The United Nations’ IPCC is leading an international effort to understand climate change, and efforts like the Kyoto Protocol have grown out of that background work. But are we getting closer to solving... Read more

I love reading Lew Harriman’s stuff; he is a good writer and building scientist. Take, for example, Preventing Mold by Keeping New Construction Dry. It’s a straightforward yet compelling... Read more

Nearly all of our methods for generating electricity involve water consumption—some a lot, some not as much. Producing electricity with hydropower is the most water-intensive method, owing to evaporation from reservoirs.... Read more

In this weekly blog, I’ve focused a lot of attention on the energy-saving measures at our new home—from the innovative insulation materials we used to the air-source heat pump heating system and our top-efficiency heat-recovery ventilator. What I haven’t said much about are the measures we’ve taken to reduce water use and why... Read more

The Living Building Challenge and other programs that include “red lists” of substances to avoid are based on the principle of hazard avoidance. The idea is attractive in its logic.... Read more

Daniel... Read more

Under the pilot program, a labeling scheme is eligible for Type I certification if it complies with a suite of standards demonstrating conformance with international environmental declaration standards and assessment standards.... Read more

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently launched its Technology Performance Exchange (TPEx), a website that provides standardized energy-performance data and allows apples-to-apples... Read more

LEED, Living Building Challenge, or Green Globes?

By law, the federal government, led by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), is supposed to decide every five... Read more

Just when you thought it was safe to enjoy this blog over a cup of coffee here’s an article on…urine?

Really?

Let me explain.

Urine is a largely sterile, nutrient-rich resource that can be used in fertilizing plants. In fact, according to the Rich Earth Institute, the... Read more

In the beginning, there was MOIST, one of the first hygrothermal modeling software tools invented.

“It only functioned in DOS,” recalls Sean O’Brien, P.E., associate principal at Simpson Gumpertz & Heger (SGH), referring to the operating system whose heyday was in the 1980s. Developed by the National Institute of Standards... Read more

Although concentrations of these potentially toxic elements are in most cases higher in cement with fly ash than in portland cement, EPA has determined there is little risk of... Read more

Quick: what’s the worst design mistake you’ve ever made?

Chances are it had something to do with heat and moisture transfer: cavity insulation that molded because it couldn’t dry; a roof damaged by moisture-laden air leakage; a cold steel stud on which water condensed, wicking into surrounding materials.

Heat and... Read more

When discussing the challenges of finding a healthy, high-performing, affordable product amongst today’s insulation materials—and in particular, in confronting the environmental performance of spray polyurethane foam (SPF)—we are often asked, “What about Air Krete?”

Going back to 1997 (see “Air Krete: Foam Without Plastics”), EBN has... Read more

This is part of an ongoing series. Read all the Sticky Business posts here.

The Wingnut Test Facility, or WTF, conducting new PSA tape testing in preparation for the NESEA BE14 Demonstration Stages, learned how half a dozen or so tapes are performing on half a dozen different... Read more