BuildingGreen Report

The clean energy transition is upon us. But if we’re not proactive about making it equitable, many people—especially renters along with homeowners in disadvantaged communities—could be left behind paying ever-increasing gas prices.

With its newly passed Neighborhood Decarbonization Act (SB 1221), California seeks to demonstrate—through... Read more

Steel is one of our most versatile and important building materials. It is found in even the most boutique low-embodied-carbon buildings. But steel is also one of the world’s biggest sources of carbon emissions, and production of raw steel can come at significant costs to local communities, especially in China where mills create poor air... Read more

Are today’s carbon emissions worse than tomorrow’s?

Should embodied carbon be a higher priority than operational carbon?

Is temporary carbon storage beneficial?

These are daunting and complicated questions, which most project teams are probably not trying to answer directly. Still, building practitioners do often make... Read more

Clean energy jobs spiked in 2023, which according to the Clean Jobs America report from the nonpartisan business group E2, is partly attributable to the first full year of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). In 2023, alone, the clean energy economy grew by almost 150,000 jobs, a pace nearly two times faster than overall national job growth.... Read more

Over the last few years, many different organizations have developed programs and processes to address embodied carbon of entire projects: buildings, site work, and infrastructure. But embodied carbon champions became concerned that divergent methods and assumptions would slow the adoption of project LCAs, as owners might hesitate to invest in... Read more

Industrial hemp has amazing potential as a building material. It grows quickly on small plots. It is drought resistant. It can grow in poor soils, regenerating them by fixing nitrogen. And it has the potential to store a lot of carbon.

In the past, hemp was one of the world’s biggest crops, grown primarily for its fibers, which were... Read more

Federally funded projects are responsible for as much as a third of all U.S. construction emissions, estimates the General Services Administration (GSA) Green Building Advisory Committee.

As one piece of a comprehensive strategy to reduce this impact, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is creating a labeling program to drive... Read more

In simpler times, our buildings were made primarily from local, natural substances like stone, wood, straw, and clay.

But lifestyles have changed dramatically since these were the dominant materials used. Now, although many communities are still following the “old ways,” in the richest parts of the globe, ultra-processed materials make... Read more

First and foremost, it is best to use native landscaping or xeriscaping that is drought-resistant and reduces or eliminates water, energy, and chemical use.

When irrigation is required, preference should be given to products labeled by EPA’s WaterSense program. WaterSense-labeled products undergo rigorous testing to ensure they are at... Read more

Our buildings used to be made from local, natural materials. With no petrochemicals, these natural materials had minimal carbon footprint and were healthier for people and the environment. The climate and environment are now in crisis, brought on partially by the building materials that have ushered in our era of skyscrapers and... Read more

Batt insulation is inexpensive and readily available. Most brands contain formaldehyde-free resins, so they provide decent insulation with minimal indoor air quality concerns.

Batt insulation R-values vary between 3.5 for typical mineral batt insulations to about 4 for high-density products.

Before petrochemicals, our buildings were made primarily from local, natural materials, making the most of the resources at hand. We had a circular economy—using and reusing high-value goods until they fell apart completely and became valuable fertilizer for future high-value goods—by necessity. The embodied carbon of these natural materials... Read more

There are few commercial-grade drop-in alternatives to luxury vinyl tile (LVT)—a state of affairs that flooring manufacturer Shaw Industries is hoping to change. Shaw has introduced a new PVC-free, polyolefin-based flooring collection called EcoWorx Resilient. The company claims the collection, whose name leverages the well-known brand of its... Read more

Ever since the invention of plastics, the global economy has become more and more linear, meaning that building products, and even whole buildings, follow a one-way trajectory: resource extraction, then use, then disposal.

This model boosts short-term profits, but it relies on fast and cheap manufacturing to do so, which can directly... Read more

The stakes are high, the mission clear: we must eliminate the carbon emissions associated with our buildings. Taking these three steps will get us most of the way there:

Building performance metrics used to be the exclusive purview of engineers and energy modelers. But as the need to decarbonize our built environment gets increasingly urgent, project teams must collaborate across disciplines to take the biggest step forward in that work—using less energy.

Here are a few of the energy metrics you’ll need... Read more

In my early adult years, noise-canceling headphones were a luxury I didn’t feel I could afford. Then the price came down, the quality went up, I had a bit more disposable income … and I splurged. I love how they help me feel more relaxed when I’m on an airplane or a subway—but that pleasure comes with a distinct awareness of my... Read more

Collecting data on indoor air quality (IAQ) is the first step toward ensuring it’s safe and healthy. The second step is to do something with it.

“So, You Have Some IAQ Monitors. Now What?” is a free white paper by the Air Quality Working Group, a subset of the BuildingGreen Peer Networks, that delves into how practitioners can interpret... Read more

Should housing be affordable? Or should it be sustainably designed, built, and operated?

When you put it like that, the question sounds absurd.

But the idea—usually unspoken—that sustainability wastes precious time and resources is painfully common in the affordable housing world. 

It’s time to bust that myth. In this... Read more

Experts agree: it is possible to build both sustainably and affordably.

But to do so, we must shift our business-as-usual approach by applying systems thinking and centering equity in sustainable design. After all, a building is only “green” if its entire supply chain is too. 

So what does this... Read more