Building Industry News

Bayer Launches Host of New Thermal Insulation Products

Revitalising Parking Lots and Pavement After The Ravages of Winter

Sustainable Urban Development Competition Launched in Helsinki Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund, and the city of Helsinki are launching an international competition for building a sustainable and innovative block in the Western Harbor of Helsinki Full Story

Environmental Restoration of Army Land Returns Hundreds of Acres of Developable Land to Fort Bragg's Inventory The prevalence of previous environmental contamination on portions of the installation presents challenges to the process. Fort Bragg must rely heavily on its Installation Restoration Program (IRP) to efficiently and effectively restore these contaminated areas for mission-critical construction Full Story

CPower to Manage Energy Program for Lafarge North America

Digital Realty Trust Use BREEAM Datacentre Scheme in Their Buildings Throughout The World Digital Realty Trust have adopted the BREEAM Datacentre scheme for their buildings throughout the world and expect to achieve significant environmental and cost savings by doing this Full Story

Environmentally Aware Apartment Block and Retail Outlet to Join BRE Innovation Park

Building With Passive Solar Energy System Gets Results theEnergyCrowd.com the crowd-source based developer of renewable energy technologies has announced that the initial stage of its first project has proved successful. A passive solar energy based system for capturing heat energy for either long or short term storage started producing results - even during late winter months Full Story

Team California Starts Construction on the 2009 Solar Decathlon House While thousands of students have been away on spring break, a handful of them stayed behind to begin construction on their solar-powered house for the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2009 Solar Decathlon Full Story

New Jersey's Licensed Environmental Professionals Bill Expected to Speed Up Cleanups of Contaminated Sites

Valley's 'Brown Cloud' Targeted by New Environmentally Safe Construction Project

FBI Chicago Building Earns USGBC Environmental Award Recently, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Regional Facility, located in Chicago, Illinois, officially received a Platinum-level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings (LEED EBOM) award from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) Full Story

Aloca To Teach Builders and Architects Strategies for Designing Energy Efficient High Performance Buildings

Department of Energy Award Won by Construction Projects at Brookhaven Lab Two large construction projects at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, the U.S. ATLAS Detector Project and the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN), have been named winners of the DOE Secretary's Award for Achievement Full Story

Florida to Get World's Second Largest Solar Power Plant Lauren Engineers and Constructors recently signed a contract with Florida Power and Light Company (FPL) as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for a new 75 MW Concentrated Solar Power Plant located near Indiantown, FL Full Story

Industry Leading Energy Efficient Homes Coming to Minneapolis Area from Centex Centex Corporation today announced that construction is under way on Centex Energy Advantage homes across the Minneapolis metro area Full Story

TrickleSaver Announces Distributors For Their Energy Saving Products in Australia and New Zealand Australians and New Zealanders will soon be able to save 'trickling' power, save money AND save the planet by using 'TrickleSaver' energy saving devices Full Story

Owens Corning Introduces AdVeil Non-Woven Glass Veil that Enhances the Performance of Cushion Vinyl Flooring Owens Corning AdVeil non-woven pre-filled glass tissue reduces plastisol consumption and offers greater production efficiency and improved surface aspect for cushion vinyl flooring Full Story

DensShield Moisture Resistant Tile Backer Listed by Environmental Organizations Georgia-Pacific Gypsum is announcing that DensShield tile backer, the only tile backer with a built-in barrier to prevent moisture penetration, has been listed by two leading environmental organizations Full Story

KFC Takes Advertising to the Streets by Sponsoring Pot-Hole Repairs Colonel Sanders Look-alike Bob Thompson helps a repair crew in Louisville "re-fresh" one of the estimated 350 million potholes nationwide Full Story

Acoustic Insulation on Building Project Contributes to Sustainable Home Rating H+H and Icopal pioneered the use of acoustically insulated aircrete internal walls on a continuous concrete floor to exceed the requirements of Building Regulations (Part E) contributing credits to the Code for Sustainable Homes rating on the 6.5-acre Bermondsey Spa regeneration project in south-east London Full Story

