Although homeowners might be intrigued by high-tech devices, they’re ultimately looking for daylighting solutions that bring more comfort to their home, said a major daylighting product manufacturer. At Greenbuild 2014, Sara Havard, chief operations officer of Wasco Skylight Products headquartered in Wells, Maine, told ProudGreenHome.com about some of the latest developments in daylighting products. Wasco […]

Seattle’s Living Building Challenge “is a green building certification program that defines the most advanced measure of sustainability for buildings and landscapes possible today,” according to the city’s Department of Planning and Development. Its Deep Green Pilot Program allows deviation from the standard building codes in order to build more sustainably. Is this an approach […]

Though incomprehensible to many people, and criticized as unhealthy by some, micro-apartments provide another tool to combat growing apartment unaffordability in the world’s most expensive cities. With creative design and proper standards, small spaces can be livable, healthy, and more affordable. New York City has started to address affordability with its own design competition, adAPT […]

Designing a house that balances the competing interests of performance and cost was the focus of a December 2 conference at the Augusta, Maine, Civic Center. "The Pretty Good House: Balancing Energy Efficiency, Indoor Air Quality and Cost" was hosted by the Maine Indoor Air Quality Council and the Maine Association of Building Efficiency Professionals. […]

Current projects highlight that sustainability can be successfully embedded in large scale infrastructure projects from project inception, and develop new green standards for train stations. Executive director of Green Star, Jorge Chapa, said that a groundbreaking custom rating tool to guide the sustainable design and construction of railway stations was created through collaboration. “We already […]

According to the US Green Building Council (USGBC), green building involves “the planning, design, construction, and operations of buildings with several central, foremost considerations: energy use, water use, indoor environmental quality, material section and the building’s effects on its site.” Despite those advances in green building, not everyone is a supporter of bureaucratic, point-based systems. […]

Australia is already ahead of the curve when it comes to wooden high-rise buildings. The nine-story Forte development in Melbourne’s Docklands district is Australia’s first high-rise apartment made from timber, as well as the tallest timber building in the world. Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA) is developing a proposal for the use of wood […]

The United States Department of Architecture (USDA) has formally launched a “Tall Building Competition,” in support of sustainable forestry, and to demonstrate the viability of building with wood. “Wood may be one of the oldest building materials, but is now also one of the most advanced,” stated Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Despite the positive projects […]

Irrespective of the impacts of climate change, it is anticipated that our cities will get hotter by around one degree per decade. Why? Because our cities often seem like concrete jungles that trap summer heat, and create oven-like conditions that are up to five degrees hotter than the surrounding rural areas. We’ve created this phenomenon, […]

Engineered wood products such as cross-laminated timber have been getting a lot of attention lately. Architect Ronald Gundersen takes a different approach to building with wood. Rather than chipping trees and re-forming the pieces with adhesive, Gundersen’s company, Whole Trees Architecture and Structures, has developed methods for using whole peeled logs for columns and trusses. […]