By Erin WeaverDeutsche Bank has released a report analyzing actual energy savings achieved through multifamily retrofits and encouraging capital investment in energy retrofits of affordable housing in New York City. A collaboration of the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation and the Living Cities philanthropic organization, “Recognizing the... Read more

The report refers to building codes as “the DNA of a city—rules that are applied many times over [with] an exponential impact on how the city functions.” Russell Unger, executive director of Urban Green Council, the New York chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, says one benefit of the code review process has been to draw... Read more

Updated April 8, 2025; updates by Elene Drosos

I began an eight-month sabbatical in 2011 with a bicycle trip through the Southwest. I chose the Southwest in part because I wanted to have time to think about some of the vulnerabilities we face—particularly with climate change—and what we should do about it. From what climate... Read more

Concrete has great compressive strength but poor tensile strength. It is brittle, cracks, and doesn’t flex, which is why it is reinforced with steel—but steel corrosion is a primary source of concrete failure. Lafarge’s Ductal line of specialty ultra-high-performance concretes (UHPC) offers significant improvements in these areas, with a thin,... Read more

AHRI filed suit in 2008, claiming that while states may establish building codes, the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) gave federal law supremacy over local law when it comes to appliance efficiency. The City argued that the code’s performance-based compliance paths allowed builders to use products not exceeding federal... Read more

American municipalities currently discharge 32 billion gallons a day of treated wastewater back into natural sources, from which water is drawn for further treatment prior to use. A new report from the Water Science and Technology Board of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) concludes that treated wastewater could instead be safely returned... Read more

By Paula MeltonThe Passive House standard, often admired for simplicity, has also been criticized for rigidity. Now that Passive House Institute U.S. (PHIUS) has achieved independence from Europe and started its own certification system, called PHIUS+ (see ”Passive House U.S. Develops Separate North American Certification,” EBN Dec. 2011), the... Read more

Flooring manufacturer Tarkett North America has unveiled improvements to many of its vinyl flooring products, from reduced emissions to phthalate-free materials. Much of its Johnsonite flooring line now has total VOC emissions of 100 mcg/m3 or less, with some products below 10 mcg/m3.

Beginning this year, Tarkett manufacturing in North... Read more

During these spring-like days in mid-February in Vermont, it's hard not to think about climate change. It's been reaching the mid- and upper-40s over the past few weeks in a winter that really isn't. Yes, this particular year might... Read more

Editor's note: Thanks to Evan Dick for this guest post. Evan is a former writer from BuildingGreen and now works at the Center for EcoTechnology in Massachusetts.

The adage "If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down" might be an... Read more

Even before you choose an exterior paint product, it's important to learn a bit about what makes paint stick--or not. For... Read more

In this final installment of my ten-part series on resilient design, I'm taking a look at where our food comes from and how we can achieve more resilient food systems... Read more

There is so much confusion about energy modeling--what it should cost, what benefits it offers, how to approach it--that clear statements addressing these questions are like a breath of fresh air.

When I was... Read more

By Peter YostDariush Arasteh, a leading researcher and scientist in glazing and window performance, died on February 3, 2012, after a nearly ten-year struggle with a rare form of cancer. He was 51 years old.

For 30 years, Dariush was a leader in all aspects of window energy efficiency research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (... Read more

BuildingGreen has been defining what makes a product green since the start of the GreenSpec directory in 1998--and we're repeatedly surprised by how far and wide our list of green attributes travels. The... Read more

Interdisciplinary, cutting-edge, and combining high-flown philosophical ideas with practical nuts-and-bolts advice, the BuildingEnergy Conference in... Read more