Have you ever found yourself picking a sticker off a building product or material from the store, and wondering, why did they put the sticker here? I have often had this thought with everything from stovepipe to plumbing fittings, but the classic example in the building world is probably windows.

As more federal buildings target zero energy, leading designers tell us that day-to-day choices make all the difference

If you build it, they will plug. They will plug in drip coffee makers, halogen lamps, personal DVD players, aquariums, space heaters, and maybe even hair dryers.

A new clear floor coating for the commercial and industrial market is being touted as not containing isocyanates, potentially toxic chemicals used in uncured spray polyurethane foams (SPF), clear furniture and floor coatings, and adhesives such as those found in no-added-formaldehyde wood panel products. But it does contain epoxy, made from bisphenol-A. Can an epoxy-based polyurethane truly be "green" as its name attests?

Almost every technological "solution" has created a new set of problems which it was assumed would be solved by further advances in technology. How is green building different?

[Editor's note: Robert Riversong, a Vermont builder, continues his 10-part series of articles taking design and construction to what he sees as radical or "root" concerns. Enjoy--and please share your thoughts. – Tristan Roberts]

It has been a great spring so far for spotting wildlife. A neighbor told me he was shooing a black bear away from his garbage the other day when he saw that he had also frightened off a moose that was also in the neighborhood. Perhaps the moose and bear are rehearsing for a new wildlife buddy movie?

A tour of rebuilding in the Ninth Ward of NOLA, with green homes designed by some of the world's leading architects

The IGCC is designed to implement green building on a massive scale--not to replace LEED.

It's pretty exciting that local and state governments throughout the U.S.

How to tell green from greenwash? Our free recorded webinar is available below, and we're also using this space to answer questions from the live webcast. Enjoy!

We just finished our first webinar on Green Building Product Certifications, and I promised people on the call that I'd create a blog post to continue the discussion – so here it is. To get us started, I've answered a few of the questions that we didn't get to in the webinar Q&A.

What used to be called the "bricks and mortar," or the material building blocks, of our homes are the ingredients we use to assemble a structure which we intend (or should) to be sound, healthy and durable. But what, precisely, do we mean by those descriptors?

[Editor's note: Robert Riversong, a Vermont builder, continues his 10-part series of articles taking design and construction to what he sees as radical or "root" concerns. Enjoy--and please share your thoughts. – Tristan Roberts]

Originally published May 16, 2011. Updated by Paula Melton June 1, 2018.

A friend of mine used to be a long-haul truck driver. At one point he even became a trainer working with new drivers.

Over dinner recently, I asked what was one key lesson that he would want to impart to any new driver. While he was thinking about it, his wife lit up and offered this advice (which I'm sure is not from the company manual): make sure your seatbelt is removed before you begin a hot swap.