BuildingGreen Report

News Brief

May 1, 2007

The Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) has recognized the Greenguard Children and Schools product certification program from the Greenguard Environmental Institute (GEI) as a means of improving indoor air quality in school buildings. GEI’s product certification program complies with California’s Department of Health Services... Read more

Feature

May 1, 2007

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

News Brief

May 1, 2007

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

News Analysis

May 1, 2007
The building-products retailing giant Home Depot launched a labeling initiative in April 2007, called EcoOptions, to identity environmentally preferable products in all of its U.S. stores. The program identifies more than 2,500 products as having better environmental performance than other products in their class. Large signs in store aisles point... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 2007

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

Product Review

May 1, 2007
Assessing solar access is a critical step in designing installations of solar water heating panels and photovoltaic (PV) modules, and in siting passive solar buildings. Until recently, we’ve had only manual tools to support that assessment, most notably the industry standard Solar Pathfinder (www.solarpathfinder.com). With Solar Pathfinder, a user... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 2007
Fireman’s Fund, a major national insurance company, has announced that it will give the same policy discount to homes with a solar-powered backup power system as it gives to homes with backup generators. The company’s 2% policy credit for conventional backup power systems will apply to homes using the GridPoint Connect Series from GridPoint, Inc... Read more

News Analysis

May 1, 2007
3M, the diversified technology company, recently announced a warranty for its Novec 1230 Fire Protection Fluid that appears to be a first for the industry. 3M’s 20-year Blue Sky Warranty guarantees that if use of Novec 1230 is banned or restricted due to ozone-depletion or global-warming potential, 3M will refund the purchase price.

Fire... Read more

News Brief

May 1, 2007
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment has selected ten winners and four honorable mentions in its 2007 Top Ten Green Projects competition. Full project descriptions are online at www.aiatopten.org and in

BuildingGreen Suite.

The Top Ten

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

Product Review

May 1, 2007

The remarkable ability of titanium dioxide (TiO2) to refract, or bend, light makes the substance suitable for myriad applications, including pigment in paint, paper, plastics, cosmetics, and food; a light-blocking ingredient in sunscreen; and a UV-reflector in applications including ceramics and glass. In addition, some TiO2 molecules in a... Read more

Explainer

Great thermal performance with a lot of rigid foam

May 1, 2007

Insulated concrete forms (ICFs) are permanent forms for poured-concrete walls; the forms are typically stacked without mortar before concrete is poured, providing insulation and often reducing the amount of concrete needed for the resulting wall.

The insulation material varies from system to system, with the most common being high-... Read more

Op-Ed

April 5, 2007

Both major associations of interior designers, the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) and the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), have entered into collaborative agreements with BuildingGreen, publisher of

Environmental Building News, that make online access to

BuildingGreen Suite available at a special... Read more

News Brief

April 5, 2007
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced its Honor Awards for 2007, recognizing 11 buildings for excellence in architecture, interior design, and urban design. Among the winners are several green buildings:

• The

World Birding Center Headquarters in Mission, Texas, designed by Lake Flato Architects, is an integral part of... Read more

News Analysis

April 5, 2007

Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) seem to have reached widespread acceptance: large retailers such as Wal-Mart are encouraging their customers to purchase the energy-saving lamps, Chinese manufacturing has significantly reduced costs, and rebates are available for them in some areas. Now there are several initiatives to ban the sale and use of... Read more

Feature

April 5, 2007
Indoor plumbing is closely associated with advanced western civilizations such as Rome as well as withmodern industrial economies. Bringing clean and reliable supplies of freshwater into homes and workplaces and safely transporting wastewater from buildings to treatment facilities have been credited with taming outbreaks of infectious disease that... Read more

Product Review

April 5, 2007
Lighting Science Group (LSG) has introduced a number of LED lamps and fixtures that will help to advance the rapidly evolving LED lighting field. (For more on light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, see EBN

Vol. 15, No. 7.) LSG’s line of LED lighting products (see table below) incorporates the company’s proprietary Optimized Digital Lighting (ODL)... Read more

News Brief

April 5, 2007

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the recipients of its first WaterSense labels for landscape irrigation certification programs. The Irrigation Association’s programs to certify irrigation designers and contractors have been recognized by EPA for their ability to teach principles of water-saving irrigation design.... Read more

News Brief

April 5, 2007

The American Institute of Architects has announced the admission of 76 architects to its College of Fellows for 2007. Elected to the position by a jury of their peers, fellows are recognized for their design achievements and for their service to the profession and the public. Among the fellows recognized were several who specialize in green... Read more

News Brief

April 5, 2007
Three architects are promoting a form of housing combining new and old technologies. They propose to grow a house from trees and vines in a botanical technique called pleaching while guiding the process computationally. Dubbed the Fab Green Hab, and created by architects Mitchell Joachim, Ph.D., Javier Arbona, and Lara Greden, Ph.D., the house... Read more

Product Review

April 5, 2007
The AutoMotion Parking System creates a fully automated parking garage. Park your car at the door and swipe your credit card, and the machine transfers your car onto a lift on tracks that shuttles it into an available slot. AutoMotion touts the benefits of avoided human contact (reducing risk of damage or theft) and of increased parking capacity—... Read more