Product Review
Builders concerned about out-gassing of formaldehyde from medium-density fiberboard (MDF) have long used Medex in cabinets. This exterior-grade product, originally developed for highway signs, is considerably more expensive than conventional MDF or particleboard, however. Now Medite II fills the need for a... Read more
News 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
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 Analysis
A study published in the June 5, 1992, issue of
Science by researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the University of Arizona suggests that smoke emitted into the atmosphere from human activities may be having a significant effect in counteracting... Read more
Explainer
News Analysis
EBN Advisory Board member Mike Nicklas led an international delegation of renewable energy experts in promoting sustainable energy at the Earth Summit last month. He and others were negotiating for inclusion of renewable energy and energy conservation measures into agreements being worked out for the United Nations... Read more
News Brief
Energy Source™ Directory
Life has been a whole lot easier around the office since theEnergy Source Directory arrived. Assembled and published by Iris Communications, this is the most complete and most useful guide to specialized products and materials used in energy-efficient construction that we've seen. The 500-page directory is... 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
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
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
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
Reports, Courses, Study Guides, Live Webinars
THIS WEBINAR PURCHASE AND REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.
This webinar took place Thursday, January 12th at 2:00pm Eastern (11:00am Pacific)
Free to premium subscribers ($30.00 for non-premium)
Green building product selection is a mess.
With an overwhelming number of green product... Read more
Forum topic
Calling all Sustainable Design Leaders - Coming up on March 1st, we’re hosting a virtual SDL check-in. We’ll have a round of five-minute presentations as well as a refresh of the SDL Steering Group.
Quick point of clarification: For those who’ve been around for a while, you may remember this group as the “SDL Regional Leaders”. As we’ve... Read more
Author
P.J. is an accomplished writer and speaker who brings passion, humor, and discernment to all her work.
Whether it’s a spotlight report on decarbonization, a webinar on ESG, or just a chummy email bulletin, she is ferociously committed to truth, accuracy, and thoroughly... Read more
Forum topic
To piggyback off Nathan's introduction where he mentions construction waste management, who is doing anything innovative or different in managing construction waste? Construction waste has not historically been a passion of mine, but now working in sustainability and construction, I feel like it has to be by default.
We have a... Read more
Forum topic
The Planning for Resilient Outcomes Working Group has had a few preliminary meetings and we would like to invite interested Green Gurus to join our group. To give you an idea of what we are about, we have developed a purpose statement to guide our future work:
The Planning for Resilient Outcomes working group will elevate the industry'... Read more
Quiz
Welcome to the quiz portion of Mouth, Meet Money: Case Studies of Outcome-Based Design!
Important: This quiz covers all related articles within this topic. Scroll to the bottom of the article page to find links to all the articles covered by this quiz.
Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be... Read more
Forum topic
Hi All: I'm writing to see if I can get some recommendations/links to some great, free web tours of sustainable projects for use in an intro to sustainability class I'm teaching online this fall. Typically we tour some local buildings but that isn't an option this year. I'm hoping to find a few different ones for students to choose from. They... Read more


