The headlines are everywhere—from heat waves in Europe to wildfires in the Western U.S. to tropical cyclone flooding in Australia. In this age of climate change, just as there’s an urgent need to reduce carbon emissions and other greenhouse gasses, we also need to adapt and invest in resilience.

Increasingly, owners are asking for risk... Read more

All,

Can anyone suggest a product for the following situation.  We are looking to insulate existing aluminum eterior column covers that have a three inch air gap.  The issue is there is no way to remove the covers without destroying them.  we would like to cut small holes, pump in the insulation  and then cap the holes.  Can anyone... Read more

I have a client that is very interested in automated shades for a mid-rise multi-family housing project. Do you have any examples of projects that have attempted this? I assume it would involve occupancy sensors and/or an over-rideable default setting dependant on sun position and temperature. I also have an MEP Engineer team that is having a... Read more

Dear Esteemed colleagues: I was recently asked a good question in light of the impending (fingers crossed) passage of the reconciliation bill that will bring alot of funding to energy efficiency/decarbonization upgrades at the residential scale. The question is: What are the arguments/ scenarios about the importance for homeowners to contract... Read more

Following up on one of our conversations on the vision vacuum and sustainability beyond certifications, I would like to help facilitate an offline conversation with anyone working within their firm to use the AIA COTE measures as a guiding framework in their firms/projects. Attached are my slides on my first pass at thinking about this at Page... Read more

Hi everyone,

I’d like to invite you to join this Friday’s webinar hosted by the Embodied Carbon Network: Using Whole Building LCA to Reduce Embodied Carbon within LEED and Beyond, and to follow up with a tool that I presented at this summer’s Architecture SDL summit, which ZGF has now upgraded and made free to the industry at large.... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Energy-Efficient Multifamily Housing.

Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:


1. Restate the six big opportunities for energy savings in multifamily housing.
2. Differentiate between the four green building rating systems for new... Read more

Hi folks,

We had a fun impromptu conversation on our call last week. We got most involved in the challenge of getting developers interested in taking advantage of IRA Tax Credits. That can be quite a challenge given their business model.

We also heard about emerging data on tradeoffs between embodied and operating carbon, and how... Read more

Products & Materials Specialist and LEED AP BD+C Brent Ehrlich excels at deep, unbiased, and nuanced technical research on the health and environmental impacts of green building products and materials. Some areas of focus include:

product and material constituents, including their risks

product certifications

... Read more

Hi everyone,

Just a reminder that the first-ever Sages monthly call is happening tomorrow, February 13th, at 12pm ET! We'll be introducing ourselves to each other and discussing our visions for the network. 

Here is the agenda for the meeting, and below is the Zoom info: 

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/... Read more

Hi All,

Someone just told me that 80% of his previously certified Energy Star Projects no longer earn certification with the update baselines.  Have any of you started digging into this yet?

-Meredith

Hi all! During our Contractor’s Commitment call last week Amanda made a great point about sharing of waste data to gain some realistic, current metrics. Just like I assume many of you, we have both seen a decline in successful diversion these last few years and our companies’ overall percentages have taken a hit. In an effort to gain a full... Read more

I have reached out to the AIA staff members that I work with on the Energy Leadership Group (AIA ELG) to see about getting into the cycle of updating these standard documents.  Another member of the ELG, architect Kjell Anderson of LMN in Seattle, is interested in working with us on this effort, as he has started including Standard 209 language... Read more

Hi all,

We are designing a mass timber building and are closing in on selecting our mass timber supplier.  One supplier is offering FSC wood and the other is offering PEFC.  I don't know enough about PEFC to make a clear recommendation to the client about how it compares to FSC.  I understand that PEFC endorsed SFI, so that concerns me... Read more

Hi folks -

I was contacted last week by the producer of the documentary that launches this Thursday, 12/10 - he is hoping to generate interest among folks across the environmental spectrum (which of course includes all of us!) so I am sharing his pitch below with you all. The subject of water scarcity and drought is only going to... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of "The Potential of Prefab: How Modular Construction Can Be Green"!

Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be able to: