Journal of Green Building

Annie Pearce, Ph.D., and Michael Horman, Ph.D., general editors; College Publishing, Glen Allen, Virginia. Quarterly, $139/$389 individual/institutional annual subscription rates.

Should buildings be trouble-free from day one of occupancy, or should they have an initial settling-in period before they are expected to work at full efficiency? What changes need to occur to encourage growth of the deconstruction industry? What processes most need development in order to deliver green buildings at a reasonable cost? How do homebuilders balance financial success with reducing the ecological footprints of their buildings?

As the green building industry grows, questions like these are being asked more often. The

Journal of Green Building aims to help find answers by publishing research from universities, government entities, nonprofits, and green building consulting firms. The quarterly

Journal has addressed all of the questions above, and many more, in its first year of publication.

Each issue of the

Journal provides two sections roughly equal in size. For the “Industry Corner,” articles reviewed by the

Journal’s editors provide practice-oriented, in-depth information on individual topics, such as the LEED^® for Homes pilot program, indoor air quality, and building-integrated photovoltaics.

To appear in the

Journal’s “Research Articles” section, an article must receive positive reviews from two peers qualified to evaluate the work’s technical and professional quality. This section addresses diverse topics and has already attracted submissions from well-respected experts. Some of its more interesting articles so far include a piece on establishing feedback mechanisms to deliver actual building performance information back to designers, thus improving building performance, and presentation of research on rubberized concrete that could advance the acceptance of recycled tires in concrete mixes and on how strawbale construction methods affect the strength of bales.

The

Journal has given itself the job of reaching a diverse audience with its academic as well as practice-oriented content. Some of its best articles, such as the Winter 2006 piece on feedback mechanisms, effectively establish their context in terms of history of the field wider practice, and research, while other articles, like those on strawbale performance and rubberized concrete, would have better served readers had they taken the same approach. Similarly, some of the “Industry Corner” articles, such as an introduction to the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) written by two FSC staff members, focus too much on a single topic without providing readers a context for other highly relevant issues in the field, such as competing visions of forest certification in green building.

The

Journal’s distinction between peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed articles is somewhat murky, with original research and case studies appearing in both sections. It is unclear how the format benefits readers, as several of the non-peer-reviewed articles, although reviewed by the

Journal’s editors, would have benefited from additional review. But, while it may need some fine-tuning, the

Journal is a welcome and valuable addition to the field of green building publications.

– Tristan Roberts