mindful MATERIALS: Climate Health
Embodied carbon is an increasingly urgent consideration: massive emissions from manufacturing concrete, steel, foam, gypsum board, and other building products are happening right now. Some products save energy and carbon during building operation. Our resources help you minimize the use of the worst offenders and support climate health by preferring products that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sequester more carbon than emitted.
mindful MATERIALS: Climate Health
Deep Dives
Get up to speed on complex topics. You can also earn CEUs and download PDF Spotlight Reports.
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The Promise of Biobased Materials—and How to Use Them Now
Feature Article
There is a lot of hype about carbon storage and other benefits of natural materials, but their potential is real. Read about those that are ready for prime time—and the ones we hope will take off next.
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Wood: Is It Still Good? Part Two: Moving from Carbon to Climate
Feature Article
Mass timber at scale could make climate change worse. Instead of embodied carbon alone, “climate-smart” practices focus on our increasingly fragile forests.
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AEC Was Left Out of a Key Decarbonization Pilot. What’s Next?
Feature Article
Science-based targets for the building sector no longer apply to design firms and most construction companies, but experts say AEC must continue leading the industry toward net zero.
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Wood: Is It Still Good? Part One: Embodied Carbon
Feature Article
The idea that wood is inherently carbon neutral has masked negative impacts. The climate stakes are too high for us to keep buying those claims.
Quick Takes
Jump straight to the essentials with these short explanations of green building concepts.
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Building Decarbonization: Learn the Lingo
Explainer
Building decarbonization 101 for architects, engineers, and sustainability consultants cutting emissions from building materials and operations.
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Building Decarbonization: How LCA and EPDs Fit in
Explainer
Life-cycle assessment and environmental product declarations reveal embodied carbon and other impacts, but it’s important to know their limits.
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Understanding Emission Scopes in the GHG Protocol
Explainer
The GHG Protocol’s three emission scopes acknowledge the complexities of supply and demand while also encouraging sector-wide alignment, consistent transparency, and support for science-based decarbonization targets.
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Demystifying Climate Change Lingo: From Scope 3 to SSP
Explainer
Climate change is complicated, and the terminology can also be hard to decipher. Here’s a short glossary of a few relevant terms.
Product Guidance
Unbiased information from our product experts helps you separate green from greenwash.
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Products at an Exposition
Product Review
These are select products from the Greenbuild expo floor, highlighting natural materials, innovative new technologies, and important updates.
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You Can Now Specify Low-Embodied-Carbon Steel
Product Review
ClarkDietrich is now offering low-embodied-carbon cold-rolled steel products that meet the federal purchasing requirements of the Build America, Buy America Act and Buy Clean Act.
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Spray-Applied Hempcrete
Product Review
Ereasy is a spray-applied method for applying hempcrete that significantly speeds installation, making it a more viable commercial product.
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New Recyclable LVT Replacement Is PVC Free—and Affordable
Product Review
EcoWorx Resilient flooring outperforms LVT on durability and sustainability, at a comparable price, claims Shaw Industries.
In The News
We break news down to the essentials and provide expert analysis.
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Industry Aligns on Federal Zero-Emissions-Building Definition
News Brief
The federal government finalized its definition of a “zero-emissions building” in June of this year, and now major industry groups have formally announced their intentions to align with it.
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IRA Accelerates Low-Carbon Building Products
News Brief
EPA shares its plan for a low-embodied-carbon labeling program, funded by the Inflation Reduction Act.
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IRA to Fund the Creation of EPDs, but Note the January Deadline
News Brief
A new IRA grant program will provide $100 million to help U.S. manufacturers create EPDs used to track greenhouse gas emissions, but the timeline for applications is January 16, 2024.
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New Climate-Smart-Wood Guidance and a Call for Pilot Partners
News Analysis
As more project teams question timber’s “carbon neutrality,” a growing coalition blazes a common-sense but potentially perilous path forward.
Perspective
Thought-provoking opinions from the most trusted minds in sustainability.
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COP28: Noise and Progress
Op-Ed
The COP28 politics and protests were crucial, but behind the scenes, it was all about good-faith collaboration, community, and commitments.
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The Universal Low-Carbon Building Standard Does Six Things
Op-Ed
Here’s how we’re going to deconstruct “net zero” and rebuild it as a comprehensive standard that applies to every building.
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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.
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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.
Learning Resources
Syllabus supplements and CEU content, with automatic reporting for AIA and GBCI.
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The BuildingGreen Guide to Building Product Certifications and Ecolabels- Discounted
Special Report
This BuildingGreen publication provides a no-nonsense guide to the world of green building product certifications to help designers, purchasers, manufacturers, and others in the industry to focus on what is significant and relevant so that market forces can work and the industry can focus on bigger issues.
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The BuildingGreen Guide to Building Product Certifications and Ecolabels
Special Report
This BuildingGreen publication provides a no-nonsense guide to the world of green building product certifications to help designers, purchasers, manufacturers, and others in the industry to focus on what is significant and relevant so that market forces can work and the industry can focus on bigger issues.
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Biobased Building Materials: the Hype, the Hope, the … Hemp?
Webcast
This webcast explores the promising future of biobased materials in commercial construction.
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Constructing Change: The Contractor’s Commitment
Feature Article
The Contractor’s Commitment to Sustainable Building Practices calls on construction firms to practice green building. Here’s why the whole industry needs to get behind it.
