Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind
Do this, don’t do that. Can’t you read the sign?

–Five Man Electrical Band

You’ve completed your models, installed low-flow toilets, and collected your LEED points. Yay! But for some reason, a... Read more

Experts have long advised that an integrated design process is needed to take us to the next level of green design, but so far there’s been sparse analysis tying it directly to better performance outcomes. The number of case studies available is still small, but three recent U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) buildings... Read more

A lot of cumbersome LEED documentation can now be bypassed for projects in California, according to new rules from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Designed to lure more projects into LEED certification and to recognize the high benchmark set by California codes, the ruling says three prerequisites and three credits... Read more

The University of Cambridge is giving out some free investment advice: real estate investment trusts (REITS) with higher sustainability ratings perform better than their peers, when adjusted for risk.

These publicly traded portfolios of large-scale properties typically offer high yields with long-term... Read more

Rick Fedrizzi, CEO and founding chairman of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), will step down at the end of 2016, the organization announced today.

The move signals the end of an era for the group, of which Fedrizzi has been the charismatic public face since 2004, and the USGBC board of directors... Read more

Forty-three architecture professionals gathered at a retreat in the mountains of Utah for the National Architectural Accrediting Board’s (NAAB) 2014 accreditation review conference (ARC). The goal: to debate and decide upon the most important guidelines for schools of architecture accredited by NAAB.

... Read more

Although prefabrication completely changes the traditional construction process, there hasn’t been a lot of hard data on its benefits. A new survey conducted by the National Institute of Building Science (NIBS) indicates that off-site construction can reduce construction time and improve deadline performance enough to... Read more

Your firm’s resource library might be a go-to source for aesthetic inspiration, but how much of its content is really green? Some firms have sustainability filters for what can make it onto the shelves, but still, connecting samples with green certifications can be a challenge.

Enter HKS Architects and... Read more

Energy efficiency is the new normal, designing for health and wellness is on the uptake curve, and resilient design is poised to make inroads, according to the 2015/2016 Outlook and State-of-the-Industry Report from the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), which was released at NeoCon 2015.

“... Read more

Carbon emissions and water use have giant-sized foot icons to represent their impact, but hazardous chemicals haven’t, until now. The Chemical Footprinting Project (CFP) is one effort to help manufacturers measure their toxic impacts and make this information available to the public.

Clean Production... Read more

Lead has a long history of being used as a stabilizer for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) products, though it has been phased out and is now only occasionally used to add durability in wire insulation. But lead and other serious toxic substances might still appear in “cleaner” PVC materials because wire jackets are commingled into the... Read more

Success stories in “bioinspired” products have captivated the imagination: a low-toxicity composite wood binder imitating a compound used by mussels, self-cleaning surfaces that mimic the lotus flower, and more. But can such innovations transcend small-scale tinkering and have a bigger impact? Yes, says Terrapin Bright Green,... Read more

Three-dimensional wall panels, or sculptural wall panels, provide a look and feel that two-dimensional coatings, panels, and wallpapers can’t match. With patterns that look similar to natural formations, such as dunes, waves, or ripples on water, they can bring a sense of biophilia and movement to an otherwise blank... Read more

A Harvard researcher carrying a sample through a brand new high-performance lab hip-checks a button on the wall and hurriedly walks through a sliding door. Realizing she’s forgotten something, the researcher abruptly turns around—and walks smack into the glass. Apparently this happens a lot.

Has the IQ... Read more

Finding a building’s energy use can be surprisingly hard. Putting it in context with data from other buildings is even harder, as we detailed in Measuring Energy Use in Buildings.

The organization that created the Living Building Challenge as well as the Declare and Just labels is jumping into the fray.... Read more

Green cleaning products with ingredients approved by the Design for the Environment (DfE) program will now bear a new label that reads “Safer Choice” rather than “Design for the Environment, U.S. EPA.” The move is designed to make the products as well as the program’s purpose easier for purchasers to identify.

The payback on investing in occupant engagement is hard to pin down, but a program at Denver Housing’s Thomas Connole affordable housing building might help to change that. Though final numbers for reduced energy use aren’t yet in, analysis of an occupant engagement program there to date boasts a participation rate of 35%, and... Read more