Environmental Impact & Sustainability

ERA Executive Director Jared Blum has written an article published by Roofing magazine that discusses the importance of resiliency – the ability to prepare for and adapt to changing conditions and to withstand and recover rapidly from deliberate attacks, accidents,… Read More

While there are numerous areas in which the LEED program has contributed to the USGBC’s stated purpose, the LEED point for installing a reflective roof to address urban heat islands should be changed. The author suggests limiting the LEED point… Read More

“Roofs are based on a variety of factors,” said Ellen Thorp, associate executive director of the ERA. “To dictate one of those variables without an intimate understanding of that building’s location, usage or number of occupants is short-sighted. All of… Read More

“While ending the LEED-certification mandate won’t make a huge dent in the state budget holes, it seems wasteful to pour millions into LEED when we should be focused on improving classroom instruction and our ability to compete in the international… Read More

“Roofs are based on a variety of factors,” said Ellen Thorp, associate executive director of the ERA. “To dictate one of those variables without an intimate understanding of that building’s location, usage or number of occupants is short-sighted. All of… Read More

A new supplement to Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) offers a faster way to compare environmental impact information. Read full article.

“It’s not so unusual. Right after the first couple sunny spring days you get a call. The owner complains his roof is leaking but it hasn’t rained for a week. You investigate. It is not a roof leak. It is… Read More

“Based on a recent life-cycle analysis (LCA), CertainTeed Vinyl Siding, CedarBoards Insulated Siding and Cedar Impressions Polymer siding outperformed other exterior siding products in terms of environmental and economic performance.”

The U.S. Green Building Council’s (USG-BC’s) pilot credit system allows LEED users to test drive credits for extra points before those credits are incorporated into the actual rating systems. As USGBC puts it, the pilot credits are “a testing ground… Read More

Thanks to a growing number of factors–the growing emphasis on environmentally responsible building practices, the employment of increasingly sophisticated criteria for financing of construction projects, and more government regulations of public construction–the concept of life cycle assessment (LCA) has grown… Read More