The American High-Performance Buildings Coalition (AHPBC) is touting the passage of language in a federal appropriations bill that it believes will exclude the LEED Rating System from federal government use. AHPBC was formed by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and other trade organizations to support green building standards developed through the ANSI or ISO consensus process (see The New Anti-LEED?).

Some suggest that we should base decisions about insulation levels on the cost of supplying the necessary heating or cooling with solar electricity

LEED version 4 has been approved by a vote of U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) members, with 86% of the voting body voting in the affirmative during a June 2013 ballot period. Approval of LEED v4 as the next version of the LEED Rating System clears the way for its launch during the Greenbuild conference in November.

We’ve come a long way from the early Tyvek housewrap; our experience with the German Pro Clima Solitex weather-resistive barrier

As an educational opportunity for our entire staff and a way to sort out our thoughts on how BuildingGreen (publisher of LEEDuser) should vote on LEED v4, Tristan Roberts and I staged an impromptu debate during our weekly staff meeting. We flipped a coin to decide which of us would argue pro or con, and went at it with opening statements, rebuttals, and questions from the floor.

If buildings lose power or heating fuel, how hot is too hot and how cold is too cold?

Photo Credit: David Goodman - from the Buildings Resiliency Task Force Report

The 18-kW photovoltaic array on our barn roof is nearing completion

The latest version of Green Globes for New Construction focuses on novel ways to measure energy performance, but details are hard to come by.

There seems to be a lot to like about the new Green Globes for New Construction, which was apparently launched earlier this week.

I say “seems to” and “apparently” because, despite repeated requests, I have not been allowed to view the rating system myself or to interview anyone involved in its creation.

Want to get a refund on your LEED certification fees? If your project is in Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, or Tuvalu, and you move quickly enough, you may be in luck. Today the U.S. Green Building Council announced an initiative called "LEED Earth," in which it will offer free LEED certification to the first projects to certify in the 112 countries that so far lack a LEED certified project. USGBC says that this is part of "an effort to accelerate sustainable development around the world," and that it "aims to bring LEED certification and thereby better-performing buildings into new markets."

This week’s Slow Living Summit celebrates local food, local economies, sustainability, and resilience.

With all the furor over the U.S. Green Building Council’s complete overhaul of LEED v4 for building design and construction (BD&C) rating systems, no one seems to have been paying a lot of attention to how the next version of LEED (if approved under the current member ballot) is set to affect LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED–ND).

Yet three-year-aged SRI values have been added, and the method for calculating BMPs has been tweaked. Where’s the outrage?!

If we include building-related portions of industrial and transportation sectors, buildings account for a lot more energy than most people claim

Poison pill pushed by illegal lobbyists, or exciting, bipartisan energy bill that could change everything? It could be up to you.

We’ve been keeping an eye on the sweeping Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act (PDF), introduced by Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D–NH) and Rob Portman (R–Ohio).

We’ve been keeping an eye on the sweeping Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act (PDF), introduced by Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D–NH) and Rob Portman (R–Ohio).

The common-sense bill, likely to come to the Senate floor any day now, enjoys broad support across the political spectrum. It would boost the national model energy code for both homes and commercial buildings, support commercial retrofits with financing help, and develop training programs for green building jobs.