The Integrative Process credits seek to answer the question, “How can we achieve an integrative result that augments performance, maintains cost, and in a simplified way that is replicable and measurable?” Throughout the process of answering these questions, the Integrative Process credits underwent significant improvements between the 2nd and 3rd Public Comment periods.
Buildings often use more than double the amount of energy and water that is predicted by statistical models. This discrepancy does not typically result from modeling software, but from a single variable that is difficult to quantify: occupant behavior. The way occupants live and work in their buildings is critical to the overall performance of a building and is something that is often overlooked.
We've been hearing for years that "they're going to ban the incandescent bulb"--is that for real?
You can't turn around these days without seeing a case study that mentions the use of natural daylight to help save energy and enhance the well-being and productivity of occupants--especially students and employees.
How do you build a green building? Let me count the ways.
We've got ASHRAE 189.1, a large and growing handful of LEED rating systems, the Living Building Challenge, Passive House, and many others...and now there's also the International Green Construction Code (IgCC) just published by the International Code Council.
Why so many? And how does IgCC fit in?
What do you do about a substance that is a biologically necessary trace nutrient, long considered nontoxic, and in a multitude of products--but that is also now listed on a major European Union chemical hazard list due to evidence that it is toxic for reproduction?
It's one of those riddles that I can imagine toxicologists love to play with but that drives everyone else crazy. Here's the story, and our approach to answering the riddle--for now.
It's 3 a.m., and the city street is finally quiet. In the shadows under a defunct streetlight, three twenty-somethings in black hoodies pull cans of paint from a backpack and set furtively to work.