Business Opportunities Abound in The Building Industry for Sustainable Products DuPont General Manager says today's sustainable products and practices for the global building industry present unique and emerging business opportunities, even in a global recession Full Story

How To Stop Your Home Becoming Food For Termites

Lighting Retrofit to Parking Garage Saves Energy and Money

Lime Energy and Nexxus Lighting Combine Forces to Expand the Use of LED Light Bulbs

Dow Corning Throws Support Behind Habitat for Humanity in India Dow Corning in India recently partnered with Habitat for Humanity to provide affordable low-cost housing for families in need in Maharashtra Full Story

Gypsum Plasterboard Testing System Developed to Test the Quality of Drywall Products A specially adapted force testing system from Mecmesin is being used to measure the quality of gypsum plasterboard products Full Story

New Solar Electric Production Facility for Ascent Solar Technologies Ascent Solar, developer of flexible thin-film solar energy modules for a variety of applications, including building systems, has opened a new production facility Full Story

Lightscape Materials to Develop and Market New LED Lighting Products

Stairwell Evacuation Study Finds Out What We Know We Don't Know

Pyramids Are The Latest Buildings to Join Earth Hour The Sphinx and the Great Pyramids of Giza, icons of ancient splendor, will stand as modern day symbols for action on climate change as they become the most ancient of numerous monuments to go dark for Earth Hour Full Story

NoiseBuster Uses Cutting-Edge Technology to Supress Power Equipment Noise and Save Your Hearing The NoiseBuster Active Noise Reduction ("ANR") Safety Earmuff is specifically designed to reduce the noise generated by lawn, landscape and garden power equipment such as mowers, loaders, skid steers, compact excavators, chain saws, vacuums, blowers, and other noisy devices Full Story

America's Watchdog Links Toxic Chinese Dry Wall With Illegal Workers and Drug Importing Americas Watchdog has been blasting US homebuilders for years. The issues range from appraisal fraud, to using undocumented workers to build most new US homes since 2001, to the newest outrage--toxic Chinese drywall, that has now put upwards of 350,000 US homeowners at risk Full Story

TileSizer Makes Cutting Small Tiles Easier

Six or More LEED Credits Available When Using VAST Composite Masonry Products in Green Building and Sustainable Development Projects VAST Enterprises, LLC, a material science research and manufacturing company, announced that using its composite pavers in construction applications can contribute to six or more LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) credits Full Story

Seven Wonders of the World Inspired Luxury Homes to be Built in Italy

Toxic Chinese Drywall Also in Canada and Australia Say America's Watchdog Americas Watchdog's Homeowners Consumer Center is now saying the toxic Chinese drywall situation is 1000 times worse that they ever dreamed. Not only is the drywall in every US state, including Florida, California, Nevada, Arizona and Texas, it is also in Canada and Australia Full Story

21st Century Pioneers Sought For World's Greenest Building Independence Station, the Oregon development slated to become the World's Greenest Building when it opens in 2010, is now accepting priority pre-reservations for the 15 condominium-style homes included in the mixed-use development Full Story

Actor Richard Dreyfuss Has Chosen S.K.I.N. Design and Architecture for Eco-friendly Renovation, Expansion of San Diego House Actor Richard Dreyfuss has chosen the San Diego-based architecture and design firm S.K.I.N. to renovate and environmentally upgrade his 1970s Encinitas residence and property in order to cut his water and power bill to near-zero Full Story

New Oak Ridge National Lab Research Facility to be Constructed With Obama Recovery Money Oak Ridge National Laboratory officials announced today that construction will start in eight to 10 weeks on a major research facility made possible by $71.2 million from President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Full Story

From Paper to Cement With New Process For Dealing With Waste An alternative to landfill disposal for waste products of the paper industry that can be used to make clinker for cement production is reported this month by Portuguese scientists Full Story

New Insulation Product from Bayer Solves the Problem of Heat Loss From Wooden Buildings

Sustainable Recovery for New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina and Withstanding Future Storms Is Going to Need Alternate Thinking Calling New Orleans "the canary in the global warming coal mine," two Tulane professors say the Crescent City must embrace unconventional thinking in order to recover in a sustainable way from Hurricane Katrina while withstanding a continual threat from rising sea levels, diminishing wetlands and future storms Full Story

