As global industries begin to measure and report their water use, they should keep in mind all the water they consume, says the Netherlands nonprofit Water Footprint Network, which has developed a new metric for calculating water footprint.

Typical reporting only measures

blue water, the amount of fresh surface and groundwater... Read more

A new certification system combining the Passive House standard with the Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Index will issue its first certificates in January 2012, according to Katrin Klingenberg, cofounder and executive director of Passive House Institute U.S. (PHIUS). Called PHIUS+, the certification is separate from international Passive... Read more

NSF International and the Green Chemistry Institute have developed a new standard for reporting the effects of chemical manufacturing.

NSF/GCI 355 Greener Chemicals Products and Processes Information Standard is designed to streamline chemical reporting and allow product manufacturers to compare chemicals’ environmental sustainability... Read more

Laundering clothes gradually makes them threadbare, but most of us don’t think much about where the missing threads end up. New research suggests that tiny synthetic fibers from washing machine wastewater may be polluting oceans and affecting marine life.

In a paper published in Environmental Science & Technology, marine biologists... Read more

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have identified a municipal wastewater treatment plant as a source of antibiotic resistance genes found in the Duluth-Superior Harbor.

Although the plant boasts an advanced treatment step that removes large quantities of bacteria, the researchers typically found quantities of three different... Read more

The greenest building is the one you don’t build, and the cleanest, cheapest energy is the energy you don’t burn. These refrains are commonly heard in the green building community, and now, in a new report, “A Profitable and Resource Efficient Future,” the World Economic Forum (WEF) has put them on a broader stage and added a third... Read more

General Electric (GE) has announced plans to build a new solar panel factory in Aurora, Colorado, not far from its recently acquired thin-film solar technology company, PrimeStar Solar. The plant will feature cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film photovoltaics (PV), originally developed by researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.... Read more

The term “reclaimed wood” is used all the time, but it means different things in different settings. Some types of reclaimed wood count as “salvaged materials” that contribute to points in LEED and help comply with green building codes while others do not.

For most builders and designers, “reclaimed wood” is lumber extracted from old... Read more

Researchers at Canada’s National Wildlife Research Centre and multiple Canadian universities have detected what may be traces of second-generation brominated flame retardants in gulls’ eggs from colonies across the Great Lakes. The substances were found in higher levels in an industrial area.

Health hazards of certain polybrominated... Read more

To help professionals make the best design and material choices for their specific projects (and budgets), BuildingGreen recently developed and released the Guide to Insulation Products and Practices.

The report emphasizes that there are no universal... Read more

If we let simple or even net-value payback analysis alone drive the economics of high-performance buildings, we might as well throw in the towel. It is truly crazy to apply just this approach to long-lived durable goods, such as... Read more

Dow's Powerhouse photovoltaic (PV) roofing shingles are designed to integrate into a conventional asphalt... Read more

If you want the "greenest" bamboo flooring out there what do you look for? We have talked a lot about bamboo over the years, starting in 1997. The options have gotten better, but the choice is still not simple. See BuildingGreen's product guide, Hardwood... Read more

We're always curious to see the DesignIntelligence lists of top architecture and design programs in the U.S.... Read more

UPDATE: This article originally stated that greenfield development is restricted under IgCC. This is the case only when jurisdictions choose greenfield restrictions as a requirement, and the article has been corrected to reflect this.The International Green Construction Code (IgCC) was finalized November 6, 2011, in Phoenix after a two... Read more

An environmentalist dies and reports to the pearly gates, but there is a mix-up and she is sent to the gates of hell. Once in hell, she is horrified by the air and water pollution, global warming, and habitat destruction. But she gets to work and soon the hellscape is covered... Read more

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BuildingGreen's recent field trip to a local Passive House under construction led to... Read more

By Alanna Malone

For more than 20 years, Chandler, Arizona, had been setting aside funds to pay for a new municipal complex. The city wished to go beyond the expected program for such a building by creating a mixed-use facility to cater to the community's needs and serve as an icon of good design and sustainability. The resulting 137,... Read more

The second Energy Star National Building Competition, titled “Battle of the Buildings,” has released 2011 results, with the top finalist chalking up a 63.2% reduction in energy use.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), sponsor of the contest, the 245 participating teams saved a total of $5.2 million on... Read more

[Editor's note: After asking him to pen his series of 10 Riversong's Random Reflections on our blog earlier this year, we asked Vermont builder Robert Riversong back to discuss fire safety... Read more