Championing the
Changemakers

Yes, the Department of Defense is using ASHRAE 189.1 and other guidelines--but a code is not the same as a rating system, says an Army spokesperson.

Blogger Chris Cheatham of the Green Building Law Update raised alarms about LEED's future earlier this week with this eye-popping headline: "Army Abandons LEED Certification." Citing... Read more

From guerilla gardening to commando crosswalk painting, a new breed of urbanists is using illicit means to create livable communities. Tactical urbanism in action: guerrilla crosswalk painting. Photo: credit Street Plans

It's 3 a.m., and the city street is finally quiet. In the shadows under a defunct streetlight, three twenty-somethings in... Read more

What do you do about a substance that is a biologically necessary trace nutrient, long considered nontoxic, and in a multitude of products--but that is also now listed on a major European Union chemical hazard list due to evidence that it is toxic for reproduction?

It's one of those riddles that I can imagine toxicologists love to play... Read more

Low-e coatings reduce heat transfer through windows by limiting the amount of radiant energy they emit. Graphic: Marvin Windows. Click on image to enlarge.

Last week I wrote about the early strategies window manufacturers employed to improve energy performance: adding extra layers of glass and increasing the thickness of the airspace between... Read more

The district heating and cooling system will replace coal boilers, cutting the university's carbon footprint in half and saving $2 million a year. It's also a learning opportunity for students. This energy station for Ball State's ground-source district heating and cooling system is designed so that students and visitors can learn about the... Read more

If we want to slow global warming, we need to stop being such tree-huggers and start embracing the world's forests. And yes, there's a difference. This is part three in our "Wood Wars" series. Part 1: Are FSC and LEED Killing American Jobs? A Look at the Evidence Part 2: FSC and Beyond: LEED 2012 Buries the "Wood Wars" Hatchet Next: forests... Read more

It's not necessarily greener to source products made in the USA. But it sure does create jobs.

Let's get one thing clear: the issue of energy spent importing stuff from China is a red herring. The distance from ports in California to China is about twice the width of the continental U.S., but ocean freighters are about 7.5 times more energy-... Read more

This Marvin Tri-pane window has three panes of glass, creating two dead air spaces. Photo: Marvin Windows. Click on image to enlarge.

I've been working for the past couple weeks on a report on windows--the latest in BuildingGreen's series of special reports on green building (the last one covering insulation). This focus has reminded me just... Read more

It's natural that we should gravitate toward biobased materials. But many of them are energy-intensive and toxic, so how do we judge what's best? O Ecotextiles is an example of the kind of leadership company that has worked diligently to address environmental impacts at every step of their product's production--including careful attention to... Read more

Life-cycle assessment, environmental product declarations, and corporate social responsibility reporting are a great start. But can we talk about health?

Here at BuildingGreen, we're pretty excited about the rise of the product transparency movement (as you may have noticed from recent coverage in January's EBN and our related blog series) but... Read more

By any name--drywall, wallboard, or plasterboard--gypsum products may not be as innocent as we once thought. Drywall, which makes up 15% of demolition and construction waste, leaches toxins and releases hydrogen sulfide gas in landfills.

Virtually ubiquitous in our buildings, gypsum board is widely seen as an innocuous building material.... Read more

Eleek strips miles out of its supply chain and carbon-intensive steps out of its manufacturing. That's good for the embodied energy of its cast aluminum luminaires and other hardware.

Wait a minute. Weren't we criticizing Eleek and its cast aluminum hardware in this blog a few weeks ago? We were--and that sparked a dialogue with one... Read more

With the SECUSOL drainback solar hot water system, the heat exchanger coil in the tank doubles as the drainback tank. Photo: Wagner & Company. Click on image to enlarge.

I was in Boston last week for the annual Building Energy conference, sponsored by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association. Each year this conference provides an... Read more

An artist rendering of what Canal Street in Brattleboro could look like after major redesign to make it more pedestrian friendly; see below for a current photo. Source: Brattleboro Active Living Workshop Report. Click on image to enlarge. Brattleboro, Vermont hasn't been a good place to be a pedestrian recently. In the past nine months there... Read more

This is part of an ongoing series. Read all the Sticky Business posts here.

To keep out the weather, don't head for the stickum first. Take a page from the fisherman's book and use weatherlapping, overhangs, and mechanical fasteners. Photo: Clinton Steeds. License: CC BY 2.0.

In just about... Read more

The latest EBN feature article is new available. Click on image to enlarge.

A new feature article in Environmental Building News examines how a focus on resilient design could advance green building more quickly than our current focus on sustainability.

Sometimes advancing sustainability feels like pushing a boulder uphill.... Read more

After months of controversy, the third public comment draft of LEED 2012 strengthens commitments to both FSC and local wood--while not budging on the importance of life-cycle assessment. This is Part 2 in our "Wood Wars" series. Part 1: Are FSC and LEED Killing American Jobs? A Look at the Evidence Part 3: Three Things You Need to Know About... Read more

Not all MSDSes are created equal. Because what they are required to report is minimal, manufacturers take very different approaches to how much they disclose. Looking for better information on chemicals of concern? An MSDS can be a good place to look. Then again, it can be a really bad place to look. Click for a PDF of the full non-information... Read more

CBECS (the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey) was suspended last May due to federal budget cuts, but now it seems the survey will go on. Many tools--most notably the popular Energy Star Portfolio Manager--use CBECS data. The benchmarking is only as good as the data backing it, so it comes as a relief to many that CBECS will resume... Read more

FSC and LEED, with its certified wood credit, are hurting the economy, claim the governor of Maine, a U.S. Senator, and SFI. We take a look at the evidence. This is Part 1 in our "Wood Wars" series. Part 2: FSC and Beyond--LEED 2012 Buries the "Wood Wars" Hatchet The John Mitchell Center at the University of Southern Maine achieve LEED... Read more