Indoor Air Quality Link to Highway Air Pollution Intensive monitoring of air quality near a major highway intersection could reveal a lot about how the air outside affects the air in our indoor environment Full Story

Acropolis Becomes Oldest Building to Join Earth Hour The Acropolis, a symbol of western civilization, will be the world’s oldest landmark to turn off the lights for Earth Hour and join the global movement against climate change Full Story

Dow Takes Styrofoam Insulation Environmentally Friendly The Dow Chemical Company announced today that it has succeeded in converting its first facility that manufactures STYROFOAM Brand Insulation to its new zero ozone-depleting, no-VOC (volatile organic compound) foaming agent technology Full Story

Palusol SW Fire Protection Panels From BASF Get British Standard Certification BASF's Palusol SW fire-protection panels have now been certified according to the British standard. Fire-protection doors made with Palusol SW have been successfully tested for their capacity to withstand fire for 30 and 60 minutes Full Story

BASF Opens New Construction Chemical Technical Center For the Asia Pacific Region BASF today inaugurated a new Asia Technical Center Shanghai, further increasing its capabilities to develop and offer innovative solutions to Asia Pacific customers in the construction industry Full Story

Demand Keeps Increasing For Water Based UV Coatings For Wood and Furniture The demand for waterborne UV coatings in the wood and furniture protection market has been steadily increasing during the last few years. This is mainly due to the environmental benefits offered by these products Full Story

Recycling and Sustainability of Construction Materials Examined Sustainability of construction materials from Woodhead Publishing brings together a wealth of recent research on the subject. A comprehensive analysis of a wide variety of construction materials ranging from timber to glass reviews the issue of sustainability in context. Full Story

Desiging Structures that Can Withstand Earthquakes Structural dynamics of earthquake engineering: theory and application using Mathematica and Matlab from Woodhead Publishing provides an overview of earthquakes and earthquake ground motion to reinforce earthquake intensity and magnitude. Full Story

Are Geopolymers An Alternative to Cement in Construction The primary application of geopolymer technology is in the development of reduced CO2 construction materials. Recognised as an alternative to traditional materials such as Portland based cements geopolymers represent a movement towards more environmentally friendly engineering. Full Story

New and Replacement Vinyl Windows Now Available in a Wider Range of Colors The benefits of vinyl windows have mostly been black and white - great energy efficiency, affordable and reliable. However, the color options haven’t quite spanned the same spectrum Full Story

Big Savings From Improved Energy Efficiency With Jeld-Wen JELD-WEN put energy efficiency to the test when the company set out to find the worst utility bill in the nation last year. The goal was to see just how much of a difference the latest energy efficient window technology could truly make Full Story

Solar Cells Set to Be Incorporated Into Building Materials and Consumer Electronics The third-generation of photovoltaics (PV - organic PV (OPV) and dye sensitized cells (DSC) - are in the early stages of development but hold out the promise of cheap solar power that can be integrated into consumer electronics and building materials, according to a Webinar presented this morning by NanoMarkets Full Story

New Device Drops Electricity Consumption to Zero For Appliances in Standby Mode A team of researchers from the UPC Center for Technological Innovation in Static Converters and Actuators (CITCEA-UPC) has designed the device 100 Percent Off, which disconnects electronic appliances in stand-by mode and reduces their power consumption to zero Full Story

Is The Future of Construction and Property Development Built Around Online Social Media

New Security System Turns The Windows of a Building into Sensors For Alarms A novel motion sensor developed by the Fraunhofer Institutes and for Computer Architecture and Software Technology FIRST could provide even more security in future, enabling window panes and glass doors to detect movements thanks to a special coating Full Story

Tecnalia and Kyosemi To Team Up on Photovoltaics for Sustainable Buildings

Toxic Chinese Drywall Problem About to be Investigated in California and Arizona Americas Watchdog and its Homeowners Consumer Center are dramatically expanding their investigation of imported toxic Chinese drywall into California and Arizona Full Story

