BuildingGreen Report

Webcast

November 29, 2023

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) offers us a once-in-a-generation chance to equitably decarbonize the built environment and prepare communities to weather future climate threats. 

... Read more

Product Review

The Greenbuild expo floor had quite a few new products, an exciting change post-pandemic. In fact, there were too many for one article. In part one we’re covering IAQ and low-carbon concrete. Stay tuned for part two!

November 6, 2023

This is Part One in a two-part series.  Part Two covers heating and cooling, interiors, structural systems, and a construction jobsite product.

With COVID-19 in the rearview mirror (mostly), Greenbuild seemed like it was on the rebound as well. The sessions I attended were lively and topical, and the... Read more

News Analysis

Community Climate Shift funds projects driving community-led decarbonization and building performance standards.

November 6, 2023

We know that decarbonizing existing buildings is crucial to meaningfully reduce the carbon footprint of the building sector, but retrofitting older building stock, especially multifamily housing, is a formidable challenge. A new initiative, Community Climate Shift, hopes to demonstrate that it can be done rapidly—and equitably.

Just 2%... Read more

News Brief

The EPA is finalizing rules that make it easier to find where and how PFAS are being used, making it easier to regulate them in the future.

November 6, 2023

PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), forever chemicals, are one of the biggest environmental challenges facing the world today. There are more than 10,000 PFAS, some of which are persistent, bioaccumulative toxic chemicals. So why don’t we just ban products that use them?

That’s hard when you don’t know which PFAS are being used... Read more

News Analysis

Lofty net-zero commitments and fledgling ESG programs typically lack realistic implementation plans. USGBC wants to fill the gap—but not with LEED.

November 6, 2023

The organization that created LEED is now advancing a whole new certification concept—one that doesn’t start with an L for leadership.

Also, only existing building portfolios need apply. And the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Portfolio Accelerator, which is still under development but is due out in 2024, will have no points and no... Read more

News Brief

In an open letter, public health leaders implore officials to design building policies for occupant health.

November 6, 2023

“The imperative for health-driven building policy has never been more pressing. Buildings must be fortified for health.”

This statement is part of an open letter addressed to elected officials and policymakers, and signed by six former U.S. Surgeons General, six CEOs, five executive directors of leading public health organizations, and... Read more

Webcast

October 31, 2023

ESG is the hottest acronym in green building right now. But let’s face it: most people are flying by the seat of their pants.

Most—but not all.

Four experts representing design, construction, and consulting firms will come together during this virtual roundtable to share their field notes and... Read more

News Brief

A new IRA grant program will provide $100 million to help U.S. manufacturers create EPDs used to track greenhouse gas emissions, but the timeline for applications is January 16, 2024.

October 30, 2023

Update: This article was corrected on November 29 to reflect a deadline extension that EPA alerted us to. The application deadline is January 16, 2024.

An Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) grant program called Reducing Embodied Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Construction Materials and Products is out to help manufacturers fund the creation of... Read more

Webcast

October 25, 2023
Registration Closed: Coffee Talk took place October 25, 2023

Please note: LEEDuser’s informal 45-minute coffee talks are not approved for continuing education units.

This lively conversation features:

Brent Ehrlich, Products & Materials Specialist at BuildingGreen (moderator) Gioia Connell, Built Ecology Consultant, WSP... Read more

News Brief

The pandemic popularized biophilic design, says a seminal resource, in part by emphasizing the importance of green outdoor spaces.

October 24, 2023

A beloved resource by Terrapin Bright Green was recently updated with pandemic-era lessons that make an even stronger financial case for biophilic design. The Economics of Biophilia is now in its second edition and is free to download. (Disclosure: Paula Melton, BuildingGreen’s editorial director, helped edit the report.)

The report... Read more

News Analysis

As more project teams question timber’s “carbon neutrality,” a growing coalition blazes a common-sense but potentially perilous path forward.

