In the Spotlight:

Updated 4/27/2012

How to Select Windows:
Understanding 7 key decision drivers

The latest GreenSpec report includes:

  • Anatomy of a high-performance window
  • How to use NFRC ratings
  • The framework you need to make informed choices on windows
  • Smart strategies that save money

See the complete table of contents

For Educators: Free Green Building Course Syllabus

Sign up for a free campus-wide trial of BuildingGreen Suite and get a sustainable-design syllabus outline.

Conference: May 2-4, Portland, OR

Living Future: Women Reshaping the World, featuring BuildingGreen's Nadav Malin and Healthy Building Network's Tom Lent on "Markets are relationships: Leveraging Your Own Power to Transform the Materials Economy."

BuildingGreen's Jennifer Atlee moderating "Living Economies for a Living Future: The Economy as a Design Problem we can Solve."

New GreenSpec Insights

Customers rate window manufacturers

REC Solar Cells, Modules and Systems —


REC Solar offers solar cells and modules, as well as system-level services. Manufactured in Singapore, REC's muliticrystalline cells have an average efficiency of 16.8%. REC's Peak Energy Module comes…

Waste Wise Recycling Containers —


Waste Wise Products' Cambridge, Cornell, and Princeton receptacle lines are made of 98% post-consumer recycled HDPE. They are available in many configurations to accommodate up to five waste streams,…

WorldGreen Graphics & Signs —


Worldwide Graphics' WorldGreen signage line is printed with low-VOC UV-cured ink on a variety of biodegradable substrate options. Foamcore is a bioresin foam center with 15% recycled content, faced…

Jeld-Wen Wood and Vinyl Windows —


Jeld-Wen offers wood and vinyl windows that meet GreenSpec standards for thermal performance. Jeld-Wen wood windows achieve U-factors ranging from 0.19–0.50 and are available in pine, knotty alder,…

Linwood Custom Wood Windows —


Linwood Windows offers custom-made, European-style tilt-turn windows with Douglas fir frames. The windows are available with double-, triple-, or quadruple-glazing. According to the company, the…

 > More green products from GreenSpec

Easy Access to LEED Online Forms

LEEDuser has added another essential tool you've been asking for: sample LEED Online forms. Through a special arrangement with USGBC, LEEDuser has integrated these sample forms into the member toolkit we provide.
Read more

What does LEED certification cost, credit by credit? "The Cost of LEED" report breaks it down

Looking for LEED documentation? LEEDuser's Documentation Toolkits offer credit-by-credit samples and templates

LEEDuser Forum

MRc7 New wood %
in CI 2009 MRc7: Certified Wood
Monday, 11:26 PM

PI Form 1, MPR 6, Option 1
in LEED Minimum Program Requirements
Monday, 9:29 PM

Project Scorecard Status
in Do you have questions for GBCI?
Monday, 9:19 PM

RE: Webinar Available On-Demand?
in Webcast: Top-20 LEED-EBOM Documentation Mistakes—And How to Avoid Them
Monday, 8:55 PM

RE: IEQp1 - Occupant diversity
in NC-2009 IEQp1: Minimum IAQ Performance
Monday, 7:25 PM

RE: Tenant Guidelines Now Required for all NC projects
in Review Comments with Phantom Requirements
Monday, 5:34 PM

RE: Low-emitting Certification for Walkoff Mats?
in CI 2009 IEQc5: Indoor Chemical and Pollutant Source Control
Monday, 4:52 PM

Defining number of parking spaces
in NC 2009 SSc4.3: Alternative Transportation—Low-Emitting and Fuel-Efficient Vehicles
Monday, 4:48 PM

RE: Plant Confusion
in EBOM 2009 SSc2: Building Exterior and Hardscape Management Plan
Monday, 4:42 PM

RE: Tenant's Access to BMS Room
in CS 2009 EAc5.2: Measurement and Verification—Tenant Submetering
Monday, 4:08 PM

LEEDuser Webcast: Top-20 LEED-EBOM Documentation Mistakes--And How to Avoid Them

Free Webcast Top-20 LEED-EBOM Documentation Mistakes--And How to Avoid Them Wed. April 25 | 2 p.m. Eastern Time Getting LEED-EBOM certification is all about documentation: At a lot of documentation. It's a lot of work, and yet--there are so many pitfalls, unknowns, and blind alleys that it's common for LEED review comments to hang projects up with tons of issues. Such problems are a…

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Biobased Materials: Not Always Greener

Biobased Materials: Not Always Greener

It seems like biobased materials should be inherently preferable—but that doesn’t mean they always are. Even the most “natural” and “rapidly renewable” materials can carry big environmental impacts.

Read full article…

“Manufacturers tended to be very optimistic about energy production numbers in order to compete.”
— Larry Sherwood of SWCC on the wind turbine field prior to the availability of certification

From Certification Gets Small Wind Turbine Market Turning

Earth Day and My Career Path to Sustainable Energy

Silent Spring, published 50 years ago, helped to launch the modern environment movement and inspired my career direction. Click on image to enlarge. From early interest in conservation in the late-60s and being an Earth Day organizer in 1970, to my work with solar energy in New Mexico and then Vermont, I've followed a green career path. With Earth Day this past Sunday, I'm inspired to reflect…

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