Oregon Becomes First State to Allow Mass Timber Buildings Over Six Stories High

Across the United States, any mass timber building designed to be taller than six stories high has to receive special approval from the building codes department.  After a recent addendum was added to the Oregon’s building code, the state has become the first in the country to allow high rise mass timber buildings without receiving any special considerations.

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Tesla Solar Roof Tiles Experiencing Major Delays Because Elon Musk Doesn’t Like How They Look

Last summer, Tesla announced that the first of their solar roof tiles had been installed on test houses. However, as has become customary with many Tesla products, the company is experiencing significant manufacturing delays.

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New Green Building Construction Standard Set to Hit US Market in 2019

Since the dawn of green buildings, these projects have always been synonymous with LEED certification.  The process of obtaining that LEED certification has not always been an easy one for contractors; there is a ton of paperwork and documentation that needs to take place in order to prove all LEED credits have been rightfully earned.  A new construction standard, called BREEAM, is hoping to disrupt the United States’ green building certification world with its impending New Construction Standard Release in 2019.

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Is Climate Affecting The Construction Industry?

The following is a guest post written by Laurence Banville, Esq.

With much talk about climate change both politically and socially, citizens and the business world have started to calculate the way in which climate change will alter how we live and work. In the past, the construction industry has made a number of speculations about how it would change as the planet gets warmer, however, changes have only started coming in light of the rising temperatures and their effects on the industry.

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The Top 10 US States for LEED Certified Construction in 2017

The USGBC recently released their 2017 data for the Top 10 US States for LEED construction, which is sorted by Gross Square Footage per Capita.  That ranking system allows them to get a fair comparison of states, despite differences in population and number of buildings.

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The 8 Most Interesting Green Building Products That Debuted in 2017

As the world not only becomes more familiar with green products, but also starts demanding them, researchers and contractors alike need to be ready to embrace the ever-changing world and meet their customer’s demands.  Each year, new products are released that hoping to reduce waste or harness renewable energy sources, but only some of them reach the mass market.

Below are 8 green products, processes, and stories that we found most interesting in 2017:

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America’s ‘Largest’ Mass Timber Building is Under Construction in Oregon

Wood construction has typically been used for purely residential products in the past few decades and especially after fire protection standards became more stringent.  Besides fire rating, concrete and metal has several other benefits over wood, including overall strength, resistance to insects, and resistance to rot.  Wood, however, does have some advantages over concrete and steel, like its relative light weight and it’s much less harmful to the environment.

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‘World’s First’ 3D Printed Concrete Bicycle Bridge Installed in Netherlands

The Netherlands has a ton of bridges, especially pedestrian and biking bridges, thanks to its abundant system of canals.  Perhaps because of that, they have become a leader in 3D printing technology when it comes to bridges. 

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