French firm proposes sand and bacteria as building material in the Sahara

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced the winners of the first phase of the Building Envelope Innovation Prize. The prize targets high-performance, cost-effective secondary glazing systems to improve efficiency of commercial windows.

This blog post by Walter P Moore's Mallory Buckley, RRO, PE, BECxP + CxA+BE, and Bob Hancock, MBA, JD, of Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr PC, explains the importance of documentation, correspondence between parties, and supporting the claims for a Plaintiff-party, while facilitating continuous use of the facility, on construction litigation projects.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a plan for implementing a new label program to boost American production of more climate-friendly construction materials and products. The label program will prioritize steel, glass, asphalt and concrete. 

The standards for energy-efficient construction and design have been raised. Due to the development of advanced low-e coatings for the interior surface and vacuum insulating technologies, architects now have more choices to improve U-values wherever enhanced thermal performance is needed to create eco-friendly spaces. These options can double or even triple thermal performance, resulting in annual energy savings and a positive return on carbon.