BuildingGreen Report

Blog Post

Why we chose cork exterior insulation for our net-zero-energy house

March 19, 2013

Among the innovative—some might say weird—products we’re trying out at our Dummerston, Vermont farmhouse, none is more unusual than the expanded cork insulation we’re currently installing as a layer of exterior rigid insulation. As I mentioned in a blog last summer, cork insulation has a great story behind it.

Cork? You’ve... Read more

News Analysis

March 18, 2013
A study shows health drives the school construction market—but many buildings lag far behind, another report laments.

The connection between sustainable school buildings and student performance can be difficult to quantify—but the idea that children learn more readily when they can see, hear, and breathe clearly isn’t exactly controversial.... Read more

News Brief

March 15, 2013
By Erin WeaverAs houses are built to more stringent energy codes and appliances increase in efficiency, the average U.S. home might be expected to see reduced energy use. Ever-increasing square footage and the accompanying glut of appliances, electronics, and lighting, however, mean that the average home built in the 2000s actually uses 2% more... Read more

News Brief

March 15, 2013
By Erin WeaverAlong with a projected population of nine billion people to feed—two-thirds of them living in water-stressed locations—the coming decades could see a doubling of the fresh water devoted to energy production. The International Energy Agency (IEA), in its “World Energy Outlook 2012,” attributes much of that rise to a continuing global... Read more

Blog Post

March 13, 2013
Building complex window surrounds for a deep-energy retrofit Insulated, splayed window surrounds that will frame the exterior wall insulation. The Pro Clima housewrap on the window surrounds will be taped to the wall housewrap after insulating. Click to enlarge.Photo Credit: Alex Wilson

A few weeks ago I reported on... Read more

News Brief

March 11, 2013
By Erin WeaverThe Royal Institute of British Architects has recognized the “father of Passive House,” Wolfgang Feist, Ph.D., with one of twelve annual Honorary Fellowships awarded to non-architects for their contributions to the field.

Feist, who founded the Passivhaus Institut in Germany in 1996 and is its current director, says the award “... Read more

Blog Post

March 11, 2013
A definitive guide to how the federal government builds green—and why its leadership matters.

This post is the second in a series on the federal government’s use of green building certifications. Coming soon: The Hidden Beltway Lobbyists Who Shape Green Building Policy.

 The U.S. Treasury Building, completed in 1869, is the oldest building... Read more

Blog Post

March 8, 2013
Bruce Brownell's impressive track record with foam-insulated low-energy homes Bruce Brownell has been building low-energy passive solar homes for four decades.Photo Credit: Adirondack Alternate Energy

Bruce Brownell, of Adirondack Alternate Energy, has been creating low-energy, largely passive-solar-heated, resilient... Read more

News Analysis

March 7, 2013
A Toronto court tells owners of glass buildings that reflected light is a form of pollution, and they must mitigate bird deaths. A verdict handed down in Toronto establishes that building owners and managers must take action to prevent their buildings’ windows from causing excessive death or injury to migratory birds.

Canadian nonprofit... Read more

News Brief

March 6, 2013
By Erin WeaverInformation on 7,674 chemicals manufactured or imported by more than 1,500 U.S. companies has been published in the first reporting cycle since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reformed its Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) program in 2011.

The database does not provide information on toxicity, but it may be a powerful... Read more

Blog Post

March 5, 2013
As DoD rethinks its green building needs, a recommendation to keep using LEED is just the tip of the iceberg.

This post is the first in a series on the federal government’s use of green building certifications. Part 2: Sustainable Federal Buildings: What's the Law?

This shows the first few megabytes of the Unified Facilities Criteria... Read more

News Brief

March 1, 2013
By Paula MeltonWant to have a say in whether the U.S. government continues to use LEED? The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) is seeking public comments on a long-awaited recommendation regarding green building rating systems. GSA may abandon its prior endorsement of a single rating system, the findings of a special ad hoc committee... Read more

News Brief

March 1, 2013
By Erin WeaverA bill introduced in the California Legislature would express the State’s intent to reduce chemical flame retardants in building insulation, arguing that they pose a health hazard and are unnecessary in modern construction.

State Assembly Member Nancy Skinner introduced Bill AB 127 in January, saying that California recognizes the... Read more

News Analysis

March 1, 2013

News Brief

March 1, 2013
By Erin WeaverThe urban heat-island effect may not be limited to “islands” and may instead be altering weather far from the cities that cause it, suggests a new report in the journal

Nature Climate Change.

The authors of “Energy consumption and the unexplained winter warming over northern Asia and North America” demonstrate by computer... Read more

News Brief

March 1, 2013
By Paula MeltonThe City of Minneapolis is the latest municipality to require commercial building energy rating and disclosure, meaning building owners must benchmark energy performance against that of similar buildings and report the results to the public (see “Energy Reporting: It’s the Law,”

EBN Aug. 2012).

The ordinance will apply to... Read more

News Brief

March 1, 2013
By Erin WeaverToxic chemicals released into the air decreased from 2010 to 2011, but overall toxic chemicals released into the environment increased 8% over the same period, to 4.09 billion pounds.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released its annual Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), concluding that toxic airborne emissions... Read more

News Brief

March 1, 2013
By Erin WeaverU.S. water policy could be destroying a future source of drinking water if a project under way in Mexico City to draw drinking water from a mile-deep aquifer proves feasible.

In the face of worsening water shortages, Mexico City’s 20 million residents currently depend on water pumped in from elsewhere and on the region’s shallow... Read more

Product Review

March 1, 2013
By Brent EhrlichPorcelain has been manufactured in one form or another for more than 2,000 years and has been used for everything from urinals to Ming Dynasty vases. In buildings, porcelain is usually found in small tiles and bathroom fixtures, but porcelain panels (sometimes called large-format porcelain panels, or LFPP) are now finding their way... Read more

News Brief

March 1, 2013

Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology and Gothenburg University, who presented their findings at the ARCH12 conference on medical architecture in November 2012, proposed that aggression results from stressors such as crowding and noise. These stressors can be mitigated by key design elements, including private rooms, moveable... Read more