Championing the
Changemakers

Clear signage can help us find our way, it can inform us, and--in a green building--it can highlight environmental features. That signage can also, itself, make a statement about the environment.... Read more

Number 9 in my list of the top-10 green building priorities is to create resilient houses that will... Read more

Two new studies suggest that silver nanoparticles in building products not only kill harmful bacteria and microbes but also may contribute to improper sperm function and disrupt beneficial microbial activity in ecosystems. Touted for their antimicrobial benefits, silver nanoparticles have been incorporated into dozens of products such... Read more

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A 1000 MW parabolic trough solar power plant will be built in Blythe, California, with the first 250 MW going online in 2013. The plant’s developers... Read more

Over the next ten weeks, I'm going to lay out my top-ten priorities for green building--starting, in Lettermanesque fashion, with #10 and working up to #1. These priorities are directed primarily toward the design and construction profession, but homeowners having a house built or work done on a house need to be part of... Read more

When I began researching concrete for last month’s EBN feature article "Reducing Environmental Impacts of Cement and Concrete," one of my goals was to figure out how toxins... Read more

Green buildings may present special challenges for firefighters because of new technologies, building materials, and building techniques. That’s the concern Fire Safety and Green Buildings—Bridging the Gap, a new website at www.GreenBuildingFireSafety.org developed by the National Association of State Fire Marshals (NASFM); a handbook... Read more

Tradical® Hemcrete® is a non-structural, rigid, insulating, composite wall fill comprised (by weight) of about 38% hemp and 62% lime-based binder. The Tradical lime binder is manufactured in the... Read more

By William Hanley

Students at Marin Country Day School measure academic progress with their school’s topography. Located in a sharply sloping watershed that descends Ring Mountain to San Francisco Bay just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, the 35-acre campus is organized with the lower school at the lowest elevation and the upper school... Read more

A quick glance at the tenant directory in the lobby of the David Brower Center reveals that the four-story structure in downtown Berkeley, California, is not a typical office building. Names like the Earth Island Institute, the Green Jobs Network, and the Bay Area Open Space Council, give visitors a clue that the 30 organizations occupying the... Read more

Google released SketchUp 8 on September 1, 2010, with a number of notable enhancements, many of which will make SketchUp more useful as a sustainable design tool. Environmentally speaking, the two big innovations with this release are volumes and geographical context. As with past versions, most of these features are available in the free... Read more

In a major consolidation among the crowded field of green product labels, Underwriters Laboratories (UL) has acquired Terrachoice, the manager of the EcoLogo Program. The move sets up a close partnership between EcoLogo and UL Environment, with EcoLogo being one of the oldest (since 1988) and most-respected eco-labels, and UL... Read more

Last week we examined the amount of energy it takes to transport and treat water--and how we can conserve energy by using less water. This week,... Read more

Pumping uses a tremendous amount of electricity. In looking at efficiency of hydronic heating systems, we have long focused on the fuel used to heat the water being circulated, without paying much attention to pumping energy. Fortunately, that’s beginning to change.

A process for providing precedent-setting rulings to project teams using the LEED rating system is under development at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The resulting “LEED Interpretations” process is to be unveiled in the Fall of 2010.

The LEED Interpretations process will look a lot like the process for Credit Interpretation... Read more

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) recently released guidelines for local governments considering air emissions related to proposed construction... Read more

The Montreal Protocol, the international treaty in effect since 1989 to limit the use of ozone-depleting substances, may save your eyes. According to a report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the more robust ozone layer resulting from the Montreal Protocol will prevent more than 22 million cases of cataracts for Americans... Read more

Three new certification standards in development would certify not the sustainability of buildings or of products, but the environmental and social performance of manufacturers. While there are many forms of corporate reporting on sustainability through voluntary protocols, such as the Global Reporting Initiative, there have not yet been third-... Read more