Finding the Building Products You Need to Do WELL

The WELL Building Standard has stringent transparency and health criteria for products and materials. Here’s how to find what you’ll need for certification.
by Nadav Malin

As a standard that seeks to promote occupant health, WELL requires project teams to use clean and green products to get with the program.

The International WELL Building Institute organized the system by outcomes rather than inputs, so we have categories…er, sorry—concepts like Air, Comfort, and Mind instead of the LEED categories of Energy, Water, etc. That means that product-related requirements are sprinkled throughout the standard.

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Quiz: How Well Do You Know Insulation?

Test your knowledge of insulation, building assemblies, toxic chemicals, radiant barriers, and insulation alternatives.
by

Think you know everything there is to know about green, high-performance insulation products and practices? Let’s find out! The answer key—and articles to learn more—are at the bottom of the page.

1) BuildingGreen doesn’t recommend radiant barrier products. Why not?

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Three Options to Choose From

This credit had a major revision from v4 and now includes more paths and options to meet the intent, which is to reduce a project’s process water use. Option 1, which used to be the only path in v4, focuses on achieving an appropriate number of condenser water cycles in a cooling tower based on the concentration of various water quality parameters. In v4.1, two additional options are now included that enable design teams to pursue points by reducing the need for water-based heat rejection or by using recycled water for other end uses like humidification and boilers.

Our Real-World Flashing Tape Tests Find a Clear Winner

We took the best PSA tapes from our last round of testing and worked them over on rough OSB and window flanges. One tape worked no matter what.
by Peter Yost

Flashing tapes are critical to many if not most wall assemblies that are currently being built. Therefore the durability of these pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) tapes is critical to the durability of those assemblies. So it may come as a surprise that no one really knows how long they last.

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