Sustainability & Resilience: Page 29


  • Study: Building with wood is good for the environment

    That's the conclusion of scientists at Yale and the University of Washington, which is based on reducing carbon dioxide emissions by manufacturing less steel and concrete.

    By Ron Gallagher • April 1, 2014
  • Dutch architects experiment with 3-D printed house

    In Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the firm has its own printer to generate plastic segments that connect on the site next to a canal.

    By Ron Gallagher • March 30, 2014
  • Concrete at Marines air station has to handle high temperatures

    As part of an $85 million project at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Granite Construction needed to place specially mixed concrete.

    By Ron Gallagher • March 30, 2014
  • Why insurers love 'green' buildings more

    The sustainable-building industry has an unexpected advocate in insurers.

    By Ron Gallagher • March 24, 2014
  • Green contractors face risks others do not

    Fewer experienced subcontractors, fewer materials suppliers and more legal ambiguities make the market different from conventional contracting.

    By Ron Gallagher • March 20, 2014
  • Life-cycle assessment for building materials made easier with new app

    An architectural firm teamed with a data firm and a software maker to come up with Tally, an app that runs on the Revit design software.

    By Ron Gallagher • March 10, 2014
  • Dutch students' house 'skin' uses solar to alter temperature control

    Students at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands will cover a model house at the Solar Decathlon Europe with a skin that can vary its insulating and ventilating profile.

    By Ron Gallagher • March 6, 2014
  • Energy-efficiency law finds construction-industry defenders to fight repeal effort

    The American Institute of Architects is at the head of a coalition that says there is no way Congress should repeal energy-efficiency goals for federal buildings.

    By Ron Gallagher • March 6, 2014
  • Green Building Standard update process for 2015 is underway

    The triennial update being handled by Home Innovation Research Labs starts with a call for a range of interested groups and agencies to work on a consensus panel.

    By Ron Gallagher • March 5, 2014
  • Target to architect: Build store on former prison dump

    MBH Architects was given an unusual site when Target brought the firm on board for a new store in California – the former dump for San Quentin Prison and all it held.

    By Ron Gallagher • Feb. 27, 2014
  • New scoring process aims to cut time for certifying green federal buildings

    The Green Building Initiative devised the program to parallel its initiative for existing buildings.

    By Ron Gallagher • Feb. 24, 2014
  • Net-zero energy construction showcased in San Diego research center

    The J. Craig Venter Institute comprises a 28,600-square-foot office wing and a lab wing with 12,605 square feet.

    By Ron Gallagher • Feb. 24, 2014
  • Ohio bill looks to ban use of LEED rating system

    Special interest groups hope to halt the use of the green-building rating system in state projects. 

    By Kelsey Lindsey • Feb. 24, 2014
  • Sri Lankan tower eyeing record with top-to-bottom green

    An apartment building to be completed in 2016 aims to be the world's tallest vertical garden.

    By Ron Gallagher • Feb. 19, 2014
  • 92% of green homeowners say they would do it again

    The National Association of Home Builders commissioned a study to see how people who want green homes think about the proposition after they've paid their money and moved in.

    By Ron Gallagher • Feb. 13, 2014
  • Military can now go for gold – and platinum – in LEED projects

    The spending authorization law that Congress passed for the rest of this fiscal year dropped all bans on the Department of Defense building anything above LEED silver.

    By Ron Gallagher • Feb. 6, 2014
  • Use of warm-mix asphalt, recycled material rising among U.S. pavers

    In a survey contracted by the federal government, the National Asphalt Pavement Association found that about 24% of asphalt laid in 2012 was warm mix.

    By Ron Gallagher • Feb. 2, 2014
  • Image attribution tooltip
    Fotolia
    Image attribution tooltip

    Study examines what wind does to roofs

    The research being done in Canada tests how roofs with solar panels, vegetation and other add-ons do at keeping out water when wind roars across them.

    By Ron Gallagher • Jan. 23, 2014
  • SOM advances research on wood-frame high-rises

    One architect at the company's Chicago office is driving a deeper understanding of mass-timber structures, which it has shown could be used for a 42-story residential tower.

    By Ron Gallagher • Jan. 22, 2014
  • DOT issues new rule to speed up highway, transit reviews

    The federal agency says that projects being built in existing rights of way and ones with less than $5 million in federal funding can get faster environmental reviews.

    By Ron Gallagher • Jan. 20, 2014
  • Will natural materials make 'grow your own' an industry phrase?

    Scientists are finding ways to grow building materials using little or no energy, creating no landfill waste later on.

    By Ron Gallagher • Jan. 16, 2014
  • U.S. has 32 net-zero-energy commercial buildings

    The report is an update from the New Building Initiative, which advocates for buildings that are as energy efficient as possible.

    By Ron Gallagher • Jan. 15, 2014
  • Scientists working to develop power plant for homes

    The goal is a small efficient unit that gets very pure hydrogen from natural gas and uses it to supply heat and electricity from the same source.

    By Ron Gallagher • Jan. 10, 2014
  • Designers: Building resiliency is top priority for 2014

    Perkins + Wills architects asked what its building designers think will be most important in 2014. Making buildings that can survive is No. 1.

    By Ron Gallagher • Jan. 10, 2014
  • Yudelson to lead Green Building Initiative

    The nonprofit's new president is a LEED Fellow who will be trying to grow use of GBI's Green Globes building assessment and rating system.

    By Ron Gallagher • Jan. 6, 2014