BuildingGreen Report

Blog Post

Adapting to climate change will require making our buildings more resilient to storms and flooding.

September 6, 2011

A lot can change in two hours. At 8 a.m. Sunday, I walked the length of our half-mile driveway here in southern Vermont, checking the culverts and water bars, all fortified and cleared the day before. All good. The brook next to our driveway was raging, but staying within its banks. The Green River was doing the same across the town... Read more

News Brief

September 2, 2011

Solyndra is the second U.S. solar panel manufacturer to file for bankruptcy in a matter of weeks, following on Evergreen Solar’s filing earlier in the same month (see “Evergreen Solar Files for Bankruptcy,” EBN Aug. 2011). Solyndra, based in California, offered a unique technology—panels made up of glass tubes filled with copper indium... Read more

Blog Post

September 1, 2011
This Venn diagram shows the overlap of various "red lists" that recommend chemicals to exclude from building products. Courtesy Healthy Building Network A "red list" of chemicals is supposed to make the screening process simple. But with so many red lists popping up, which ones should you trust?

If you're one of the many people becoming... Read more

Case Study

Healing Architecture: Once torn by war, Rwanda has made great strides in recent years, but poverty persists. For a remote region that had no doctors, a new hospital is providing vital services — and hope.

September 1, 2011

By Jenna M. McKnight


In December 2006, while in the throes of a final charrette at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, first-year student Michael Murphy took a break to attend a speech by the noted humanitarian doctor Paul Farmer. Since 1987, Farmer’s organization, Partners In Health (PIH), has been building medical facilities... Read more

News Brief

August 30, 2011
By Evan DickScientists at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee have successfully developed a new method for generating electricity from waste heat. The technology, which scientists believe could achieve efficiencies of 10% –30%, relies on pyroelectricity—the capacity of certain materials to generate temporary voltage when heated or... Read more

Product Review

August 30, 2011
By Brent EhrlichRitter XL Solar combines three unique technologies—advanced evacuated tubes, compound parabolic reflectors, and water as a heat- transfer fluid—to create large-scale compound parabolic concentrating (CPC) solar thermal systems for use in commercial, multifamily, and other applications that have high hot water demand. Distributed in... Read more

News Analysis

August 30, 2011

On June 1, 2010, eight families moved into nearly identical, superinsulated homes on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. South Mountain Company designed and built the LEED Platinum homes for the Island Housing Trust with the goal of allowing the residents to operate them at net-zero energy, using the 5 kW photovoltaic (PV) arrays on the roofs... Read more

News Brief

August 30, 2011
By Paula MeltonAccurately benchmarking and reporting the energy performance of buildings is a notoriously difficult task, but policymakers looking to enact a climate change mitigation policy often begin by eyeing the buildings in their jurisdictions. A new guide from the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) attempts to make it easier for... Read more

News Brief

August 30, 2011
By Evan DickThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced revisions to Energy Star requirements for residential dishwashers and furnaces.

Effective January 20, 2012, Energy Star dishwashers will be 8% more efficient than previous Energy Star models and 10%–30% more efficient than conventional models. Standard Energy Star... Read more

News Brief

August 30, 2011

News Brief

August 30, 2011
By Evan DickA new report assessing the current state of eight major power generation technologies projects a move away from coal as its costs rise in the next 20 years due to high carbon emissions.

Natural gas is projected to be the cheapest energy source in the report from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), based largely on its... Read more

News Analysis

August 30, 2011
By Paula Melton Global Warming Potential of Food Waste Scenarios per 100 kg waste (annual household average)

What’s the greenest way to deal with food waste? It all depends on what your municipality does with its wastewater—something most residents probably don’t know. The global warming potential (GWP) of most... Read more

News Brief

August 30, 2011
By Evan DickThe inspector general for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Arthur Elkins, Jr., has issued a report finding that the agency’s Voluntary Children’s Chemical Evaluation Program did not protect children from exposure to harmful chemicals. The program, initiated under the Clinton administration and slowly dismantled in recent... Read more

Product Review

August 30, 2011
By Paula MeltonPorous paving systems help manage stormwater, but most are made of concrete—one of the most environmentally intensive building materials. It’s great, then, to find a manufacturer reducing the environmental impact of its systems. R.I. Lampus Company, a concrete manufacturer in the Pittsburgh area, has started offering its Eco-Tek... Read more

News Brief

August 30, 2011
By Paula MeltonLEED rating systems for new construction have been criticized—and even sued—for not requiring that buildings meet energy performance goals after occupants move in. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has responded by encouraging energy tracking and expanding its data collection programs; more recently, it has joined the Global... Read more

News Brief

August 30, 2011
By Evan DickWith millions of tons of used electronics going to landfills every year, electronic waste, or “e-waste,” is the fastest-growing waste stream in the U.S. When disposed of improperly, it is far more hazardous than most other trash, with toxic heavy metals and flame retardants that can leach into groundwater.

A federal interagency task... Read more

News Brief

August 30, 2011

Op-Ed

August 30, 2011

News Brief

August 30, 2011
By Paula MeltonThe University of California–Davis has opened its West Village development, which aims to be the largest net-zero-energy community in the country. The project will eventually cover 200 acres and include apartments for 850 students, 343 single-family homes for faculty and staff, and retail, recreation, and education centers.

A 4 MW... Read more

Explainer

PBTs—including many carpet treatments, flame retardants, and other additives still commonly found in building products—become more harmful the longer they persist.

August 30, 2011

How can pesticides no one has used for decades be found in birds and fish in some of the most remote locations of the globe? These chemicals—along with many carpet treatments, flame retardants, and other additives still commonly found in building products—are persistent, bioaccumulative toxic chemicals (PBTs). While many toxic substances become... Read more