Northglenn, a Denver suburb, opens a net zero, all-electric city hall with a mass timber structure

Northglenn, Colo., a Denver suburb, has opened the new Northglenn City Hall—a net zero, fully electric building with a mass timber structure. The 32,600-sf, $33.7 million building houses 60 city staffers. Designed by Anderson Mason Dale Architects, Northglenn City Hall is set to become the first municipal building in Colorado, and one of the first in the country, to achieve the Core certification: a green building rating system overseen by the International Living Future Institute.

K-12 Schools

The importance of selecting healthy materials for K-12 projects

Clark Nexsen interior designers Anna Claire Beethoven and Brittney Just, CID, IIDA, LEED Green Associate, share why it is imperative to specify healthy building materials in K-12 schools.

Office Buildings

Fact sheet outlines benefits, challenges of thermal energy storage for commercial buildings

A U.S. Dept. of Energy document discusses the benefits and challenges of thermal energy storage for commercial buildings. The document explains how the various types of thermal energy storage technologies work, where their installation is most beneficial, and some practical considerations around installations.

Industrial Facilities

UK-based tire company plans to build the first carbon-neutral tire factory in the U.S.

ENSO, a U.K.-based company that makes tires for electric vehicles, has announced plans to build the first carbon-neutral tire factory in the U.S. The $500 million ENSO technology campus will be powered entirely by renewable energy. The first-of-its-kind tire factory aims to be carbon neutral without purchased offsets, using carbon-neutral raw materials and building materials.

Green | Apr 1, 2015

Global wind power installations expected to slow through 2019

After a 20% falloff in 2013, the global wind power industry made a strong comeback in 2014, with a record 51.2 gigawatts installed. But a new report from Navigant Research forecasts a curtailment in growth.

Codes and Standards | Mar 29, 2015

Elevator shafts a major source of heat loss in New York City

A typical New York apartment building loses thousands of dollars worth of energy every year from leaky elevator shafts that vent warm air at the top of the building and draw in cold air at the bottom, according to a new Urban Green Council report.

Green | Mar 29, 2015

Passive House Institute launches ‘cost-effective’ passive building standard

The group says the building energy performance target is in the “sweet spot” where cost effectiveness overlaps with aggressive energy and carbon reduction.

Walls and Partitions | Mar 25, 2015

Metl-Span systems meet design needs in cost effective manner

The goal from the beginning was to construct an energy efficient building with insulated metal panels.

Green | Mar 25, 2015

WELL Building Standard introduced in China

The WELL Building Standard is a performance-based system for measuring, certifying and monitoring features that impact human health and wellbeing, through air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort, and mind.

School in Hong Kong will feature bioclimatic façade

Higher Education | Mar 23, 2015

Hong Kong university building will feature bioclimatic façade

The project's twin-tower design opens the campus up to the neighboring public green space, while maximizing the use of summer winds for natural ventilation.

Green | Mar 22, 2015

6 myths holding back green building

Sustainable design has proven benefits, so why isn’t it more widely adopted?

Green | Mar 18, 2015

Vertical urban greenhouses will feed import-reliant Jackson Hole, Wyo.

A Jackson Hole, Wyo., start up aims to reduce the city’s susceptibility to food deficits by building vertical greenhouses.

Energy Efficiency | Mar 16, 2015

California cuts its carbon footprint with solar

Spanning four locations in Central Valley, the California Renewable Energy Small Tariff projects pack a lot of power and are prime examples of the real-life benefits of going solar.