Championing the
Changemakers

After a thorough energy audit of a building, the energy services company (ESCO) arranges project funding; an ESPC is a guarantee that proposed improvements will result in sufficient cost savings to pay for the project over a contract period of up to 25 years, during which time the first costs of the retrofit are typically paid back to the ESCO... Read more

closed-loop recycling becomes more common.

Green Mountain College (GMC) in Poultney, Vermont, is joining Casella Waste Systems’ “Power of Three” closed-loop recycling initiative involving... Read more

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) estimates that 440,000 birds are killed in collisions with wind turbines each year; without stronger regulation, says the... Read more

With requirements regarding site sustainability, building materials, energy and water conservation, indoor environmental quality, and commissioning, IgCC can be adopted by states or local jurisdictions as a required building... Read more

“What’s unique about our group is that we’re actually benchmarking and tracking in the aggregate,” says Brian Geller, founder and executive director of the Seattle 2030 District, which currently includes 25 million square feet of building space (a little over a quarter of the building space located within the physical confines of the... Read more

What is it about European windows that makes them so popular for ultra-low-energy Passive House projects? The glass is largely the same; in fact, American companies have led the development of low-e glazings. In a nutshell, it is the frames, gasketing, and hardware that separate top-quality European windows from their American counterparts. And... Read more

It seems like biobased materials should be inherently preferable—but that doesn’t mean they always are. Even the most “natural” and “rapidly renewable” materials can carry big environmental impacts. How to accurately evaluate their impact on our industry and our world is tricky, but the green building community is starting to take a... Read more

Even in parts of the U.S. where electricity is generated by burning coal, electric vehicles pollute less than most gasoline-powered vehicles and save money on fuel, according to a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

“State of Charge: Electric Vehicles’ Global Warming Emissions and Fuel Cost Savings Across the United... Read more

The Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) has launched Envision, a framework for evaluating infrastructure projects.

The system takes what ISI calls a holistic view, touching on quality of life, resource allocation, impacts on ecosystems and climate, and issues of risk and leadership. Project owners and design teams can use a... Read more

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released its “Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990–2010,” tracking national trends in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals over two decades. In that time, U.S. emissions increased at an average annual rate of 0.5%, for an overall increase of 10.5%.

The... Read more

Turning night and day, a wind turbine can make electricity when solar panels can’t; perched on a tower over a green building, it can be poetry in motion. Unfortunately, performance depends a lot on the right site, which can be hard to come by. And while growing 26% annually in one recent period, the small wind market has been plagued by low-... Read more

Most research in photovoltaics (PV) works by coaxing our materials to respond differently to sunlight. But what if we could change the light instead? Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are trying to do just that by slowing down the speed of light using nanomaterials.

Working with researchers at Zehjiang... Read more

Releasing more than 1,700 pounds of carbon dioxide for every MWh of electricity produced, coal-fired power plants account for nearly 40% of U.S. carbon pollution. While some states limit this pollution, there are no federal carbon emissions standards for power plants. A new standard proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)... Read more

The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and the Denver Housing Authority (DHA) are planning a new student design competition focused on energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and health measures, and emphasizing local, contextual design.

Tentatively named the Residential Affordable Competition for Efficiency (RACE-Home), the new project was... Read more

Two West Coast projects are the first to achieve Net Zero Energy Building Certification in a program launched by the International Living Future Institute in late 2011 (see “Net-Zero Certification Spins Off from Living Building Challenge,” EBN Nov. 2011).

Both of the certified projects are retrofits: Painters Hall, in the Pringle Creek... Read more

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “hospital”? A lush, sun-dappled garden buzzing with hummingbirds, or a cold, institutional interior? For those of us who thought of the latter, the therapeutic landscaping movement is aiming for a change—and it’s finding more and more synergies with medical science,... Read more

The Street Plans Collaborative has released the second volume of “Tactical Urbanism: Short-Term Action, Long-Term Change.”

Two dozen case studies illustrate the process of small-scale, often self-funded improvements to a street or public area, and ways in which they lead to permanent change. Among the case studies are examples of “chair... Read more

Several groups publish “red lists” of chemicals and materials of concern in building products. Most of the substances on these lists are there for obvious reasons: they are common and may contribute to global warming, increase cancer risk, or bioaccumulate in ecosystems. Other red-listed chemicals and materials, however, cause a... Read more

Windows are a big investment, and while they may look great on paper, how well do they hold up once installed? Do they meet your performance specifications? How responsive was the company to answering your questions and responding to complaints?

The GreenSpec team has already combed the world of windows available in the U.S.... Read more