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News Analysis
This provision offers a bonus credit to the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for small-scale solar and wind projects located in low-income and environmental justice communities.
This article has been prepared for informational purposes only; it is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult your firm’s tax, legal, and accounting advisors before engaging in any transaction.
Responsible agencyU.S. Department of the Treasury in partnership with... Read more
News Analysis
This program funds clean-energy projects, including building-scale technologies, primarily through grants to nonprofit financial institutions.
This article has been prepared for informational purposes only; it is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult your firm’s tax, legal, and accounting advisors before engaging in any transaction.
Responsible agencyU.S. Environmental Protection... Read more
Op-Ed
Here’s how we’re going to deconstruct “net zero” and rebuild it as a comprehensive standard that applies to every building.
This is the third article in a five-part series introducing a comprehensive, universal carbon standard for buildings. Part One explains how “net zero” has failed us. Part Two introduces the six building blocks of a proposed low-carbon standard. And Part Three (this one) provides details on each of those six things.
Part Four explains... Read more
News Analysis
This provision offers commercial building owners and renters (and designers of properties owned by tax-exempt entities) a tax deduction for certain energy-efficiency improvements.
This article has been prepared for informational purposes only; it is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult your firm’s tax, legal, and accounting advisors before engaging in any transaction.
Responsible agencyU.S. Department of the Treasury
Summary of... Read moreOp-Ed
The building industry’s current net-zero-energy and net-zero-carbon standards got complicated for a reason, but they don’t have to stay that way.
This is the second article in a five-part series introducing a comprehensive, universal carbon standard for buildings. Part One explains how “net zero” has failed us. Part Two (this one) introduces the six building blocks of a proposed low-carbon standard. And Part Three provides details on each of those six things.
Part Four explains... Read more
Op-Ed
The building sector’s current “net-zero” standards are not credible, not scalable, and don’t eliminate emissions. There’s a better way.
This is the first article in a five-part series introducing a comprehensive, universal carbon standard for buildings. It explains how “net zero” has failed us. Part Two introduces the six building blocks of a proposed low-carbon standard. And Part Three provides details on each of those six things.
Part Four explains why we need to... Read more
Explainer
The GHG Protocol’s three emission scopes acknowledge the complexities of supply and demand while also encouraging sector-wide alignment, consistent transparency, and support for science-based decarbonization targets.
Most of this primer was first published as an explanatory sidebar for our news article SBTi: To Decarbonize, AEC Firms Must “Own” Clients’ Buildings.
The GHG Protocol’s Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard defines three emission “scopes.” The higher the scope number, the less influence the company has over the emissions.
... Read more
Blog Post
Our guests reply to the Qs we didn’t get to during our July 26 event. Plus, here’s the recording if you missed it, and USGBC will host several v5 update sessions at Greenbuild.
What a pleasure it was hosting Sarah Talkington (LEED Steering Committee chair) and Keith Amann (past chair of the LEED Advisory Committee, past member of the LEED Steering Committee) for our recent LEEDuser coffee talk, What’s up with LEED v5?
Even better: Sarah and Keith generously agreed to answer some lingering questions we didn’t... Read more
Product Review
Combining water-source heat pumps and ice-based thermal storage creates a “battery” that can provide all-electric heating and cooling, even in cold climates. And it qualifies for IRA funding.
When we think of the future of all-electric buildings, two technologies tend to rise to the top: heat pumps and batteries. Heat pumps are now ubiquitous for providing heating and cooling, and lithium-ion batteries have become increasingly popular. Alone, the two technologies can work great, but each has limitations. There are... Read more
News Analysis
The AIA Framework for Design Excellence helps designers start vital conversations. Recent revisions have surfaced four core outcomes and sharpened focus on “how” to complement “why.”
“We just started to ask better questions.”
That’s how Megan Feenstra Wall, AIA, credits the Framework for Design Excellence for helping Mathison | Mathison Architects “go farther sooner in a way that’s been great for our clients and our projects.” Because of the framework, she believes, the small Grand Rapids, Michigan, firm where she... Read more
News Brief
ZeroGuide, a free whole-life-emissions tool from NBBJ, is about education as much as it is about modeling. It’s also a gateway to more refined approaches.
It started as a way to strengthen carbon literacy among designers at NBBJ Design. Four years later, ZeroGuide has been released to the public for free with a dual mission: to support early design decisions for projects and to influence future projects.
Several widely respected data sources—including Cambium and PVWatts from the National... Read more
Feature
Incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act help GSHPs pay for themselves faster than conventional HVAC systems—with far better performance.
This article has been prepared for informational purposes only; it is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult your firm’s tax, legal, and accounting advisors before engaging in any transaction.
Since the late 1940s, the United... Read more
News Brief
The IRA may be revolutionizing green building. Learn how to leverage this generational funding to curtail carbon and elevate equity.
Remember all those times when a sustainability “conversation” felt more like a fight? A fight you were losing?
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is helping project teams replay that old scene with a new character: Uncle Sam, proffering his open wallet.
By incentivizing technologies that slash emissions and processes that include... Read more
News Analysis
New decarbonization guidance, once finalized, would require electrification by 2025 and would increase accountability from design and construction firms for operations, refrigerants, and embodied carbon.
But less influence is not the same as no influence.
Read... Read more
News Brief
Carbonsight, a new tool from Autocase, helps owners and building professionals set and track emission targets across entire portfolios.
Many building owners are just waking up to the massive carbon footprints of their portfolios. The higher their emissions are, the greater the financial and reputational risks. And owners face increasing pressure to disclose climate-related risks to investors and the public through environmental, social, and governance (ESG)... Read more
News Brief
The group MEP 2040 is now offering letter-writing templates asking manufacturers for equipment that uses next-generation, low-GWP refrigerants.
Common refrigerants used to heat and cool buildings “can drive up to 75% of the embodied carbon emissions related to HVAC systems,” according to MEP 2040, a group of signatories committed to building decarbonization. The group recently issued a call to action to speed progress toward its 2040 net-zero target.
... Read moreNews Analysis
The National Institute of Building Sciences shared results from its second biannual Social Equity Survey. But with far fewer responses than last time, the data are hard to interpret.
The diversity of the AEC sector hasn’t shown much progress in two years, according to the second Social Equity in the Built Environment Workforce Survey. But the survey, conducted by the nonprofit National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS), had far fewer respondents in 2023 than in 2021, complicating efforts to compare data over time.... Read more
Webcast
Concrete is one of the construction industry’s largest carbon emitters, responsible for about 5% to 8% of the world’s anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, yet it is also one of the most important building materials.
There are well-proven ways to reduce concrete’s carbon footprint, such as replacing... Read more
Blog Post
Mindful MATERIALS has partnered with BuildingGreen to expand knowledge of the Common Materials Framework across the building product manufacturing and AEC industries.
Mindful MATERIALS is partnering with BuildingGreen, a leader in green building knowledge, consulting, and communities, to broaden the building product manufacturing and AEC industries’ understanding of the Common Materials Framework (CMF). The CMF is a common language for sustainability data that will help databases and certification... Read more
News Analysis
Hospitals and other nonprofits can now afford long-hoped-for resilience and emission strategies. And the investments are biggest in communities with the least.
The recent Getting to Zero Forum in Minneapolis included both policy- and technology-related strategies on how to make the transition to a net-zero-energy and net-zero-carbon economy. One highlight was a presentation in the technical session “Building Communities That Survive and Thrive,” in which I was also a presenter, about... Read more
