The score we need: 17.1.

The score we have: 8.1.

In other words, the building industry isn’t anywhere close to hitting necessary climate targets, according to the Global Building Climate Tracker. This index, begun in 2015 by the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC, which is part of the United Nations... Read more

GO Lab, manufacturer of TimberHP wood insulation, is providing a new insulation to the U.S. market—while bolstering rural Maine’s economy at the same time. The closing of Madison, Maine’s paper mill resulted in the loss of more than 200 good-paying jobs and seemingly doomed the facility and the rural community to a bleak future. The paper mill... Read more

Skanska US, Microsoft, and Balfour Beatty found themselves in legal hot water in April 2022, when construction worker Quinte Harris filed suit against them alleging employment discrimination, unlawful retaliation, wrongful termination, and negligent supervision. Harris, who formerly worked on the Microsoft campus modernization... Read more

There’s one surprisingly tricky piece of equipment that often stands in the way of fully electrifying a commercial building: the back-up generator. Batteries for back-up power are available, but the upfront cost differential is difficult to overcome.

"In addition to reducing demand, batteries can also act as... Read more

“It’s about changing how our government works and who it works for,” said Michael Regan, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), during his September 2022 announcement of the new Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights (OEJECR). Regan spoke near a hazardous waste site in North... Read more

If I were being dramatic, I’d say that the green building movement is dead. 

That, of course, would not be technically true, as there are so many amazing projects and wonderful people working hard to make a positive difference in the world through changes in the built environment. But taken in the context of the rate of climate change... Read more

It’s a simple plan. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will pay landowners to let their trees grow bigger before cutting them down.

The hoped-for outcomes are more complex: boosting the carbon sequestration, and the ecological and cultural value, of working forests; producing higher-quality wood products; increasing financial returns... Read more

Impact, agency, and power. These are the focus of a new publication from The American Institute of Architects (AIA): Architects’ Role in Creating Equitable Communities. Through ten focus groups with 67 designers and architects, the authors gathered insights, tools, and strategies for advancing design justice and equity in... Read more

The Declare website from the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) has made it easier to find products that meet criteria for Enterprise Green Communities—a green building certification program for affordable housing. Under the pulldown menu “Alignment,” there are two new options: “Enterprise Green Communities – Meets... Read more

A partial standing ovation greeted Jane Fonda. By the time she was done, she got the real deal. 

The actor and activist took the stage at Greenbuild in San Francisco this morning to offer encouragement and to press the building industry to advance a just transition away from fossil fuels. Her focus on equitable treatment for building... Read more

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and its sister nonprofit Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) have announced that Peter Templeton, who came on as interim president and CEO just over a year ago, will stay in these positions. Templeton told BuildingGreen in an interview that he hopes to... Read more

A carbon-neutral city by 2030: that’s the goal of Ithaca, New York’s Green New Deal, adopted in June 2019. We’re not just talking about municipal operations or new building construction, though these are part of the resolution. No, this is about city-wide carbon neutrality, including the electrical grid and privately owned transportation and... Read more

Far from costing more, investments in grid renewables should provide considerable savings for utilities globally, according to a new analysis published in the journal Joule.

“A rapid green energy transition will likely result in trillions of net savings,” according to the researchers, who add that “... Read more

As individuals and organizations, we all use water for drinking, washing, and flushing away waste. We install low-flow fixtures (sometimes by regulation) and fix leaks to save water—especially when we’re faced with drought conditions. LEED and other programs give us credit for using less.  

But not... Read more

Air-source heat pumps are a great alternative to heating and cooling systems that run on fossil fuels. They offer the promise of significantly reducing the carbon footprint of our buildings and speeding our way to all-electric buildings. The challenge with these systems is that their primary refrigerant—R410a—has a global... Read more

St. James Parish is home to 12 petrochemical plants that make PVC and a number of other plastics. Located in Louisiana’s “cancer alley,” it is also the epicenter of fights over pollution, health, and social justice issues in the area’s historically Black communities. When FG LA L.L.C., an affiliate of Taiwan-based Formosa... Read more

Like your smartphone, our buildings are reaching obsolescence before the end of their useful lives.

Market needs change on a dime—sometimes faster than a building is constructed. And disruptions can reverse interest in certain building types, as was the case with commercial spaces during the pandemic. These shifts can result in... Read more

“There is no pathway to a zero-emissions building sector without zeroing out emissions from America’s 325 billion square feet of existing buildings,” according to 2018 AIA president Carl Elefante.

But making that transition will be a monumental task. Existing buildings are all over the place in terms of age, condition,... Read more

Launched as a pilot program for 2021, the guidelines set a sustainability benchmark and provide uniformity in reporting... Read more

The U.S. government is vowing to buy lower-carbon construction materials—and to require projects using federal funds to do the same.

Details of the federal government’s so-called Buy Clean Initiative—a program that will require procurement of construction materials that have lower carbon footprints than standard products—are still under... Read more