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The list of street categories is long -- interstates, rural highways, minor arterial roads, collector streets, and neighborhood streets -- and the need to keep them in good repair and of adequate capacity for a seemingly insatiable need is huge. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) assigned the United States’ Roads Infrastructure a grade of “D-” on their 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. Why? The report stresses safety (as measured by highway fatalities and injuries), congestion, and road condition. It also seems to be skewed toward the i–nterstate highway system and major urban areas. What about the endless miles of roads that provide a lower level of service?

According to Architecture 2030, the key to preventing the impending loss of our polar ice caps (as written in my recent blog post) is to reduce our use of coal, which is used to generate electricity. Mazria, the founder of Architecture 2030, recommends we reduce our use of coal first by using passive solar solutions, and then by supplementing those solutions with active eco-friendly technologies to get us to cut emissions that ultimately lead to the melting of Earth's polar ice caps.

The Knowlton School of Architecture (KSA) and The College of Engineering at The Ohio State University partnered to compete in the 2009 National Renewable Energy Lab's Solar Decathlon Competition that was held in October at the Oval in Washington D.C. The team of OSU architecture and engineering students, led by David Nedrow and Deanna Hinkle, who both were graduate students in the Masters of Architecture program at OSU, presented a compelling design that functions off-the-grid (the home generates its own electricity and does not depend on traditional public utility services) with both passive solar design and active solar technologies.

Installing solar panels is becoming more feasible as various financial incentives become available. Jeff Wilson breaks it down into hard numbers to give an idea of what’s really involved with "going solar."

When my family decided to streamline our energy use at home, we first tackled our efficiency problems with a Deep Energy Retrofit. This effort included air-sealing and insulating the building envelope and replacing all of the windows and doors. Once we had our house sealed up tight, we added an Energy Recovery Ventilator to keep indoor air fresh while keeping the energy we use to heat and cool that air inside the house, where it belongs. Only after we completely exhausted energy efficiency measures did we decide to have a 4-kW photovoltaic solar array installed.

Chevrolet wanted to link its name with baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie in its 1970s television ads for a reason. Sports teams – and by extension, their stadiums and other venues – loom large in the American consciousness.

For more than ten years now the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) has been transforming the way we build through its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. This transformation has been driven by local, state, and federal government, as well as institutions. However, the past two years have seen an increasing number of private LEED projects; this trend has sparked interest in the return on investment (ROI) of LEED certification.

Businesses that don't "go green" may suffer in unexpected ways. Learn how your business can benefit from taking a sustainable approach.

I’ve good-naturedly taken to calling the Deep Energy Retrofit (DER) of my 1940s Cape Cod style kit home a “self-inflicted wound.” You know those big renovation projects, right? Those are the ones that start with good intentions and then stretch out over months and years. That said, the good news at the Wilson house is that the benefits of the DER are easy to see and feel, and we’re actually glimpsing the light at the end of our renovation tunnel.

It's likely that most Americans got their first glimpse of Building Automation Systems in 1939, when the Wizard of Oz appeared from behind his black curtain, frantically pulling levers to remotely spread smoke, his green visage exposed to Dorothy and her pals.  Modern Building Automation Systems (BAS) are different than Oz’s in their focus, technology and desired outcomes, but similar in their concept of centralized remote monitoring and control of mechanical systems.

Many Solar Decathlon entries make futuristic propositions for green living, but the Tidewater Virginia team chose to design their house by using a familiar language. Their target market is the Tidewater region of southeastern Virginia, specifically the dense, middle-class neighborhoods of Norfolk, home to many military families. Designed as urban infill, Unit 6 Unplugged draws inspiration from its Arts and Crafts context and provides an affordable housing option for a working couple.

This is the third article in the series on U.S. infrastructure, following our aviation article, “Three Square Miles of Concrete." The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) assigned the United States’ BRIDGES infrastructure a grade of “C” on their 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure.

While a “C” denotes just average, the BRIDGES category actually has the highest grade of all fifteen infrastructure categories on the 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure.

In the United States there are approximately 600,000 bridges which are catalogued and routinely inspected. This is encouraging from the perspective of someone who drives over many bridges during daily life, as most of us do.

It’s easy to get Spanish blood boiling here in Madrid. Just mention the M-30 to a local, especially one living by the Manzanares River in the Arganzuela district south of the city. Their hostile reaction would be due to the fact that this part of town has been under major construction for what seems like an eternity. Once complete, Madrid’s M-30 urban renewal project will include improved roadways, pedestrian pathways, and West 8's Puentes Cascaras, which were inaugurated in September 2010.

Facility management ensures full functionality of the built environment. What are the best practices for universities?