Sample documentation for LEED version 4 is now available on LEEDuser from one of the first certified v4 projects. The browse by rating system and credit.

This content allows LEEDuser members to see how the highest-scoring v4 project to date obtained some of the most difficult credits. Curious about the story behind the spreadsheets, LEEDuser spoke to the project team about what they found different in v4 and lessons they would pass on to other project teams.

If like a lot of LEED professionals you're used to using shorthand like MRc4 to refer to the recycled content credit, and EAc1 for energy performance, LEED v4 throws a curveball into your jargon.

Maybe, if enough of us March, and plan, and make smart choices, we’ll have a chance at beating this thing. 

I’m not a frequent social activist. In fact, I haven’t been to a major rally since my college days. But when my teenage daughter gets excited about something I care about, I'm all in! And she was getting excited by the social media buzz about the People's Climate March. So, with some last minute scrambling, I headed down to NYC with family and friends to the big March.

One of my first research projects when I started at the NAHB Research Center in 1993 was looking into a new insulation: Icynene. We were evaluating its performance as a spray-applied, open-cavity insulation as well as an injection foam in closed cavities. I was enamored: this seemed to be a miracle insulation that installed itself, sealing up tight even in the toughest and most complicated building cavities.

Not really, of course. But after five-plus years I’m ending my weekly Energy Solutions blog to focus more on the Resilient Design Institute and re-making Leonard Farm back into a farm.

Transitions.

The divide between the worlds of design and sustainability is persistent, but returning to core values can bridge it.

For me, the creative tension between beauty and green performance came to a head in 2006, when I began working with the staff of Architectural Record on their new magazine: GreenSource. (GreenSource is no longer a separate magazine; it’s now an insert in the products magazine SNAP. And I’m no longer involved with it.)

State-of-the-art testing chambers show that liquid-applied barriers outperform more typical weather barriers comprised of flashing, tape, and membranes.

I’m just back from Portland, Oregon where I attended the annual Living Future Conference.

The Living Future Conference was created by the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) initially to provide a networking and learning venue for designers and builders involved in creating buildings that are being certified through the Living Building Challenge.

Among the energy-related features of our new house in Dummerston, Vermont, is one parked in the garage.

The sleek, energy-efficient Haiku fan from Big Ass Fans will help keep us comfortable in our new house this summer

As summer heats up here, I’m looking forward to trying out the high-tech ceiling fans we installed in our two upstairs bedrooms. First, let me explain why I like ceiling fans so much.

Whether or not you believe that climate change is happening, implementing resilient design strategies will make you and your family safer—and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions

What will it take for policy makers and the public finally get on board with the need to do something about climate change?

The United Nations’ IPCC is leading an international effort to understand climate change, and efforts like the Kyoto Protocol have grown out of that background work. But are we getting closer to solving the problem?

A recently approved U.S. patent for drying out building spaces defies common sense and could squeeze builders whose only “sin” is dehumidification.

I love reading Lew Harriman’s stuff; he is a good writer and building scientist. Take, for example, Preventing Mold by Keeping New Construction Dry.

Nearly all of our methods for generating electricity involve water consumption—some a lot, some not as much. Producing electricity with hydropower is the most water-intensive method, owing to evaporation from reservoirs.

In this weekly blog, I’ve focused a lot of attention on the energy-saving measures at our new home—from the innovative insulation materials we used to the air-source heat pump heating system and our top-efficiency heat-recovery ventilator. What I haven’t said much about are the measures we’ve taken to reduce water use and why these measures save energy as well.

The water-energy nexus