October 9, 2023

Building professionals looking to reduce embodied carbon don’t have to go very far before tripping over the claim that new buildings—and even entire cities—can become carbon sinks instead of carbon emitters through the use of mass timber. 

But in a space often characterized by murky math and madcap marketing, the Climate Smart Wood... Read more

News Brief

The Climate Explorer and the CMRA translate nerdy climate projections into eye-opening images that should be well worth more than a thousand words in the push for resilient design.

October 9, 2023

Just as people began suffering through last summer’s heat waves and bracing for hurricane season, the Biden administration published a press release touting its resilience efforts, including Heat.gov, the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard, and the National Climate Resilience Framework. The White House also pointed to a rapidly expanding... Read more

News Analysis

Millions in tax credits are available from the Inflation Reduction Act, but even some long-standing rules are now being questioned. Lean on your tax advisors, and expect updates as the first projects go through the process.

October 9, 2023

Wyatt Ross of CMTA and Chris Colasanti of JB&B Consulting Engineers contributed to this article. 

This article has been prepared for informational purposes only; it is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult your firm’s tax, legal, and accounting advisors before... Read more

News Brief

The pressure is on in the U.S. to mandate existing building decarbonization. ACEEE has analyzed domestic and international laws for best practices to broaden the reach of this climate change mitigation tool.

October 9, 2023

The U.S. building industry’s decades-long battle against climate change has focused outsize resources and effort on new construction. But existing building decarbonization must become a central mission, and soon, according to an analysis from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).

Steven Nadel and Adam Hinge, the... Read more

Webcast

October 4, 2023

Want to optimize your product selections for health and sustainability while also earning LEED certification? This webinar is designed for you. 

Products meeting the requirements of LEED v4 BD+C and ID+C were barely available a decade ago. But since then, market forces and the introduction of LEED v4.1 in... Read more

News Analysis

Climate change symptoms, including wildfire smoke and extreme heat, are endangering outdoor workers and changing assumptions about productivity and construction timelines.

October 2, 2023

Climate change is threatening outdoor construction workers. Extreme heat and dangerous air quality from wildfire smoke are becoming more frequent and prolonged, occurring in places that have not previously experienced them. And without federal regulations in place, employers must make judgment calls about safety breaks and work stoppages in an... Read more

Product Review

Portland cement has a massive carbon footprint, but it has seemed indispensable to concrete—until now. C-Crete aims to replace portland cement with other cementitious materials and its proprietary low-carbon chemistry.

October 2, 2023

Concrete is responsible for about 5% to 8% of the world’s anthropogenic carbon emissions, and that is largely due to the binder that holds it together, portland cement. So creating a low-carbon concrete that does not use portland cement is the green building industry’s holy grail. One manufacturer claims it has ended the quest.

Portland... Read more

Op-Ed

Bringing forth a habitable planet will require energy, ambition, and purpose. What will fuel this work? Not data and doomsaying—instead, imagination.

October 1, 2023

Last week, I saw the future. Here is what it looked like.

Because of unprecedented investments in clean energy, the world still had a chance of staying under the 1.5°C heating target that 194 nations and the E.U. agreed to in Paris in 2015. The building industry had finally prioritized decarbonizing existing buildings over predicting... Read more

News Brief

The new standard, announced at Greenbuild 2023, aims to bring all buildings along—not just a few high performers. It comes on the heels of a similar proposal in a BuildingGreen series.

September 28, 2023

The Biden administration will soon release a national standard for zero-emission buildings. The standard will apply to new construction and major renovation, but details are not yet available on whether or how it will address existing building operations.

Citing climate action as a “north star” for the administration, national climate... Read more

Spotlight Report

September 25, 2023

PFAS “forever chemicals” are persistent in the environment and have a number of potential negative health and environmental impacts. Yet they pervade our lives—and are even infiltrating remote ecosystems once considered pristine.

PFAS are everywhere, from microwave popcorn packaging to industrial metal coatings, so... Read more