The BE Blog | Building Enclosure

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Now is the perfect time to rebalance your marketing efforts.

Green building is not recession-proof, but its roots appear to run deeper than the current economic downturn can reach.

Many of your competitors will survive this recession, but only a handful will grow stronger. How in the world are they doing it?

For those of us in the Midwest, it’s been a cold start to spring. Winter has held on a bit longer than usual, and it’s just a hunch but I think that’s part of the reason the economy is still in the doldrums. It seems people have been in a sort of hibernation, waiting for things to pick up.

There is still a common misconception in the design community that Factory Mutual (FM) I-90 represents winds of 90 mph. In fact, the standard requires the roof system to withstand 90 pounds per square foot (psf) of wind uplift tested pressure.

Walking through downtown Nashville last week, I heard a country singer lamenting that he lost his girlfriend, his pickup truck and his construction business. OK, that last one was actually his hound dog, but it won’t be long before we hear songs about the heartbreak of losing construction work.

There’s a new water-based coating on the market that is taking roofs and building envelopes by storm. It’s called Kynar Aquatec, a platform of emulsions developed by Philadelphia-based Arkema Inc. What this new coating is doing is raising industry standards for durability and performance of water-based roof coatings.

New Jersey’s Atlantic City Convention Center is the largest roof-mounted, grid connected, solar system in the United States. If you’ve read the recent article in The New York Times or seen it on CNN, you already know that. However, none of the primary media outlets discuss the real story, which is the roofing project itself.

I just heard about an interesting new product the other day. Energy Alternatives LLC announced the introduction of its Greenward Ridge Vent. According to Ted Poulos, Vice President of Energy Alternatives, the patent-pending design harvests ambient hot attic air as it escapes through the ridge of the roof.

I recently received a link to a YouTube video called “Did You Know?” It is fascinating look at the pace of change, including business and employment trends.