Has anyone here found an alternative to XPS for the void former?

A structural engineering contact was included in recent conversations about embodied carbon in insulation materials and brought to our attention that this is a common use for XPS that has nothing to do with its insulating properties. It is typically used where concrete is... Read more

Who else is playing in this year’s #SustainabilityScavengerHunt by BE+!?

Meredith Elbaum and team at Built Environment Plus are launching the second annual hunt this Friday. Teams of up to four people compete over a couple of weeks to complete missions and bring awareness to environmental topics.

It was a lot of fun last year - we... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Can Commercial Kitchens Go Electric?

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


Understand why building electrification can be better for the environment and human health than use of fossil fuels, including natural gas.

List eight reasons... Read more

We're looking to add a green wall to our existing offices in NYC. Can anyone please share any good product/vendor recommendations?

We were hoping to use Naava walls, but they seem to have retracted into Europe, as far as I can tell.

Now that Ben has set up access restrictions, we have to decide what message to put on "paywall" screens. For example, on the Best Practices pages, the "Official language" tab is fully accessible, but if an anonymous user clicks on any of the other tabs they'll hit a login wall:

https://live-bituser.pantheonsite.io/best-practice/energy-... Read more

Hi, the SF Dept of Environment is doing some surplus construction materials studies there are surveys for designers and contractors.  They are looking for a wide array of responses, so don't worry if you don't live in that area!

See link for contractor survey if you are interested: 

https://formfacade.com/public/... Read more

Well done and rivhly deserved, brother.  That makes you a Fellow Squared.

Hello Sustainable Community Design Leaders,

The SDL Winter Summit (Jan 23-25, Tempe AZ) has a few spots still open, so we are excited to invite SCDL members to join! This is an opportunity to plug into the conversations happening in the Sustainable Design Leaders group, plus a possible chance to carve out some in-person SCDL time.

Hi everyone, 

The winning date for our Waste Management call is 3/24/2020 from 12pm-1pm PST.

Here is a link to the Google hangouts meet as well as a call in number for those without gmail accounts:

meet.google.com/cae-gdxd-qpp

(‪US‬)‪+1 240-224-0800‬

PIN: ‪996 308#‬

I am working on putting together an... Read more

Food waste is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions from landfills due to methane released during anaerobic decomposition.

BuildingGreen-Approved Composters

BuildingGreen approves in-vessel commercial composters, which require the smallest footprint and are most likely to be suitable for a densely populated area.

Why... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Embracing the Economy as a Design Challenge!

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


Understand the ways that architects, community developers and others are experimenting with new financial models to support progressive design.

Approach... Read more

Hello all, 

Many of you have been asking about the CC reporting template for 2023 projects. It is still in-progress, but we can promise a huge upgrade from the past couple of years. In particular, the new template is designed for ongoing project tracking over the course of the year (rather than purely documentaion after the fact).  ... Read more

Hello fellow SCLers,

Last year I was approached by Green Advantage, remember them from like 2005? There has been a LEED innovation credit for as long as I can remember.

Has anyone employed Green Advantage recently? Is anyone asking for it? Do clients pay for the training, is it an investment by your company, and/or a cost passed... Read more

We are working on a Core & Shell project with a developer that we work with frequently. I'm looking for advice on best approaches to achieving the Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment credit- we haven't used TALLY and done this type of analysis before. What are some approaches to achieving this credit that others have found successful? I... Read more

The current Stantec/BuildingGreen featured topic is Material Health. Read on to learn the essentials, and then dive deep to earn CEUS.

Also see the Resilient Design featured topic, and also a survey of topics trending in Stantec’s regions.... Read more

Hi Everyone!

I'm Lauren Shumaker and I'm a Project Manager/Sustainability Manager with Turner Construction.  As a long standing advocate for healthy and sustainable building materials, I look forward to expanding my ability to promote material transparency and shine a greater light on our ability to positively impact human and... Read more