Air leakage is the movement of air into and out of a building that is not controlled through an exhaust system but rather through factors such as wind blowing through gaps in the building envelope. Air leakage is a concern for
Screen reader version: Recycling by the Numbers 13,000 feet of framing lumber the average newly constructed home requires – that’s enough lumber to line 2.5 miles of road if laid end-to-end. 85 million tons of material recycled in the U.S.
Fashionable people may turn up their noses at jute—the cheap fibre used to make burlap, gunny sacks, twine and other common products—but new research is enhancing jute’s appeal as an inexpensive, sustainable reinforcement for mortar and concrete. The study appears
Concrete, the world’s most abundant man-made substance, ranks second to coal as the world’s dirtiest industrial material. Now, a company in Halifax, Canada, is working to make concrete plants carbon neutral, using captured CO2 to improve their product. By injecting CO2into
“Some of the most pressing occupational health hazard risks in construction” are associated with masonry operations, asphalt roofing, and welding, wrote Deborah Young-Corbett in an article recently accepted by the Journal of Civil Engineering and Management. To reduce these health
Researchers at the University of Jaen (Spain) have mixed waste from the paper industry with ceramic material used in the construction industry. The result is a brick that has low thermal conductivity and acts as a good insulator, though its
Process can help to ensure that consumer products are free of harmful endocrine disruptors PITTSBURGH—A group of scientists from North America and Europe, including Carnegie Mellon University’s Terry Collins, has developed a five-tiered testing system that manufacturers can use to
In this age of energy-efficiency another method of building the top of a building is taking root: green roofs. On such “upland” terrain one can grow foods from strawberries to cornstalks, enjoy the view, even have fountains and topiary—whatever one’s
Once you’ve analyzed the weather and the landscape around a building, your next line of defense towards making its indoor spaces economically comfortable every hour of the year is insulating its lowest floor, outer walls, and roof: what is known
Globally, about one-quarter of greenhouse gas emissions are building related. And that figure is even higher in developed nations. With this massive opportunity to cut GHGs, the non-profit Architecture 2030 has created the 2030 Challenge, an initiative that asks the
