Championing the
Changemakers

By Erin WeaverWith plug-in devices accounting for 15%–20% of the average office’s energy use, a new guide from the New Buildings Institute (NBI) outlines steps to cut office plug loads by up to 40%. The largest plug loads come from computers, monitors, and peripherals such as speakers; The Plug Loads Best Practices Guide suggests no- and low-cost... Read more

By Paula MeltonThe State of New York has authorized municipalities to waive property taxes for green homes and commercial buildings.

Cities and towns adopting the new measure will take LEED-certified properties off their tax rolls for up to six years; tax exemptions will phase out gradually over a seven- to ten-year period, depending on the... Read more

By Erin WeaverLast year, EBN evaluated single-ply roofing membranes based on their life-cycle costs, environmental and health impacts, and energy efficiency (see “Better Choices in Low-Slope Roofing,”

EBN Oct. 2011). With about 22% of low-slope commercial roofing projects using metal systems, according to Scott Kriner, technical director of the... Read more

By Paula MeltonDisruption: it can be a way of life in developing economies, as massive blackouts across India recently demonstrated. But when Rohan Parikh, head of green initiatives at Bangalore-based Infosys, uses the word “disruption,” he means something completely different.

“It had to be unreasonable; it had to be a paradigm shift,” says... Read more

Vapor retarders are meant to protect our building assemblies from getting wet, but they can also slow drying. When humidity levels differ drastically between indoors and outdoors, vapor diffusion can result, sending water vapor into wall cavities and other building assemblies. A dedicated vapor retarder manages this “vapor drive.”

But... Read more

In just about every climate in which we live and build, the number one job of any building envelope or enclosure is environmental separation. Keeping water, air, and heat in or out of buildings can make them more resource-efficient, durable, and safer for occupants. Lots of building products offer some help with that, but without... Read more

Big wind is getting bigger, but can we save the tax credits that help it grow? Also, how to read palms skylines, and new Passive House partnerships. Remind yourself why you want to save the planet by looking at Lloyd Alter's vacation pictures.Photo Credit: Lloyd Alter

By Paula Melton

This is what a treehugger looks like

Ever... Read more

An update on getting the global warming potential (GWP) out of insulation materials. Today's closed-cell SPF has a global warming potential of 1,430, but if producers adopt new HFO blowing agents, it will drop to close to zero. Click to enlarge.

Photo Credit: John Straube

I’ve been pretty vocal about a big... Read more

This is part of an ongoing series. Read all the Sticky Business posts here.

The silicone found in many window caulks is not much of a health risk to onsite workers, but the chemicals used to produce silicon are coming under greater scrutiny. Photo: ArmaCo Construction

As discussed throughout... Read more

Refrigerators keep our food cold, but foam insulation that boosts their efficiency paradoxically contributes to global warming: the chemicals typically used as blowing agents to make this insulation can have global warming potential (GWP) hundreds of times that of CO2. Whirlpool Corporation will start producing refrigerators that use... Read more

Following in Maine’s footsteps, the State of Georgia has effectively banned LEED certification for State building projects.

Governor Nathan Deal’s executive order, echoing language used by Maine Governor Paul LePage, requires green building standards that equally recognize three forestry standards—the Sustainable Forestry... Read more

Will we wake up about climate change when the blackouts begin? Also, what does historic preservation mean in a city without any history? Hot, dry summers are a recipe for (power) failure.Photo Credit: Union of Concerned Scientists

Power, power everywhere (but then what will we drink?)

Our power grid is a voracious water hog, as... Read more

With new oil discoveries and more effective extraction methods, the world is probably many decades away from peak oil. A "Hubbert Curve" of world oil production, showing the peak in this decade, which was widely predicted just a few years ago. Click to enlarge.Photo Credit: Energy Watch Group, UK.

I first wrote about... Read more

This is part of an ongoing series. Read all the Sticky Business posts here.

In the U.S., we tend to put a lot of faith in caulks, tapes, and wet-applied sealants. But in Europe it’s a different story.

Some Gaskets can be used in place of tapes or liquid sealants, mainly as part of... Read more

A beautiful map of amazing places, why FSC is still best wood certification, and the scary story of why you should still make your own file backups. My kids scrambled up the granite hill known as the South Bubble for the fourth or fifth time last week in Acadia National Park. Acadia is the only National Park we've been to, but after seeing the... Read more

This is part of an ongoing series. Read all the Sticky Business posts here.

Mounted on the roof at NIST, this "weathering engine" tests sealant durability Photo: National Institute of Standards and Technology

Durability, or service life, is critical to the overall performance of liquid caulk... Read more

When I bought the house in West Dummerston, Vermont, where my wife and I have lived for the past thirty years, one of the first things I did was fix the drainage problems that were dumping water into our basement….

Or so I thought. Let me explain.

When I moved into the 1780s house there was a hill on... Read more

Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) use a fraction of the energy of incandescent bulbs, but a new study finds that minor damage makes their UV emissions dangerously high at close range.

Researchers at Stony Brook University in New York sought to follow up on European research that had found prolonged exposure at close range (less... Read more

Introducing all-natural expanded cork boardstock insulation to the North American market. Expanded cork insulation is available up to 12 inches thick and can be used much like polyiso. Click to enlarge.Photo Credit: Amorim Isolamentos

I’m always on the hunt for the latest, most interesting, and most environmentally... Read more

By Erin WeaverA new study suggests a strong correlation between urban tree cover and reduced crime, especially on public lands. “The relationship between tree canopy and crime rates across an urban–rural gradient in the greater Baltimore region,” published in the journal

Landscape and Urban Planning by researchers from the University of Vermont... Read more