Green Building Materials: A Guide to Product Selection and Specification


Product Description
The ultimate user's manual to green building materials
To properly select and specify green building materials, successful architects need authoritative, real-world advice on how to select and use nontoxic, recycled, and recyclable products, and how to integrate these products into the design process in order to capitalize on the many practical and economic advantages of "going green." Green Building Materials, Third Edition is the most reliable, up-to-date resource to meet today's green building challenges—from reducing waste and improving energy efficiency to promoting proper code compliance and safeguarding against liability claims.
Written by two nationally known experts on green building methods and materials, Green Building Materials, Third Edition offers in-depth, practical information on the product selection, product specification, and construction process. This new Third Edition is an excellent hands-on guide to today's newest range of green building materials: what they are, where to find them, how to use them effectively, and how to address LEED requirements. Organized by CSI MasterFormat® category for fast access to specific information, it features:
A new chapter on eco-labels, green standards, and product certification
A new appendix providing reference information for sustainability standards and standards development organizations
New sample specifications, including green power requirements, vegetated green roof systems, rainwater harvesting, and water reuse systems
Revised and updated review of trends affecting the future of green building materials
Updated approach and reference information for the product selection process
Green Building Materials, Third Edition is an essential tool for designing environmentally friendly buildings � ones made from materials that preserve the Earth's natural legacy for future generations.
Green Building Materials: A Guide to Product Selection and Specification Review
This is an absolute MUST-HAVE addition to the libraries of every firm and organization that deals with designing, constructing, maintaining, or restoring commercial and public buildings. It should be required reading in every architectural school. It also offers much value to residential builders, even though they seldom use the sophisticated specification systems of the commercial building trade.For some three decades, articles and books on environmentally-sound architecture have focused on the design side. And most have focused on residential construction. Spiegel & Meadow's new book breaks new ground in two respects, by dealing with the product/material side of (primarily) commercial buildings.The specification aspect of green construction -- in which the appropriate materials and products are prescribed -- has been largely unaddressed. This is partly because the commercial building industry, in general, has culturally been behind the curve in terms of concern for the environment, but also because even the most conscientious firms have serious difficulty finding and obtaining green building products.There are two reasons for this difficulty of specifying green materials: 1) Few architects receive any meaningful level of training regarding specification in their schooling, preferring to focus on the more glamorous process of design; and, 2) Neither the commercially-available master guide specifications (such as SpecLink and MasterSpec) nor the product catalogs (such as First Source, SpecData, and Sweets) have figured out how to provide a useful and accurate means of helping specifiers compare the greeness of one item over another.While Green Building Materials can't solve the industry's lack of useful tools, it provides designers with the first comprehensive education on the specification process as it relates to green building. New tools are finally entering the market, such as the LEED system (from the U.S. Green Building Council) for measuring the greeness of a building, which will soon be incorporated into the Construction Specification Institute's new PerSpective software for performance specifying. Used in combination with this book, architects and building owners are finally beginning to get what they need to create buildings that are healthy for both their occupants and the world's environment. The authors have a level of intimacy with their subject that oozes out of each page. Readers come away with the distinct impression that this book is a product of both passion and deep expertise, and is obviously not some publisher's attempt to quickly plug a serious gap in the literature.A rapidly-growing number of public and private owners are requiring a level of greeness to all of their new buildings. Green Building Matierals is the tool the owners need in order to get what they want. It's also what designers and builders need to respond successfully to such demands. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews� Was this review helpful to you?�Yes No Report abuse | PermalinkComment�CommentMost of the consumer Reviews tell that the "Green Building Materials: A Guide to Product Selection and Specification" are high quality item. You can read each testimony from consumers to find out cons and pros from Green Building Materials: A Guide to Product Selection and Specification ...

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