: Oceans Agriculture Energy Poverty... Read more

Blog Post

August 14, 2008
In my years as chair of LEED's Materials & Resources Technical Advisory Group (MR-TAG) I've gotten lots of questions and comments about interesting interpretations and claims from product manufacturers. Most manufacturers are sincere in their efforts to understand the credit requirements and present their products in a positive light.... Read more

Blog Post

August 12, 2008
BuildingGreen recently cleared out about 75 shelf-feet of periodicals -- Architecture and PanelWorld and Ecological Restoration and Mold and Moisture Management and lots more. The recycling area outside the office was getting overcrowded with them and we still had more to remove. Then I remembered that our neighbor, Steve Benson, at J.S Benson... Read more

Blog Post

August 11, 2008
Workers blowing cellulose insulation onto a wall.

Insulation is our number-one line of defense against high heating costs, and my favorite type of insulation is cellulose. Along with its effectiveness at slowing heat flow, cellulose insulation is a green product--made mostly out of an abundant waste product: old newspaper.

Most... Read more

Blog Post

August 5, 2008
7/1/09 Update: The LEED AP exam has significantly changed, and the following sample exam has not been updated to reflect this. By the way, if you are looking to learn about the LEED 2009 rating systems, there's no better tool out there than our own LEEDuser.com. Eighty multiple choice questions, a score range of 125–200, a passing score of 170.... Read more

Blog Post

August 4, 2008
SNOW ON THE ROOF IS A GOOD THING. It proves that the new insulation does exactly what it should--it keeps the heat inside the house..

There is no component of a home more important in minimizing energy costs than insulation. Insulation is the material used in walls, ceilings, roofs, and foundations that slows the flow of heat.

Most... Read more

Blog Post

August 1, 2008
A: Mini-splits and variable-refrigerant-flow multi-splits. It's not that mini-splits and their multi-split kin aren't available in the U.S. at all. Daikin, Mitsubishi, and Sanyo all sell products here, along with a few other manufacturers. It's that this cooling technology (which uses an air-source heat pump and can provide significant heating... Read more

Blog Post

July 29, 2008
Add another item to the list of reasons why suburban sprawl is bad for the environment: recycling rates. Other environmental problems with sprawl are well-documented, such as the fact that the transportation energy intensity of driving to buildings can dwarf the operating energy of those buildings. I'm sure this is nothing new to sprawl watchers... Read more

News Analysis

July 29, 2008
Building on the success of SolarWall’s unglazed (transpired) solar collector for commercial and industrial walls (see

EBN

Vol. 5, No. 1), Conserval Engineering has created SolarDuct PV/T for rooftop applications. Like SolarWall, SolarDuct has a dark, perforated metal surface that heats air inside a passage. This heated air is then drawn... Read more

News Analysis

July 29, 2008
Despite the highest electric rates in the U.S., abundant sunlight, and a frost-free climate that allows the use of relatively simple open-loop designs, only about a quarter of all houses in Hawaii currently heat water with the sun. But legislation passed in June 2008 will require that most new one-family houses be equipped with solar water heaters... Read more

News Brief

July 29, 2008

Rocky Mountain Institute, 2008. 29/17 minutes, $5. Also available for viewing online at www.bet.rmi.org/video/.

Green building is increasingly synonymous with building well: healthfully, efficiently, durably, and even profitably. Yet some designers still struggle to make the business case for green practices. For them, Rocky Mountain... Read more

News Brief

July 29, 2008
While efforts to pass legislation protecting the right to line-dry clothes failed in recent legislative sessions in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Connecticut, a similar law in Colorado passed in April 2008. The law overrides homeowners association prohibitions not only on clotheslines (provided they are retractable), but on wind turbines, shade... Read more

News Brief

July 29, 2008
In June 2008, the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) hosted its first national green building summit, Shifting Into the Mainstream, in Toronto. Over 1,200 people attended the event, which included educational sessions and a trade show. The development of LEED Canada 2009, a major reworking of the LEED Canada Rating System, was on the agenda.... Read more