Carol Venolia, Publisher/Editor

To the best of our knowledge, this product is now being marketed under the name Rauhsaser by Better Wall System of Kenora, ON.

EBN Advisory Board member Mike Nicklas led an international delegation of renewable energy experts in promoting sustainable energy at the Earth Summit last month. He and others were negotiating for inclusion of renewable energy and energy conservation measures into agreements being worked out for the United Nations... Read more

The City of Austin’s Green Builder Program was one of 12 award recipients in the United National Local Government Honours Programme at the Earth Summit in Rio, and the only winner from the United States. “The purpose of the Honours Programme is to recognize innovative local approaches to... Read more

The company's promotional material is the epitome of environmentally friendly packaging—like a Ben & Jerry's annual report. The article reprints sent were even bound in a jacket made from corrugated cardboard. So we were quite intrigued by the product. Syndecrete™ is a lightweight, pre-cast,... Read more

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

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

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

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

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

Hello Green Gurus,

Here are all the details about our two Peer Network events in Chicago on Tuesday, June 21st. If you'll be in town, we hope to see you!

From 1-5pm we'll have the Chicago/Midwest Region Mini-Summit, open to members of any of the five Peer Networks (Sustainability Consultants, Community Design Leaders, Contractors... Read more

Hi all,

As discussed in our monthly meetings, we are assembling an industry push to expand the availability of embodied carbon data for MEP equipment. Our first steps are to send a letter to industry announcing a call to action and future educational webinars on the topic. In a similar manner as the electrification letter by the SMEP... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Engineering a Wood Revolution

Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:


1. Compare engineered wood to steel and concrete; and describe how engineered wood offers better dimensional stability, less waste, and more consistent performance than... Read more

Happy Friday Everyone!

Hoping to add a bit of excitement to the end of your week: 

Here is the Sustainable Design Leaders 2020 Summer Summit Report. 

Enjoy!

RoseAnn for Nadav, Candace, and the BuildingGreen team

Go to your profile, where you will find the TEAM MANAGEMENT section in the left side bar. Click on Team Members.

You can invite up to 9 more colleagues for a 10-person team to start their Premium Subscriber access through the Team.... Read more

Curious if folks know of any resources on hempcrete, specific to durability.  We have a one-story carbon-neutral operational energy project where the design team and client have bought into the aesthetics and carbon-sequestering potential of hempcrete, and amazingly it is looking to be no more expensive than a more typical concrete wall... Read more

Columbia already offers access to free EV charging for our field employees. Of the few projects that have have opted in so far, we've had to custom design and intall EV charging setups. It's good that we're doing this, but it won't scale quickly enough and cost effectively.  I think a practical next step is working with trailer companies so... Read more

With the increasing need to support design with techncial expertise, I am curious to hear how others are meeting this challenge.  Do you build energy models in-house?  Do you have a team of experts whose sole responsibility is to support design teams with tasks such as energy modeling and LCA, or is that expertise distributed throughout the... Read more