Chris Dixon is a registered architect, Certified
Construction Specifier, and LEED AP. He serves on GBI’s Green Globes Technical
Committee and is a former USGBC Materials and Resources Technical Advisory
Group member.
We are bombarded with media stories and “public health” activist groups that claim we are living in a toxic soup, unavoidably exposed to unsafe chemicals found in products and materials that we regularly use and rely upon.
Wood products represent a high percentage of all construction waste, as much as two thirds by some estimates, cast-in-place concrete formwork accounting for the majority of this.
I’m all in favor of green bashing when justified and there is no shortage of things to bash when it comes to ridiculous “green” building claims. But unjustified, unsubstantiated green bashing is something I have little tolerance for.
By
now, most people have heard or read about the solar panel company Solyndra and
its spectacular descent into bankruptcy, taking with it a massive $535 million
federal guaranteed loan.
Building designers are faced with a dizzying array of options when shopping for materials and systems marketed as energy efficient. Many things must be taken into consideration when designing buildings to be energy efficient including surface reflectivity, glazing properties, lighting efficiency, plug loads and HVAC equipment.
LEED 2012 was released for a second round of public comment August 1. The comment period will be open until September 14, which will have come and gone by the time this goes to press.
