A couple Minnesota cities are considering adding electrification to their sustainable building policy (required for new construction receiving City financial assistance). Concerned that the market isn't ready for a full-on mandate, they are considering a more moderate approach of requiring developers/design teams to conduct an electrification... Read more

Hi all,

We are looking to study Passive House on a couple small multifamily projects. Our understanding is that WUFI Passive only integrates with SketchUp at this time. Our BIM manager has been trying to find an example of a firm that works in Revit and uses WUFI Passive, to point him in the right direction on workflow. I offered to ask... Read more

THIS WEBINAR PURCHASE AND REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.

Are your clients asking you about wellness? You’re not alone. Employee health and wellbeing has been called the ‘second wave of sustainability.’ In this hour-long live webinar, GreenStep Education’s Alex Spilger will walk you through Fitwel certification, including its requirements... Read more

Hello all, 

Wondering if anyone has experience with lead limits in electrical cable and wiring? 

LEED for Healthcare allows a limit of 300 ppm of lead in electrical wire and cabling - my search for compliant products has been all dead ends. (MRc PBT Source Reduction - lead, cadmium, and copper)

Acceptable regulations for... Read more

Under a high carbon scenario, most of North America will be 2 degrees C hotter by 2050. Meantime, we're designing buildings that will still be around in 2050, to codes that don't yet factor in chronic risks associated with climate change. I want to explain these risks to my colleagues; I'm hoping some of our green gurus can help answer the... Read more

Here are additional slide decks from people who presented in one of our general sessions: at Max's Pot, or in the mornings. Also Jerelyn's Wednesday evening presentation on BuildingGreen's work on sustainability literacy.

Among those included here are my slides on the Rich Earth Institute and urine diversion into fertilizer--did you... Read more

Hello! 

We have several projects that are either pending ILFI Zero Carbon certification or the owner is planning to purchase offsets to cover construction emissions. Thus far, I have not considered this in our corporate footprint reporting. However, we are including A5 emissions whenever feasible and multiplying that performance over the... Read more

Hi All, I was initially reluctant to share this, but I've seen similar posts and I think it's in line with our mission and interests so I'll go ahead with it.

Tomorrow 12/9 at 1 PM EST I'm moderating a panel of industry leaders in public health (as it pertains to buildings), construction finance, and project development to review the... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Ten Strategies for Growth in a Recession.

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


1. Understand the importance of diversifying.
2. Restate the benefits to doing energy-modeling analysis very early in the design process.
3. Discuss how... Read more

Hello all, 

Any Fitwel experts out there? I have a 30,000 sf boutique hotel + spa client who would like to certify under the Fitwel rating system but Fitwel folks are telling me that no scorecard is currently available to hotel clients (can't use mulit-tenant or resi, that a hotel scorecard is under development). Has anyone used Fitwel... Read more

Received answers from below questions from NIST Andy Persily

1. Is there a preferred bookends range of CO2 for both “optimal” energy and human performances?

Andy: No

2.Is the ASHRAE ventilation of 1000-1200 ppm average, probably not based on performance, suggesting current ventilation rate is sub-optimal with cognitive... Read more

There seems to be a slight glitch in that it was posting Seonhee's picture (love Snoopy!) for the post that Duane sent in - is that correctable?

**Just noticed that you can click on the "Edit" tab on the post and correct (e.g. mis-spelled names (Sorry, Seonhee!).**

Resilience Resource Database

The Defining and Measuring Resilient Outcomes Working Group has been developing a Resilience Resource Database as a repository for resources related to the topic of resilience in our built environment. 

This database and map are endeavoring to show resources for resilient design across the country to... Read more

Dear SD Leaders: I'm writing to make sure that you've seen a letter that has been circulating protesting the ‘pro-asbestos’ rule change the EPA is considering.  The letter is soliciting firm signatures/owners (as opposed to individuals).  I encourage you to sign and/or get your firm to sign ASAP. 

Please forward as well to any firm from... Read more

HGA is seeking a Sustainable Materials Specialist to join our team! 

The role involves working with project teams to educate, research, and support decision-making related to sustainable materials and, in connection with sustainability experts across the firm, developing resources and tools to elevate HGA’s materials baseline.

The... Read more