What used to be called the "bricks and mortar," or the material building blocks, of our homes are the ingredients we use to assemble a structure which we intend (or should) to be sound, healthy and durable. But what, precisely, do we mean by those descriptors?

[Editor's note: Robert Riversong, a Vermont builder, continues his 10-part series of articles taking design and construction to what he sees as radical or "root" concerns. Enjoy--and please share your thoughts. – Tristan Roberts]

3. Materials – the Macrobiotics of building: natural, healthy and durable

What used to be called the "bricks and mortar," or the material building blocks, of our homes are the ingredients we use to assemble a structure which we intend (or should) to be sound, healthy and durable. But what, precisely, do we mean by those descriptors?

Spray-polyurethane foam (SPF) insulation, growing in popularity, is under scrutiny from EPA. What's a homeowner or builder to do?

A friend of mine used to be a long-haul truck driver. At one point he even became a trainer working with new drivers.

Over dinner recently, I asked what was one key lesson that he would want to impart to any new driver. While he was thinking about it, his wife lit up and offered this advice (which I'm sure is not from the company manual): make sure your seatbelt is removed before you begin a hot swap.

In trucking, a hot swap occurs in a truck being driven by a team of two drivers when they are in a real hurry to make a delivery. When one is ready to take a break and turn the wheel over, rather than taking the time to stop, they may decide to trade places while the vehicle is moving down the highway.

Crowd-sourced commentary enriches proposed rules for eating building well.

I'm not sure if it was the topic or the all-star panel that drew a crowd to a session entitled "Beyond the Red List" at the recent Living Future conference in Vancouver. Along with other great panelists, Tom Lent of the Healthy Building Network teamed up with Robin Guenther from Perkins+Will to share a strong call to action on toxicity in building materials.

Thomas Friedman argues that sustainable design is patriotic. Will non-choir members be convinced?

Posted the next day.

As Bourbon Street throbs beneath my hotel room window, it is a little hard to focus on anything else--and in my exhausted state it's all starting to get mixed up with Thomas Friedman's talk this morning.

Tropical, sultry, struggling New Orleans at first feels so different from most of the U.S. This is definitely not Norman Rockwell's America. But Rockwell's America was a myth even as he painted it, and right now I can't think of a better metaphor for the unsustainable American lifestyle than Bourbon Street. All these tourists, senses numbed by the cocktails and clamor (or in my case by squeezing in way too many AIA sessions in a row), wander around obliviously while the Mississippi River swells to a 75-year high not half a mile away.

With an intense focus on regional design and other green building issues, AIA 2011 looks to the future.

I've just arrived in the press room at the AIA National Convention in New Orleans, and am really looking forward to learning a lot, finding some exciting new products to share with you, and perhaps even meeting some of you in person. If you couldn't make it this year--or if you're here and we're at different sessions-- watch this space for updates for the next few days.

Thomas Friedman keynote

I'm really excited about Thomas Friedman's talk, "Mega-regions: The World of the Future," which starts in about half an hour. I have not always agreed with this New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner, but he is a really smart and engaging writer even when I disagree with him--and I certainly can't argue with this:

By HB Lozito

Ideas worth spreading have a way of crossing disciplines. At a recent TED event, HB Lozito found links to green building that may surprise you.

Like many other people, I have been lusting after attending a TED talk for the last several years. I tend to eat them up while on my lunch break. Or better still, if I can relate them directly to my work (which I often can) I even occasionally watch while actually at my desk. I am a person obsessed.

Originally posited as a conference on Technology Entertainment and Design, TED and independently produced TEDx events, have vastly expanded in scope and style. Popular talks include one by Eythor Bender where he demos human exoskeletons and another titled "Are Mushrooms the New Plastic?" by Eben Bayer.

Attending Decon '11

Reusing building materials is an increasingly pressing topic as the global recession continues and people begin to notice greenhouse gas emissions caused by the production of new building materials (see “A 2030 Challenge for Building Product Manufacturers,” EBN March 2011). Next week, I will attend the Building Materials Reuse Association’s annual DECON Conference—a national conference on deconstruction, reuse, and recycling. The 2011 conference will kick off in New Haven, Connecticut on Monday May 16th.

Enerconcepts' Lubi transpired solar air heating system uses perforated polycarbonate glazing to transfer solar energy into the space between a building exterior wall and the panel where it can be used to preheat ventilation air.

Conserval's SolarWall was the pioneer in the transpired solar collector market, but innovations abound. How do the newer systems measure up?

Besides Conserval's SolarWall (the first transpired solar heating system on the market) and ATAS's InSpire system, there are two Canadian companies now offering transpired solar air heating systems in the U.S.: Matrix Energy's MatrixAir TR and Enerconcept Technologies' Lubi system.
(NB: These links are available to GreenSpec subscribers.)

We continue our primer on building responsibly in the post-carbon era: How do we design to honor and support nature's patterns, rather than co-opting them?

[Editor's note: Robert Riversong, a Vermont builder, continues his 10-part series of articles taking design and construction to what he sees as radical or "root" concerns. Enjoy--and please share your thoughts. – Tristan Roberts]

Biomass supporters cite it as a "green" fuel like wind and solar. Using it to generate electricity, though, leaves a lot to be desired in terms of public health and efficiency.

"On a scale from 1 to 10, how nice are you?"

My nine-year-old neighbor put that question to me recently. He had been asked the question as part of an anti-bullying curriculum at his school, and he was trying it out on other people. I wasn't sure how to answer it, and neither was he--"niceness" just doesn't fit on a 10-point scale, in my mind. It did get us to talk a bit about what is nice and what isn't, though, and he noted that there was less "meanness" at his school following use of the curriculum.