Over the past few years we’ve been hit by a wave of new eco-friendly product labels, designed to help consumers pick out the most sustainable brands. But in the long list of certifications, one of them stands out as the most comprehensive: Cradle to Cradle.

We can pretty much all recognize that particular odor, the ‘new carpet’ smell. Whether in a new office building or a renovated room in the house, it’s usually advisable to immediately ventilate the space so that head-ache inducing smell can dissipate. So what is causing that, anyway?

Parades, picnics, fireworks, add family and friends—seems like a perfect 4th of July. As I watched and experienced all the events yesterday, I wondered what we could have done differently.

So you thought it was that swarm of cars on the freeway or that refinery’s smokestack belching black fog that was the major contributor to CO2 emissions. Well it turns out that it isn’t cars or even industry that is the biggest contributor to this CO2 mess … it’s buildings.

More and more people are certainly finding a way.  Consider the experience of the Porters of Massachusetts. Through creativity and good old fashion hard work the Porters were able to fulfill a dream and a commitment to the environment by building their green home.  They acknowledge that they spent a fair amount of time [...]

I imagine that if you are reading this blog you are already well aware that reducing CO2 emissions requires much more than just a few less miles in your SUV.  In fact, restructuring our transportation economy, which accounts for only 27% of US energy consumption, is only a quarter of the solution. The real culprit [...]

In 2000, Battery Park City expanded its building guidelines to require all buildings to meet LEED certification requirements. A risky move at the time, it has since proven to be a boon to the neighborhood. With 8 residential buildings and one commercial building now LEED certified, some of the biggest developers moved into the area, and [...]

The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) has developed a set of guidelines, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), in an effort to provide a national standard for green building design. The pilot version of these guidelines was introduced in 2000 and has continually been expanded and revised. The current version for LEED New [...]