Launched in March 2007 by Architecture for Humanity (AFH), the Open Architecture Network is an online, interactive database and workspace for designers and architects to share projects and ideas. Uploaded projects are protected by Creative Commons licenses, which allow authors and designers to grant some or all of their copyrights to the public... Read more

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The California Energy Commission (CEC) filed suit against the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in April 2007 to require DOE to uphold California’s washing machine efficiency standards. In December 2006, DOE denied the State’s 2005 request for a waiver from federal washing machine standards; the waiver would have allowed California to enact... Read more

Despite the increasing popularity of green building, research on high-performance building practices and technologies represents a tiny percentage of federally funded research. According to a report released in March 2007 by the Research Committee of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), only 0.2% of federally funded research, an average of... Read more

The American Institute of Architects, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Architecture 2030, Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, and U.S. Green Building Council have reached an agreement setting a baseline for the goals of the 2030 Challenge, which calls for an immediate 50% reduction in... Read more

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released the Watershed Plan Builder, an interactive, Web-based tool designed to help planners, stakeholders, and communities develop watershed management plans. The tool creates an outline of a watershed plan tailored to a specific project based on data entered by the user. This outline walks... Read more

New European Union (EU) regulations of harmful chemicals have been toned down and made law. The final version of the Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) bill requires that persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT), and very persistent, very bioaccumulative (vPvB) chemicals manufactured in or imported into the EU... Read more

Drywall comes in three primary product types. Paper-faced drywall remains by far the dominant product for finishing interior walls. It is inexpensive and easy to work with (cutting panels by scoring and snapping). Environmentally, the paper is typically 100% post-consumer recycled, the gypsum core can be derived from flue-gas-desulfurization (... Read more

The Athena Sustainable Materials Institute has released a new life-cycle assessment (LCA) tool for assemblies. The EcoCalculator for Assemblies draws on results from Athena’s Impact Estimator for Buildings to give instant LCA results for over 400 building assemblies, including those for walls, roofs, floors, and windows. Commissioned by the... Read more

Products earning Cradle to Cradle (C2C) certification, a multifaceted program run by McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC), are now recognized in the LEED Rating System, following an April 2007 ruling by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The new “administrative credit interpretation ruling” allows projects to earn a LEED credit if... Read more

A report from the United Nations Environment Programme, titled “Buildings and Climate Change: Status, Challenges, and Opportunities,” details connections between the building industry and efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. According to the report, which focuses primarily on Europe, more rigorous energy efficiency standards there could... Read more

According to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), Americans took more than 10 billion trips on local public transportation in 2006, reaching the highest level since 1957. Ridership was up 3% between the end of 2005 and the end of 2006, and up 28% in the decade since 1996. Over the last decade, the growth rate of public transit... Read more

BuildingGreen Suite.

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EpiCenter, Artists for Humanity (Boston;... Read more

New Mexico Governor Signs Green Home Tax Incentive—New Mexico building owners can now earn an income tax credit for building or renovating a green building. Tax credits for residential buildings range from $4.50–$9.00 per square foot ($50–$100 per m2) for the first 2,000 ft2 (186 m2) depending on the rating a building receives through the U. S... Read more

In a perfect world, energy simulations and design tools would be so well integrated that each time an architect moved a wall, added a window, or changed a lighting specification, the building’s predicted energy performance would be updated and displayed instantly. With that sort of real-time feedback, designers would quickly become skilled at... Read more

Fire... Read more