BuildingGreen Report

News Brief

November 9, 2012
The new format streamlines disclosure of building product ingredients and their potential health impacts.

A panel of leaders in the green building industry has unveiled a new format for reporting health-related information for building products.

The Health Product Declaration (HPD) Open Standard Version 1 is available to manufacturers... Read more

Blog Post

November 9, 2012
There’s a lot to talk about after Tuesday’s elections: urban planning, Keystone XL, and whether America is in a death spiral. German magazine Der Spiegel holds up a mirror to the U.S. as it lies on its purported death bed.Photo Credit: Der Spiegel

Der Spiegel doesn’t mince any Wörter

In a four-part analysis titled “Divided States of... Read more

Blog Post

November 7, 2012
Hurricane Sandy demonstrated the vulnerability of our dependence on automobiles; we need to become a lot more resilient. Gas line in Woodbridge, New Jersey on November 1st. Click to enlarge.Photo Credit: AP

By now we’ve all seen the photos of houses buried in sand along the Jersey Shore, burned-out homes in Queens, and... Read more

Case Study

Giving Green: EHDD crafts a luxe, carbon-footprint-conscious new HQ for a philanthropic organization.

November 7, 2012

By Asad Syrkett
"The central narrative of the Packard Foundation is that it began around David and Lucile's dining-room table," explains Brad Jacobson, senior associate at San Francisco–based architecture and planning office EHDD. So in designing a new headquarters for the 48-year-old philanthropic organization in Los Altos, California,... Read more

Blog Post

November 1, 2012
One of the cleanest and most efficient ways to burn wood is provided by high-mass masonry heaters. A Tulikivi masonry heater made of soapstone with an integral bake oven and bench.Photo Credit: Tulikivi

Over the past two weeks I’ve written about wood stoves and pellet heating. This week I’ll focus on another way to burn wood... Read more

Blog Post

November 1, 2012
From the most shocking photos to the most piercing analysis, we look at some of the best Sandy coverage this week. The Washington Post shows us before-and-after shots that somehow make the damage seem even worse.Photo Credit: Richard Drew/AP

Before and after pix

Fahima Haque at the Washington Post brings us eleven stomach-twisting... Read more

Blog Post

October 29, 2012
Expensive callbacks and lawsuits can result when you don’t attend to the assembly details. Directional drying is designed into high-performance buildings, and all three control layers must continuously manage water, air, and heat. Note how the air barrier is primarily accomplished at the interior and how difficult it is to prevent thermal... Read more

News Brief

October 26, 2012
By Erin WeaverThe ozone-depleting refrigerant HCFC-22 is being phased out in many countries under the Montreal Protocol, but a recent investigation in Florida indicates that illegal quantities are being smuggled into the U.S. and Europe.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency licenses companies to produce, purchase, or sell limited quantities... Read more

News Analysis

October 26, 2012
By Erin WeaverThere are many ways to achieve net-zero energy. “Affordably” is not the adverb that typically comes to mind first. But a report from the Canadian government outlines key strategies for building net-zero-energy (NZE) houses at a reasonable price.

“Identifying Affordable Net Zero Energy Housing Solutions” highlights current best... Read more

News Brief

October 26, 2012
By Erin WeaverA new publication aims to help local governments gauge and report their communities’ greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

ICLEI–Local Governments for Sustainability USA (ICLEI) calls its “U.S. Community Protocol for Accounting and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions” the first national standard for cities and counties to determine... Read more

News Brief

October 26, 2012
By Erin WeaverA new green building certification program for smaller commercial buildings has been launched in Portland, Oregon, with plans for nationwide availability. Portland-based Earth Advantage Institute (EAI) has announced the Earth Advantage Commercial (EAC) green building certification program for commercial buildings under 100,000 square... Read more

News Brief

October 26, 2012
(John Straube, Ph.D., P.Eng.; Building Science Press, 2012; 336 pages, $65)

Envelope failures are the most common cause of missed energy targets, durability issues, and health and comfort problems—and hence the most common cause of lawsuits—points out author John Straube. Making multilayered, high-performance building envelopes function as... Read more

News Brief

October 26, 2012
By Paula MeltonThe Building Performance Institute (BPI) has released a new standard for performing residential energy audits. Designed to apply to single-family homes and townhouses, BPI–1100,

Home Energy Auditing Standard, lays out the requirements for an audit—which include not only measurements of energy performance but also an assessment of... Read more

News Brief

October 26, 2012

Framing energy as first and foremost “a design problem” for architects to solve rather than exclusively the mechanical engineer’s domain, the guide discusses best practices, types of energy modeling and related tools, and how to encourage teamwork and integrated design. (BuildingGreen, publisher of EBN, sponsored the development of this report... Read more

Product Review

October 26, 2012

Founded in 1981, Onset has 120 employees in its solar-powered manufacturing facility on Cape Cod and has shipped more than 2 million data loggers to customers worldwide. The product name, HOBO, came from the founder’s interest in all things railroad-related, according to Evan Lubofsky, the director of marketing for the company, and it refers... Read more

News Brief

October 26, 2012
By Erin WeaverThe U.S. government is greatly underestimating the costs of carbon pollution, according to a study in the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences. “The Social Cost of Carbon in U.S. Regulatory Impact Analyses” says the Office of Budget Management (OBM) uses a faulty analytical model, utilizing an unjustifiably high discount... Read more

News Brief

October 26, 2012
By Erin WeaverGlobal demand for biofuels is increasing, but a new study suggests that most are no more environmentally friendly than gasoline. Swiss research institute Empa concludes in its new assessment that most fuels based on agricultural products “deflect” their environmental impacts: they may reduce greenhouse gas emissions but lead to other... Read more

News Brief

October 26, 2012
By Erin WeaverAutodesk has released Autodesk Simulation 360, the first simulation software on a “cloud”-based, pay-as-you-go model. The platform offers design and engineering tools for complex simulations, such as designing a building for resilience in the face of cyclic stresses, wind, or earthquakes, or predicting the occupant experience of... Read more

News Brief

October 26, 2012
By Erin WeaverThe U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has announced the nine recipients of its 2012 Leadership Awards, to be presented during the 2012 Greenbuild conference in San Francisco. The awards recognize “individuals who embody the vision, leadership and commitment to the evolution of green buildings and communities,” and this year’s... Read more

News Analysis

October 26, 2012
By Alex WilsonMalcolm Lewis, Ph.D., the founder of Constructive Technologies Group, a member of the

EBN Advisory Board, and long a quiet leader in the green building movement, died on October 13 of bladder cancer.

Malcolm was very active with the U.S. Green Building Council, serving on the board of directors in the early years, chairing... Read more