Championing the
Changemakers
BuildingGreen champions the changemakers in sustainable design and building, with trusted insight, unparalleled education, and communities that are transforming the industry.
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BuildingGreen Report
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
News Brief
HUD’s Green Resilient and Retrofit Program, part of the Inflation Reduction Act, seeks to improve the efficiency and resilience of low-income housing.
Where we live, the quality of our homes, and the resources we have determine our vulnerability to climate change. As the United States continues to fight and prepare for the impacts of global heating, one of the biggest challenges is ensuring that everyone—people earning lower incomes and communities of color, in particular—have access to... Read more
Product Review
Design Lights Consortium’s LUNA Standard balances verified energy efficiency and performance data with environmental concerns to help design teams select application-specific lighting.
With the adoption of LEDs, the reduced energy impacts of lighting are now taken for granted, but there are still a lot of old fluorescent and first generation LEDs on the market. And LED lighting is still complicated, especially for outdoor applications. How do you balance efficacy (lighting energy performance, measured in... Read more
News Analysis
The secret to a more diverse workforce? Intentionally inclusive mentoring for future architects, engineers, construction professionals, and skilled tradespeople.
It’s graduation day. Partners, grandparents, aunts and uncles, young children, aging parents, and even neighbors gather to celebrate.
But this isn’t about a high school diploma or college degree. It’s far more consequential. Eight graduates have just finished a six-week training program that... Read more
News Analysis
Passive cooling strategies are surprisingly effective, even as heat waves become more extreme.
Cities are getting dangerously hot. It is fairly obvious that more people will need air conditioning (AC). But there are a couple of reasons adding AC alone won’t keep people safe, says recent research.
There are equity concerns with AC units. They come with ongoing maintenance expenses, can spike... Read more
News Brief
According to the Healthy Building Network, the paint you use might contain PFAS compounds, even if they are not disclosed on the ingredient list.
Human-made “forever chemicals”—known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—have a wide range of negative health impacts and have been found in most consumer and building products. Even with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and states like Maine trying to regulate them, there are more than 10,000 PFAS... Read more
News Analysis
Proposed standards under the Clean Air Act aim to cut power plant emissions but are receiving criticism from multiple directions.
Our homes, offices, and cars are electrifying—but they are only as green as the grid. Fossil fuels still supply 61% of electric power in the U.S. and account for about a quarter of national greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). The success of electrification as a decarbonization strategy in building, transportation, and all other sectors relies... Read more
News Analysis
CDC has set a stringent new minimum for everyday ventilation, and ASHRAE has released standard 241, the first IAQ standard addressing infectious disease. Both moves challenge long-held assumptions about clean air.
There’s nothing like a breath of fresh air.
Nice phrase—but considering the rampant wildfires, diesel fumes, industrial plumes, excess pollen, higher concentrations of CO2, and literal plagues that plague modern life, clean air is increasingly hard to come by, whether outdoors or in.
Meanwhile, we now know more than ever about... Read more
News Brief
The U.S. Department of Energy is accepting applications for its Zero Energy Design Designation (ZEDD) Program.
The building sector—one of the country’s main sources of emissions—must transform the way buildings are designed, constructed, operated, and retrofitted if we are to meet the Biden administration’s 2050 net-zero-economy goal. Many of the practitioners who will be responsible for this work over the next two decades are still in—or have yet to... Read more
Webcast
Practitioners interested in reducing the embodied carbon of buildings are likely now used to considering the impact of different materials, like mass timber or low-carbon concrete. Low-carbon construction, however, may be less familiar.
Contractors are just beginning to track the emissions from their job sites... Read more
News Brief
The Carbon Leadership Forum has updated its baseline data to keep pace with industry changes.
The CLF (Carbon Leadership Forum) North American Baseline Report has been updated to provide the most recent embodied carbon data for North American construction materials. Taken from the 2022 Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3) tool, these baseline data come from third-party environmental product declarations (EPDs) and are used... Read more
Feature Article
Some researchers say construction emissions could account for as much as 30% of a project’s embodied carbon. What can be done about it?
Nadav Malin contributed reporting.
Practitioners interested in reducing the embodied carbon of buildings are likely familiar with weighing the impact of different materials, like mass timber or low-carbon concrete. Low-carbon construction, however, has not been on many people’s radar.
“I don't think people up until now even... Read more
News Analysis
ASHRAE 228 aims to replace the Department of Energy’s “gold standard” definition of net-zero energy—and it adds carbon to the mix.
Just when you thought you were safe, another big, bold net-zero standard has entered the house. But ASHRAE 228, Standard Method of Evaluating Zero Net Energy and Zero Net Carbon Building Performance, isn’t here to disrupt things. Instead, like any good standard, it just wants to bring us all together in a group bear hug—an embrace with the... Read more
News Brief
Upending the global economy to make it circular instead of linear sounds daunting. A new resource demonstrates how to become “circular ready.”
Here’s the problem. The economy we’re locked into is linear: to make products, we exploit fellow human beings, deplete natural resources, threaten biodiversity, and choke our atmosphere. Then we toss those products into landfills the moment we consider them to be broken or used up. What a waste.
Here’... Read more
Spotlight Report
People interested in reducing the embodied carbon of buildings are familiar with weighing the impact of different materials, like mass timber or low-carbon concrete. Low-carbon construction has not been on many people’s radar—but it probably should be.
Findings from construction companies that are tracking greenhouse... Read more
News Brief
Galvanize Climate Solutions commissioned a custom version of EHDD’s software to locate real estate with financial and sustainability potential.
Investors Katie Hall and Tom Steyer founded Galvanize Climate Solutions in 2021 with one goal: “to accelerate the adoption of clean technology and increase the rate of decarbonization.” The company’s new real estate arm aims to do that by acquiring and renovating existing buildings. And to help it find those buildings, Galvanize commissioned a... Read more
News Analysis
Global heating is already making today’s children more vulnerable, a new EPA report reveals. Adaptation measures are needed to protect them.
Replete with heart-wrenching photos of tiny children sucking on inhalers, enduring insect welts, and watching flood waters rise, a new report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) details the grueling impacts climate change is having and is likely to have on America’s kids. Socially vulnerable youth will be disproportionately... Read more
Product Review
Construction equipment that burns fossil fuels accounts for a significant amount of a building’s initial carbon emissions. Volvo’s line of electric equipment is out to reduce that.
As we move away from our reliance on fossil fuels and toward a low-carbon future, the equipment we use for HVAC systems, kitchens, and other building functions is slowly shifting to all electric. The equipment we use to construct these buildings is another matter.
The carbon impacts from this equipment and other processes on the... Read more
News Brief
An Earth Day executive order looks to protect communities burdened by pollution. The details hint at the scale of change that’s needed.
To fulfill our Nation’s promises of justice, liberty, and equality, every person must have clean air to breathe; clean water to drink; safe and healthy foods to eat; and an environment that is healthy, sustainable, climate-resilient, and free from harmful pollution and chemical exposure.
– President Joe Biden, Executive Order 14096 on... Read more