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Cardinal Building Systems, Inc. will be hosting a builders class on Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs)

The class will be held on January 19th from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. There is no fee for the class and is open to anyone interested in learning about SIPs. The class will be held at the Hampton Inn in Winchester, VA then we will go to the manufacturing plant to see how the panels are made.

This class covers:

The definition of SIPS, Building with SIPs, SIPs vs. Stick building, R-Control: Control not Comprimise, SIP's role in the Emerging Green Market, a Question and Answer Session and will be finished up with a plant tour.

Please RSVP by Friday the 11th as seating is limited. If you are unable to attend this class we will be having another in February and one in March. We can also schedule individual meetings with anyone interested who is unable to make it to the classes.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Contact: Summer Berry

Phone: 540-535-7282

Fax: 540-535-0992

e-mail: summer@cardinalbuildings.com

Remodeling or building new - which is greener? This is a debate that has been raging on for years, and it seems that remodeling is starting to come out on top. In addition to using less newly harvested and manufactured resources, remodeling exisiting buildings is now proving to be an intelligent investment as well.

In a recent feature article on GreenerBuildings.com, Tilde Herrera discusses the green makeover that an 80-year-old art deco office building in Seattle is getting, thanks to the Jonathan Rose Companies.

The trend toward retrocommissioning existing commercial structures using green building principles is quietly taking shape behind the louder activity of the new construction sector. More than 5,000 new buildings await LEED certification, compared to 480 existing buildings on the waiting list, according to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Only 7 percent of buildings that have earned LEED certification are existing buildings.

Using the existing building inventory goes to the heart of a core sustainability argument: it is often more wasteful to tear down and replace buildings, even if the replacement is green, than it is to improve what's already there. "One of the most beneficial aspects is you're using existing infrastructures and not adding to sprawl," said David Lehrer, director of partner relations and communications at Center for the Built Environment (CBE) at the University of California, Berkeley.

Does this mean that we will be seeing a lot less new green construction? Not by a long shot, but it could mean big business for all variety of rennovators and remodelers - this an unspoken area of sustainable building that deserves much more public attention and growth.

[Greener Buildings via Treehugger]

RELATED:

+ Getting Started in Green Building & Remodeling

+ The Good News About Remodeling

+ Episode One: Breaking Ground