Author: Webly Bowles


Embodied Carbon Draws Increased Attention from the Building Sector
Post / November 10, 2022
Over the past 15 years, many jurisdictions have reduced operational emissions in buildings through policies focused on energy efficiency, resulting in lower energy bills, better indoor air quality, and increased comfort. As the carbon emissions associated with operating buildings continues...


An Insider’s Guide for Our Clean Energy Future
Post / September 7, 2021
The latest report from the International Panel on Climate Change (the Sixth Assessment Report) sounded an alarm about the urgent need to transition to net zero carbon emissions to avoid global temperature rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius. With buildings representing...


Jurisdictions Prepare for a Wave of Embodied Carbon Policies
Post / June 17, 2021
Third-party rating systems like LEED have put pressure on building product manufacturers to disclose details about the environmental impacts of their products. In just the past 16 months alone, the environmental product declarations (EPDs) for concrete within the Embodied Carbon...


Future-Proofing Buildings for a More Resilient Tomorrow
Post / March 23, 2021
This is the second in a series exploring the COVID-19 pandemic’s relationship to buildings. In the first blog, Buildings’ Impact on Pandemics — we discussed how the building industry’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can help fuel pandemics. These blogs are...


Utility Administrators Share Expertise on Zero Energy Programs
Post / March 17, 2021
Urgency to address climate change, along with policy and market forces trending toward a smart, flexible grid, has led a growing number of utility efficiency program administrators to consider ways to increase support for energy-efficient, zero energy buildings. With the...


Buildings’ Impact on Pandemics
Post / February 26, 2021
As the people across the globe respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, a concerted effort has been made to keep occupants safe as office buildings reopen, an endeavor that can inherently use more energy from carbon-intensive generation resources exacerbating climate change...
New Buildings Institute Welcomes New Senior Fellows
Post / August 13, 2019
New Buildings Institute (NBI) welcomes five top-level industry influencers as new Senior Fellows. These are experts in advanced energy policy, program implementation, research and education who have helped define the efficient use of energy in the built environment. We recognize...
Energy Efficiency and Equity
Post / September 25, 2018
A recent article from CityLab highlights the squeeze on low-income households—primarily renters—from rising energy cost and dwindling funding for low-income energy assistance programs. Disadvantaged communities—low-income and largely minority neighborhoods–spend a much higher share of their income on energy, according to...
Trainings Help Build Knowledge and Design Capability that is Driving ZNE in California
Post / March 30, 2017
Zero net energy workshops are back in 2017! California has ambitious goals around zero net energy (ZNE) buildings and rightly so. Buildings account for roughly 40% of the carbon emissions in the United States and is up to 80% of...