NyloDeck is made from 100% recycled carpet and a water-blown polyurethane binder. Photo: Nyloboard. Click on image to enlarge.

Native landscaping was used around the Chesapeake Bay Foundation headquarters to help protect the Bay. Photo: Alex Wilson. Click on image to enlarge.

Number 7 on my list of the top-10 green building priorities is to protect and restore the site.

Handful of Oregon Shepherd loose-fill insulation at West Coast Green. Photo: Alex Wilson. Click on image to enlarge.

Click on image to enlarge

Number-eight in my list of the top-10 green building priorities is to use "green" or low-environmental-impact products and materials.

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ASI offers interior signs made from renewable and recycled materials and exterior signs with PV lighting. Photo: ASI. Click on image to enlarge

Clear signage can help us find our way, it can inform us, and--in a green building--it can highlight environmental features. That signage can also, itself, make a statement about the environment.

Number of days per year projected to exceed 100 degrees F based on lower-emission scenario (middle) and high-emission scenario (bottom); recent past shown in upper map. Image: U.S. Global Change Research Program. Click on image to enlarge.

Photo: RecycleTote.com

Figuring out the structure of concrete at the molecular level will go a long way toward greening this ubiquitous building material. Photo: Michael David Rose Photography.

Hemcrete is poured into forms, tamped, cured, and then both sides stuccoed with lime plaster. Photo: Lime Technology, Ltd. Click on image to enlarge.

I have a new favorite insulation material. Foamglas® building insulation has been made by Pittsburgh Corning for many decades and is widely used in Europe. For the past decade or two, however, it has only been actively marketed in North America for industrial applications.

Lake Mead, the nation's largest reservoir, which supplies 90% of Las Vegas's water and millions of other residents, shown at about half capacity in 2007. Ken Dewey photo. Click on image to enlarge.

GraniteCrete was used at Asilomar State Beach for durable, but natural-looking pathways and steps. Photo: GraniteCrete. Click on photo to enlarge.

Niagara uses innovative "vacuum-assist" hydraulics to provide an effective, yet super-quiet flush in the Stealth toilet, requiring just 0.8 gallons. By using less water, this toilet saves energy. Photo: Niagara Conservation. Click on image to enlarge

Previously a Burlington Coat Factory, the new community center at 45-51 Park Place, New York, will be a LEED certified space upon completion. Photo: Michael Appleton for The New York Times