Explainer
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 moreOp-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
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
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
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
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
Forum topic
Colleagues,
As we all know, ventilation rates must be kept the same between the LEED Baseline and proposed energy models. However, we're aware of projects that have been able to claim energy savings associated to reducing ventilation using systems like Aircuity.
Have any of you successfully claimed credit for reduced airflow due... Read more
Basic page
Is your team working on a LEED v4 or WELL project?
Finding products for these projects is daunting, and even when you find products you believe will meet the requirements, you have to know exactly... Read more
Forum topic
Team,
After talking to UL today, I thought it will be good for them to do a presentation on what they see in embodied energy/carbon road map of MEP equipment can be like.
Should we schedule them for a 30 minutes presentation in the next call?
Best,
LL
Quiz
Welcome to the quiz portion of Energy Reporting: It's the Law.
Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:
1.List the benefits of energy performance benchmarking and disclosure.
2. Address the concerns associated with public disclosure.
3. Restate at least three U.S.... Read more
Reports, Courses, Study Guides, Live Webinars
A site license allows your entire organization to access and share the report, and to keep a copy in your library. The site license does not allow multiple users to earn CEUs. If multiple individuals in your organization would like to earn CEUs from this report, please purchase individual copies.
The BuildingGreen Guide to Thermal... Read more
Product Guide
Wood decking requires potentially hazardous preservatives and stains, and plastic waste is a significant environmental problem.
BuildingGreen-Approved Decking
Composite decking approved by BuildingGreen has at least 50% total recycled content. For plastic decking, post-consumer content has to be greater than 50%.
Health and... Read more
Forum topic
Reaching out to the collective knowledge here. With interest in circular economy and building reuse growing, is anyone leading the charge for the concept of building reuse as a tool for maintaining community identity? Has anyone seen successful projects with this concept in mind? I was just in a discussion with a bunch of SDLers, and while... Read more
Forum topic
Our Green Team is holding a Biophilic Design workshop on Earth Day with our own staff for biophilic interventions within our office space. We are referencing the Biophilic Design Guidebook from LBC but it will be a shorter time frame, about 1.5 hours total. Last summer we introduced biophilia to the office through the exercise where each person... Read more
Forum topic
Hi All,
Wanted to let you all know about an ADSDL inspired event we are having on Thursday in Boston. We’re having close to 40 presenters giving 5 minute presentations (sound familiar?) on the latest and greatest strategies getting us to net positive energy buildings.
Please forward this on to folks in your Boston offices. ... Read more