Evolution Solar Works Hard to Increase Solar Power Market Share "At Evolution Solar Corporation, we continue to maintain a frantic pace to increase market share," commented Robert Kaapke CEO of Evolution Solar Full Story

Questions and Answers About the Problem of Toxic Chinese Drywall Americas Watchdog is calling the imported toxic Chinese drywall issue, "the single worst environmental, and serious health disaster ever faced by US & Canadian homeowners. Here are some questions and answers about the toxic drywall issue Full Story

First LEED Certified Pizzeria Part of Pizza Fusion Chain Pizza Fusion was recently awarded Gold and Silver certifications by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) for its first two restaurants built to LEED specifications in Palm Beach Gardens and Weston, Florida Full Story

America's Watchdog Tells Home Owners Not to Accept Quick Fix For Toxic Chinese Drywall America's Watchdog says not to accept homebuilders offers to re-drywall homes currently built with toxic Chinese drywall, until they have had a chance to see if the toxic gasses emitted by the Chinese drywall have not penetrated your studs, your plywood, your trusses, and your furniture Full Story

Whistleblower Retaliation Complaint Filed By Worker Exposed to Asbestos at the Smithsonian

ECOBOND LBP Means Lead Based Paints Can Now Be Removed and Disposed As Non-Hazardous Waste

Victims of Toxic Chinese Drywall Being Encouraged to Investigate a Lawsuit

Chemical Heritage Museum in Philadelphia Uses DuPont SentryGlas For Restoration The newly reopened Chemical Heritage Museum in Philadelphia has been redesigned in an adaptive reuse of a historic bank building dating from 1865. Key to the design is a new mezzanine level walkway using glass made with DuPont SentryGlas to create a multi-level visitor experience Full Story

Building New Coal Fired Power Plants Will Produce Massive Amounts of Waste

New Solar Technology Manager for Dow Corning Dow Corning has named Dr. Guy Beaucarne as Solar Cell Science and Technology Manager for its Solar Market Business Unit, which provides silicon-based solutions throughout the entire photovoltaic value chain Full Story

Raychem HWAT Heat Tracing Systems for Hot Water Explained Tyco Thermal Controls has produced a new 12 page colour brochure detailing its Raychem HWAT heat-tracing system for hot water temperature maintenance in commercial and residential buildings Full Story

World's Largest Swimming Pool to Be Built in the Egyptian Desert by Crystal Lagoons Crystal Lagoons, creators of the world's largest swimming pools, works with important local investors in a US$5,500 million real estate development at Sharm El Sheikh that contemplates the construction of twelve giant lagoons, 30,000 home units, five star hotels, a museum and a shopping center Full Story

PolyU Award Winning Researches Help Design Structures That Will Withstand Natural Disasters Structural engineering researchers have developed a method to design reliable steel structures and a reservoir flood control operation system respectively. Both innovations will help withstand natural disasters like earthquake and flooding Full Story

CADS Smart Scaffolder Makes Compliance With Safety Rule Easy

Abelard Donates New Roof to Habitat For Humanity

NIST Seeks Comments on Guidelines for Structural Fire Resistance A new draft report released for public comment by NIST provides a comprehensive set of 'best practice' guidelines for designing building structures to resist major fires Full Story

E2 Dual-Flush Toilet Launched by Niagara Conservation New Jersey's Niagara Conservation, a leading manufacturer of high-efficiency residential conservation products, has launched a new water-saving dual-flush toilet called the E2 Dual-Flush Toilet. The product can save thousands of gallons of water per year Full Story

Fashion Runways Influence Latest Flooring Designs If the devil wears Prada, then the fashion-conscious demon must walk on animal prints, nude tones, layered looks and leather. For these are just some of the hottest trends in flooring uncovered by the World Floor Covering Association's fashion scouts at this year's Surfaces Full Story

Free Samples and Shipping From Ceilume Ceiling Tiles Ceilume, manufacturer of The Smart Ceiling Tile, is helping customers during this tough economy by offering free samples and free ground shipping on all orders to customers in the United States and Canada Full Story

