Studies predict that future innovation will be driven by the need to reduce energy use and cost, but the AEC industry will move at a different pace and in different directions, depending upon where you are.
Green homes comprised 17% of the overall residential construction market in 2011 and are expected to grow to between 29% and 38% of the market by 2016.
As high unemployment rates continue to plague the nation, a growing group of builders across the country has decided to take a closer look at where the building products they use are made and bring those purchases back home.
Despite all of the available technology and new green materials available today, retrofitting an existing building is almost always a more sustainable option than tearing an old building down and rebuilding it.
ReWall Corporation is using polyethylene-coated cartons and cups, typically bound for landfills, to fabricate construction materials without water, glue or chemicals.
When a couple said they wanted to “push the ecological envelope,” architects David Arkin and Anni Tilt thought a straw bale house could be just the thing.
