Enter the greenwash-free zone with the webinar that answers your questions on what green labels really mean and which ones to trust.

Wed., May 18 | 3 p.m. ET Register now

What the heck do all these labels mean?

"Green" labels are everywhere today, from your breakfast coffee to every other building product. While there are benefits, if you don't speak the language of labels, certifications, and standards, it's easy to choose a product that appears to be sustainable, but isn't really.

Certifications and standards explained

BuildingGreen.com invites you to a certifications extravaganza: a one-hour live webcast packed with key understandings to sort out the green from the greenwash. We'll cover:

Lots of big news from the 2011 Living Future event in Vancouver, including the winners of the Living City competition.

The 2011 Living Future "unconference" in Vancouver is a hopping, high-energy event. As usual, CEO, host, and MC Jason McLennan has set a high bar with his passion and willingness to push boundaries. Except Jason, all the keynote speakers this year are women, making it a little anticlimactic that the theme of next year's conference is the role of women in green building.

Here's some of the exciting news coming out of the Living Future conference.

More than 10,000 Silva Cells were installed in downtown Minneapolis to support tree growth and help manage stormwater runoff.

It's spring and time to get outside! GreenSpec looks at landscaping products that use recycled content, save water, reduce stormwater runoff, and even look good.

After a long, cold winter in Vermont (and yes, it even snowed last week), the temperature rose to an unbelievable 79°F here this afternoon. It's high time to start thinking about landscaping and site improvement products. Whether you're looking for pavers, irrigation, or even grass seed, GreenSpec has a number of resource-efficient products for both commercial and residential uses .

A primer on building responsibly in the post-carbon era: How do we design and build a wholly new paradigm which enhances, rather than depletes, the web of life?

[Editor's note: We have invited Robert Riversong, a Vermont builder (see full bio below), to write a 10-part series of articles taking design and construction to what he sees as radical or "root" concerns--from philosophy to principles of hygro-thermal engineering (full list of articles below). Enjoy--and please share your thoughts. – Tristan Roberts]

The preservationist wisdom is that a lot of energy--gallons and gallons of gasoline--is locked up in our historic buildings, and should be saved. It's time to update that wisdom.

A surreal magazine ad just got even more surreal for me.

After learning of the fire at the historic 1871 Brooks House here in Brattleboro, Vermont last week, I quickly got to wondering, will the owner be put in the painful position of choosing to salvage a beloved historic property, or to build new? Similar choices are faced with sad frequency in historic downtowns across America.

Most ceiling fans come without lights, but energy-efficient light kits can usually be added.

There are thousands of residential ceiling fans out there. GreenSpec picks three lines that outperform others on performance and efficiency.

Have you ever tried to find an energy-efficient residential ceiling fan? There are thousands of models available, using blades in an assortment of numbers, shapes, and sizes. How does anyone sort through all those choices?
Here at GreenSpec, we've done some digging for you and have found the most efficient ceiling fans on the market. Out of those thousands of models we've found three lines from three different manufacturers, each of which offers fans with special ECM motors that significantly outperform any standard fan.

It's easy to get confused about the difference between energy and power, between watts and watt-hours.  But if you can master inches and pounds, you can master this.

How many mystery writers does it take to change a 60-watt lightbulb?

Two--one to screw the bulb almost all the way in, and one to provide a surprising twist at the end.

How many Energy Solutions columnists does it take to change a 60-watt lightbulb?

One--all he does is tell you what a watt is and he doesn't even change the lightbulb.

If you are still with me, dear reader, you have chosen the columnist over the mystery writer. You are brave. (Or if you are just into lightbulb jokes, see my green building lightbulb jokes here.)

Chances are, you may be worried about higher energy prices, global warming, energy insecurity, or all of the above and more. You may want to become more aware of your energy use, and become more efficient. A few weeks ago I wrote about radiation terminology; today I'm going to focus on energy terminology. Knowing is half the battle.

Fire guts half a block of a small New England town, revealing the built-in vulnerabilities of dense development.

Then: This historic print shows Brattleboro's Brooks House in all its glory. The building was originally an upscale hotel serving tourists who came from Boston and New York for the fresh air.

Brattleboro, Vermont is still in shock over the sudden and complete loss of one of its Main Street buildings early yesterday morning, apparently because of an electrical fire. Brooks House, a former hotel with a distinctive mansard roof, was built in 1871 on the ashes of an even older building also destroyed by fire. It was listed on the National Historic Register, but its historic status means nothing compared with its significance to our town. This is like a cigarette burn on the bodice of a silk gown.

Owens Corning's EnergyComplete latex foam sealant is applied with a paint sprayer, goes on quickly, and remains flexible after curing.

Build tight, ventilate right is the building science mantra. Spray-on latex sealants provide a new tool for airtight construction.

Last month I watched a demonstration of Owens Corning's "EnergyComplete Air Infiltration Barrier and Flexible Seal Technology" on the expo floor at the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) BuildingEnergy11 conference. I was intrigued, so I contacted the company for a bit more information.

According to Matt Girand, Director of Products and Programs at Owens Corning, "We looked at our core product, fiberglass insulation, and recognized the conversation was shifting away from just R-value to total home performance," Girand said. "We wanted to address both air infiltration and thermal performance."

Can you make your life more resilient in case of disaster? Yes, and it may be greener, too.

Sometimes being a practical person isn’t that fun. Last night my wife and I were watching the classic 1977 movie, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”

Leading up to the climactic scene, the protagonists are racing to the location where they expect aliens to appear, while outrunning the U.S. Army and the United Nations. To do this, they must escape the authorities and their cattle cars, drive a station wagon off-road through Wyoming, and spend several hours scrambling up the dry, rocky landscape around Devil’s Tower.

Setting aside whether they or their station wagon are capable of these feats, I kept thinking, why the heck didn’t they bring some water along? Forget the aliens—I’d be trying to slake my thirst after a couple hours of this! Instead of the closing credits, I’d like to see the scene after our hero boards the flying saucer, as he figures out how to intone to the alien, “Do you have some H2O?” Hopefully that’s on the in-flight service menu.