Commercial and Residential Property Owners Saving With Energy Efficiency

New Chinese Cement Plant Opens

Termite Killer Gas Also A Global Warming Threat Fumigant pumped into tented houses to kill pests remains in atmosphere six to 10 times longer than previously thought, Scripps-led study shows Full Story

Builder Headquarters Goes Solar Powered Clear Skies Solar today announced the successful installation of the McGowan Builders solar energy system at the company's newly renovated 37,000 square foot headquarters Full Story

BASF Launches Online Campus For The Education of People in the Construction Industry BASF, the Chemical Company, has launched a virtual classroom for construction professionals called the BASF Online Campus for High-Performance Construction Full Story

SIDD Launches Their Sustainable Made-to-Order Designer Furniture SIDD Fine Woodworking has opened its studio and workshop in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. As a company that both designs and builds its products entirely in-house, SIDD is positioned to provide high end modern furnishings that are innovative, interesting, and uniquely well made Full Story

Waterhog Impressions Doormats Allow Any Image to be Included on a Mat Martinson-Nicholls new Waterhog Impressions indoor-outdoor logo floor mats use Jet Print Technology to allow making 3D images and fine details such as "phasing in" possible Full Story

Tax Credits and Leasing Make Rinnai Tankless Water Heaters and Direct Vent Furnaces More Affordable Rinnai is pleased to announce that its tankless water heaters and direct-vent wall furnaces are now more accessible to consumers who want to enjoy the comforts and conveniences of continuous hot water or energy-efficient home heating Full Story

Adding Home Insulation To Attract Energy Efficiency Tax Credit Individuals who purchase and install products including home insulation, heating and cooling equipment, roofing, doors and energy efficient windows will be eligible for a US Government tax break Full Story

New List of Indicators Released for Toxic Chinese Drywall Americas Watchdog and its Homeowners Consumer Center have been leading the national, and state by state investigation of imported toxic Chinese drywall and is now saying, we think charred or blackened electrical wires inside a new homes wall are the number one indicator of this potentially lethal building product Full Story

Acrylic Clawfoot Bathtubs From Randolph Morris Are The New Alternative to Cast Iron Vintage Tub and Bath, the industry's largest privately-owned online retailer of clawfoot bathtubs, has just launched their new line of acrylic clawfoot bathtubs as an alternative to traditional cast iron Full Story

EPA Says Indoor Air May Be 20 Times More Polluted Than Outside

Insulated Garage Doors Now Attract Tax Credits In USA Replacing a garage door in 2009 and 2010 can do more than generate curb appeal - it also can decrease energy costs and save homeowners up to $1500 off the bottom line of their income taxes Full Story

Storm Chasers and Roofing Scams, How To Avoid Being Ripped Off As the hail season starts to pick up, Atlanta's KTM Roofing is warning residents to be cautious of potential roofing scams. In particular the company is trying to educate homeowners about 'storm chasers,' which are roofers, typically from outside of Georgia that go door to door, take your money, start the roofing job and leave town after producing either inferior work, or without completing the roofing project Full Story

Electronic Nose Sniffing For Fire in Stockholm Metro System An advanced sensor technique and data processing used to monitor air conditioning inside space stations is now being used in an innovative fire protection system for Stockholm's metro system Full Story

Solar Hot Water Systems Shown to Pay For Themselves Five Times Over An analysis of the engineering and economics for a solar water-heating system shows it to have a payback period of just two years, according to researchers in India Full Story

Green Building Consultant Labels New Area to be 'Frugal Green' Jerry Yudelson, one of the world's top green building consultants, proclaims that green building professionals can make sustainability pay its own way Full Story

Shutter and Door Customization Taken to a Whole New Level By New Milling Process Estate Millwork is now offering the highest level of customization for wood shutters, wood doors, and cabinet doors on the market. Using the new customization system, Estate Millwork customers can even provide hand drawn sketches and have their vision become a reality Full Story

Toxic Chinese Drywall About to Become Part of a National Investigation Americas Watchdog and its Homeowners Consumer Center are saying the Chinese drywall disaster in Florida is about to become a national disaster Full Story

