Sustainable Materials
Parent
Sustainable Materials
Deep Dives
Get up to speed on complex topics. You can also earn CEUs and download PDF Spotlight Reports.
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Antimicrobial Chemicals in Buildings: Hygiene or Harm?
Feature
Carpets, door handles, and a myriad of other building products now contain pesticides targeting fungi and bacteria, offering potential benefit to the indoor environment, but also raising health concerns. This article asks whether antimicrobial products live up to their marketing claims and whether relying on them is a sound path to a hygienic environment.
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Prefabricating Green: Building Environmentally Friendly Houses Off Site
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Prefabricated housing offers several potential environmental benefits, including reduced transportation impacts, reduced waste, and quality control for better durability and performance. Aside from a few industry leaders, however, most manufacturers do not take full advantage of those efficiencies to create affordable high-performance houses.
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Making Air Barriers that Work: Why and How to Tighten Up Buildings
Feature
Incorporating a continuous air barrier into a building's design and construction can save energy and improve the indoor environment, among other benefits. The right materials and assemblies can help accomplish that goal, but careful attention during design and close oversight during construction are essential.
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The Living Building Challenge: Can It Really Change the World?
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The Living Building Challenge, with its stringent, all-or-nothing requirements, is out to change the way we build. But is it actually achievable?
Quick Takes
Jump straight to the essentials with these short explanations of green building concepts.
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Scorecard Shows Some Plastics Are “Cleaner” Than Others
Explainer
Plastics are made from petrochemicals whose environmental profiles are complicated at best. But some stand out as, if not cleaner, at least less dirty.
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How Environmental Site Assessments Work
Explainer
Existing buildings and previously developed sites are great, but they often need environmental cleanup. An ESA is the first step.
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The Problem with Red Lists
Explainer
Having a short list of toxic chemicals to avoid is convenient, but nasty “alternatives” can sneak in the back door. Hazard screenings help solve this problem.
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Getting “Conflict Minerals” Out of Our Products
Explainer
While “blood diamonds” get attention, mining of metals like tin and tungsten helps finance civil wars. Here’s a look at the movement to change that.
Product Guidance
Unbiased information from our product experts helps you separate green from greenwash.
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Tinting on Demand with SageGlass
Product Review
Glazing from Sage Electrochromics, Inc., allows users to change its visible light and total solar transmittance properties with the push of a button.
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Full Line of Residential LED Lighting Arrives
Product Review
In June 2006, Permlight Products, Inc., and Progress Lighting announced the introduction of a complete line of LED residential lighting products. To be sold as the HI-EF line, the licensing of Permlight's Enbryten Down line promises high-efficacy luminaires that meet strict California energy standards.
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Triton Logging Recovers Underwater Forests
Product Review
Triton Logging, Inc., of British Columbia has brought to market environmentally-friendly lumber from forests flooded by reservoirs; standing trees are recovered using the company's unique Sawfish submarine harvester.
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Arreis Nonformaldehyde MDF from SierraPine
Product Review
Responding to growing concerns about formaldehyde, including a likely phaseout of urea-formaldehyde panel products in California, SierraPine, Ltd., has added a new MDF to its no-added-formaldehyde MDF product family.
In The News
We break news down to the essentials and provide expert analysis.
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SierraPine Offers Improved Fire-Retardant MDF
News Analysis
SierraPine has reintroduced its popular fire-resistant, medium-density fiberboard, which contains no added urea-formaldehyde.
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Formaldehyde-Free Bamboo Flooring from EcoTimber
News Analysis
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Nonmetallic Pressure-Treated Wood Products from Viance
News Analysis
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Carbon Offsets Get Oversight
News Analysis
Carbon offsets have become a popular way to fight climate change, but the market for them has been plagued by doubts about integrity. A new certification program as well attention from federal regulators may help to address key concerns.
Perspective
Thought-provoking opinions from the most trusted minds in sustainability.
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“Code Red” IPCC Report: What It Means for the Building Sector
Op-Ed
The IPCC has an emergency message: buildings need to change. Now.
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A Tribute to Robin Guenther, Green Healthcare Pioneer
Op-Ed
Robin Guenther advanced new standards for hospitals that were adopted by the larger green building community and integrated into leading rating systems.
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Net Zero Has Failed. We Need a Universal Carbon Standard for Buildings.
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.
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This is the Universal Low-Carbon Building Standard We Need
Op-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.
Learning Resources
Syllabus supplements and CEU content, with automatic reporting for AIA and GBCI.
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Just For Fun
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