Design News

Environmental Product Declarations

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Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) describe the impact of products on the environment and help consumers to make informed, green choices. A life cycle assessment (LCA) made by a verified third party determines the EPD and facilitates the comparison of the environmental impacts of goods and services.

Vertical Gardens

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Many buildings are literally going green. The addition of a vertical garden, whether interior or exterior, has many benefits.

The benefits of gardening are numerous, but gardening also requires land – something that many commercial and urban settings lack. However, vertical gardening is a fairly simple way to enjoy the aesthetics of plants within a limited space. Vertical gardens grow upward alongside building exteriors and interior walls, creating captivating scenery where it would otherwise be impossible.

Am I a "Green" Hypocrite?

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In this re-post from thegreencivilengineer.com, Bob Faulhaber confronts a tough question: “Am I a green hypocrite?” What answer do you get when you ask yourself this question?

Am I a green hypocrite? I might be... This is something that I struggle with quite regularly. I consider myself an environmentally responsible individual, and sustainability is a core tenet of the business that I founded. With just about every decision that I make, or at least the major ones, I try to consider the environmental consequences of that decision and action. However, I'd be lying if I said that I always made the environmental choice. Most of the time there is probably a good reason for that, but sometimes it’s really just a matter of preference. Does that make me a green hypocrite? I hope not, but I will leave that for someone else to decide. Here are some of my green and not-so-green decisions.

C.W. Driver Manages Multiple Priorities on Caltech Construction Projects

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Six simultaneous construction projects on the Caltech campus require a balancing act on the part of the construction team.

Managing a single construction or renovation project on a college campus can be difficult, due to the extra consideration given to possible disturbances of lectures and student activities. When construction takes place in multiple phases in various locations throughout campus, the situation naturally warrants additional preparation. Six simultaneous projects have been underway at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), a private research university located in Pasadena, California. Undertaking any major construction project at any learning institution necessitates taking such special considerations; the six projects at Caltech likewise needed to avoid disturbing campus life and to preserve the campus’s historic architecture.

Charge into the Future on the Electric Highway

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Electric vehicles provide a welcome alternative to gasoline-powered cars ... welcome, that is, as long as we are still able to fuel up as we travel. Take a look at current options available in the United States for charging while on the go.

When Eddy Grant came up with the lyrics to his 1982 hit “Electric Avenue” he likely wasn’t expecting people to actually be rocking down an electric highway just 30 years later. That's what people will be doing later this year on the West Coast Electric Highway (WCEH), a tri-state initiative that will form the longest electric vehicle (EV) charging network in the country, stretching along Interstate 5 from the Canadian to the Mexican border.

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