New Book Shows Churchgoers What Is Needed to Build or Remodel a Church Motivated by a driving need for pastors and congregations to understand that there is a right way and a wrong way to structure a church-building program, a new book looks at some of the most important facts and essential steps one needs to take to ensure their project will come in on time and under budget Full Story

Roofing Systems Can Now Use a Low Odor, Low Fume Asphalt Owens Corning, a global building materials and composite solutions leader, introduces enhancements for the application of durable built up roofing systems with new TruLo Max Lo Odor, Low-fuming Asphalt Full Story

Bayer Introduces New Makrolon Thermal Insulation Building and saving the energy-conscious way with thermal insulation in winter and heat reduction in summer using the 5M Energy product range Full Story

Magnalight Introduces New Explosion Proof Hazardous Location Lights Magnalight.com announced a new addition to its growing line of explosion proof and hazardous location fluorescent lighting products Full Story

Saint-Gobain Gets EPA Energy Star Award

Greenest Residential Building in New York City to Open This Summer

Solar Powered Area Light for Street and Parking Lot Applications

Environmentally Friendly Los Angeles Buildings Earns LA Honors From US EPA

International Market Strengthened for World Leader in Sustainable Flooring

Hydronic Radiant Heat Systems Stopping Injuries by Keeping Sidewalks Clear of Snow In cold climates, slips and falls due to frozen surfaces can cause a variety of injuries. A growing number of building owners are investing in an alternative approach to sidewalk snow removal - hydronic radiant heat snowmelt systems - a convenient, cost-effective solution for keeping sidewalks clear and safe Full Story

Window Films Now Attract Tax Credits in the USA

Renew Exterior Hardscapes this Spring with Concrete Resurfacing Outdoor concrete resurfacing offers an affordable alternative to removing and replacing existing concrete hardscapes Full Story

EcoClad Sustainable Exterior Siding Introduces KlipTech

New Lodge in Conservation Oriented Community to Be Built With Sustainable Principles Blackhawk on the River, a conservation-oriented residential community, announced today that is taking its sustainable development philosophy and putting it to work with the construction of their new River Lodge Full Story

Public Consultation Time for Eco-Towns Has Had Deadline Extended

Aluminum-Wood Folding Doors From LaCantina Doors Give You the Best of Both Worlds

Replace Your Halogen Lights With Green LED-MR16 Bulbs from GlacialLight LED light manufacturer GlacialLight, a sub-division of the experienced technology manufacturer GlacialTech Inc., is launching a brand new LED-MR16 light bulb Full Story

Energy Efficiency Package for Centex Home Purchasers in St Louis

Solar Hot Water Systems Being Protected by Nansulate Solar

Rotobrush Now Offering Energy Efficiency Solutions Rotobrush International LLC, a longstanding market leader in air duct cleaning, announces its new energy efficiency solutions offering Full Story

New Cabling Solution Released for Solar Panel Arrays

Innovative Building Materials Use Leading to Sustainable Office Development Niche developer WCR Group is building sustainable offices using the H+H Thin Joint system as a structural element to compliment its green-technology external treatments and services Full Story

Toxic Chinese Made Drywall Material Has Been In US Houses Since 2001 Americas Watchdog has been leading the national and the state by state investigations of potentially toxic Chinese drywall since the beginning of the year. The Homeowners Consumer Center has discovered that the Chinese drywall was initially brought into the US in 2001 Full Story

Vise-Grip Used as Battlefield Surgery Tool for Emergency Spine Surgery IRWIN Industrial Tools, announced that Dr. Bryan Fox was selected as the winner of the "Tell Us Your IRWIN VISE-GRIP Story" for using an IRWIN VISE-GRIP to perform spinal surgery during Operation Iraqi Freedom Full Story

New Building Design Tested to Withstand Earthquake Simulation Researchers at the University of Michigan simulated an off-the-charts earthquake in a laboratory to test their new technique for bracing high-rise concrete buildings. Their technique passed the test, withstanding more movement than an earthquake would typically demand Full Story

New Method for Analyzing Corrosion of Concrete Reinforcement Bar