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Efforts to make life-cycle assessment (LCA) an integral part of sustainable design practices are beginning to bear fruit. Since late 2004, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has been working to incorporate the methodology into its widely used building-rating system, LEED, and has committed to producing a detailed plan for integration by November 2007. The two-year-old not-for-profit organization, Green Building Initiative (GBI), has already created a climate change calculator primarily intended for use with its own rating system, Green Globes. But the organization also plans to release a stand-alone version of the software, without charge, to other green-building organizations, trade

The supersizing of printer technology could significantly extend the limits of concrete. By adapting technologies similar to those used in ink-jet and 3D printers and rapid prototyping machines for large-scale use, researchers in the U.S. and the U.K. are developing automated systems capable of rapidly constructing houses and other structures. Photography courtesy of Loughborough University (top and above left). Renderings: University of Southern California (above right and below) Plans by USC researchers include a simple gantry (below) for constructing a house, as well as a combination scaffold/ gantry for high-rises (above right). Loughborough University’s gantry (above left) could eventually produce

With cities worldwide facing daunting environmental challenges on a global scale, a multidisciplinary team at Arup seeks to create a model for how cities can develop carbon neutrally Once upon a time, when the world’s population was a fraction of the 6.5 billion it is today, environmental issues were thought of as local problems. Writers, politicians, scientists, and activists have recorded the polluted, disease-producing conditions of urban centers for centuries. Benjamin Franklin petitioned the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1739 to stop dumping waste and remove tanneries from Philadelphia’s commercial district, citing foul odors, lower property values, and disease. And yet, even

With cities worldwide facing daunting environmental challenges on a global scale, a multidisciplinary team at Arup seeks to create a model for how cities can develop carbon neutrally Dongtan’s ecological footprint The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) describes the global environmental imbalance succinctly: “Sustainability requires living within the regenerative capacity of the planet. Currently, human demand on the planet is exceeding the planet’s regenerative capacity by about 20 percent. This is called ‘overshoot.’ ” Dongtan is expected to eventually be home to more than 500,000 residents, which is a drop in the bucket for a country of 1.3 billion people. But

Last month’s declaration by a United Nations panel that global warming is “unequivocal,” and that fossil fuel use is “very likely” to blame, should intensify discussion of the already hot topic. Of course, many “green” architects and their consultants were already focused on the issue, not only in relationship to the buildings they design, but also in regard to their own business practices. Image © Atelier Ten For its New York City operations, Atelier Ten, an environmental design firm, recently completed an inventory of office activities associated with carbon emissions that spanned a 12-month period. Last month’s declaration by a

The holy grail of integrated design still lies just out of reach. The idea of an all-in-one software package that would optimize such seemingly disparate elements as a building’s structure, energy performance, and form has yet to advance beyond the conceptual phase. The four directors of the group SmartGeometry (www.smartgeometry.org), a nonprofit educational charity interested in digital modeling, would like to change that. Started four years ago in London by a group of friends—Robert Aish, Lars Hesselgren, Hugh Whitehead, and J. Parrish—SmartGeometry organized a conference and workshop this January in New York City (the day-long conference, which followed a five-day

As sustainable design concepts increasingly infiltrate the lucrative residential design and construction market, homeowners looking for reliable information on local architects and contractors with knowledge of the field can encounter a frustrating process. That situation is the impetus behind the new Web site, www.greenbuildingblocks.com, which had a soft launch at GreenBuild 2006, held in Denver in November. Now in beta form, the website hosts a growing number of professionals on pages that provide firm information and project portfolios. The site also functions as a network for local designers and contractors to connect. Need a sustainably minded mechanical contractor in Stillwell,

Image courtesy Planon Systems Cliché or not, you’ve probably doodled the solution to a design problem on a cocktail napkin. And you’ve likely wanted to take the idea back to the office, but not necessarily the napkin. The Docupen RC800, a handheld scanner, will let you do just that the next time inspiration strikes in a bar or airplane. Because users roll the 2-ounce, 9-inch-long, cordless device over the documents they wish to scan, rather than feed individual sheets through a slot, architects may find the Docupen helpful in situations in which pass-through-type portable scanners would be impractical. For example,