Championing the
Changemakers

With $127.5 million in funding from the federal stimulus package, also known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the State of California will partner with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District to connect state buildings in the capital city to a district heating and cooling system equipped with “smart grid” technology.

The... Read more

In late 2009 the city council of Evanston, Illinois, an inner-ring suburban community just north of Chicago, passed an ordinance requiring that all new construction projects larger than 10,000 ft2(930 m2) be certified to a LEED Silver level.

While some alderpersons were reportedly disappointed that the law would not apply to renovations... Read more

It won't surprise many of my readers to learn that I'm a fanatic about energy conservation and efficiency. That goes back more than 30 years to the mid-70s. During those years I've paid a lot of attention to windows--and seen dramatic... Read more

Here's a tool that tries to connect the best available science directly to the international climate change negotiations and commitments, and the politicians are using it! Perhaps that, in itself, is progress. "How Does It Work? In the run-up to COP-15, we are scanning UNFCCC submissions and news sources from around the world to collect... Read more

In this month's feature article, I talk about the risks of green building. I note that one of the problems with model contracts, such as those from AIA, is that they don't adequately address issues of green building technology, performance, or certification. Of course, a few days after that article goes live, AIA releases a model scope of... Read more

Last week I wrote about one of the innovative building materials that I saw at this year's Greenbuild Conference in Phoenix (phase-change drywall). This week, I'll cover a very different innovation from the conference: dynamic window glazing.

Windows provide some... Read more

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced its WaterSense specification for flushing urinals. In order to meet Water-Sense criteria, urinals must use 0.5 gallons of water per flush (1.9 lpf) or less. Urinals must also meet performance requirements, guar-anteeing that they work at least as well as their conventional... Read more

Your October feature on “Integrating Social Justice into Green Design” contains some good first steps for designers who may be unfamiliar with the issue but leaves the most important topics in this area undiscussed. Providing healthy interior spaces and shared community amenities are a good start, but “social justice” generally refers to... Read more

Meant for use from early in the design process, the tool helps project teams set goals for carbon emissions... Read more

Two post-occupancy energy studies are shedding some light on energy efficiency in certified green buildings. Both studies found that prioritizing energy efficiency in the design process led to better performance and highlighted the inaccuracy of energy modeling.

The first, the

Regional Green Building Case Study Project,... Read more

With over 1,000 design professionals and many high-profile green projects to its name, Perkins + Will is recognized as a leader in the green building industry. Now it is using that leadership position to influence the way designers think about chemicals in building materials with the launch of the Perkins + Will Precautionary List.

Prospective LEED projects will now have the opportunity to earn an Innovation in Design point by pilot-testing credits listed in the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) new LEED Pilot Credit Library. Launched in October 2009, the credit library is meant to encourage project teams to provide feedback on credits still in development and to... Read more

Several companies are now incorporating the EnOcean wireless control system for automating energy conservation in unoccupied hotel rooms (see

EBN Dec. 2007).

Based in Oakland, California, Rumsey Engineers is known for its commitment to green building. Now, it has joined a group of firms, The Integral Group, that shares that commitment. Led by Kevin Hydes, this collaborative group brings engineering firms into a business arrangement that allows them to work collaboratively on deep-green projects. The... Read more

Massachusetts non-profit Second Nature has introduced a free website, the Campus Green Builder (CGB), to provide online green building resources for colleges and universities.

A group of forestry industry entities has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) alleging unfair and deceptive trade practices and asking the commission to investigate.

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has released a study, performed by consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, that estimates the number of jobs that will be created by the green building industry by 2013.