Radiant-floor heating is popular for some good reasons. It provides very comfortable, uniform heat, owing to the relatively low temperature and the large surface area from which the heat is radiated. It does not interfere with furnishings in a home as most other heat distribution systems do. It’s quiet. And, according to proponents, it can save... Read more

DecaBDE is a brominated flame retardant that, along with other polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), has... Read more

Most waterless urinals, including those from... Read more

Benefiting from the 30% federal tax credit for energy improvements

There are some great opportunities right now to upgrade your home energy performance with support from federal tax credits. These tax credits, created as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 greatly expanded tax credits that had been put in place... Read more

As of January 2010, new single-family homes in Hawaii must be equipped with solar thermal water heating in order to receive a building permit.

When this law was passed in 2008, roughly 25% of Hawaiians were using the sun to heat their domestic hot water (see EBN Aug. 2008). Tax credits of 35% and a $1,000 rebate were available while the... Read more

 We've promoted the Forest Stewardship Council's wood certification program in the pages of Environmental Building News since FSC was formed back in 1994. We've always looked for companies offering FSC-certified wood products to highlight in EBN and GreenSpec. Over the years, most of those products have been from small companies; larger more... Read more

One of the greatest challenges to energy improvements is the financing needed to make those improvements.... Read more

Here at BuildingGreen.com, we recently announced our picks for the Top-10 green building products of 2009. The list is a pretty cool selection of newer products that could come in handy on your 2010 green projects. But what were your picks? If you were a subscriber to BuildingGreen.com (which, I feel compelled to add, is a steal at our trial... Read more

How to build a stronger country and a cleaner planet

Last week's column took a quick look at the science of climate change and how scientific hypotheses have shifted over time based on new... Read more

Global warming deniers have garnered a lot of attention in recent years. From opinion columns and letters in our local newspaper to heated reporting on Fox News (whose trademarked slogan "Fair & Balanced" is often anything but), those who doubt the underlying science of global warming are receiving unprecedented access to the American... Read more

The Boston Architectural College (BAC) Department of Sustainable Design, a national leader in sustainability education for building professionals, will offer a variety of new certification options beginning in January 2010.

Changes to the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) proposed by the New Buildings Institute (NBI), The American Institute of Architects, and the U.S. Department of Energy have cleared the first hurdle on their way to adoption.

The proposals, modeled on NBI’s Core Performance prescriptive building guidelines, would result in 20%–... Read more

Another Greenbuild conference has come and gone, with its frenetic activity, informative educational sessions, many meetings, and all-important networking.

As green building takes hold, so too do concerns about litigation and the need for better contracting mechanisms (see

EBN Dec. 2009). Both The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and ConsensusDOCS have released new model contract addenda to address these concerns.