Hello SCL,

Quick reminder to sign up for our SCL Summit in May! True to usual form, we ask what’s important to YOU before we finalize an agenda. In the next couple of weeks, we will be sending out a draft agenda and asking for your feedback. Sign up now so your voice will be heard. Initial ideas so far have included:

We're now mid-way through Summer Summit season! One of the “good problem to have” challenges we’ve had at recent SDL Summits has been too many great five-minute presentations. It’s hard to find time for them all. This year, since we’ll be online anyway, we can get a jump on that by starting the five-minute presentations early in addition to... Read more

This is deep nerdy stuff, so don't say you haven't been warned.  ASHRAE has opened the first public review to its net zero standard (228).  Here's the blurb:

Standard Method for Evaluating Zero Net Energy and Zero Net Carbon Building Performance ASHRAE Standard 228-202x sets requirements for evaluating whether a building or group of... Read more

Virgin materials can come with major environmental impacts from mining, petroleum extraction, or irresponsible logging practices.

BuildingGreen-Approved Site Furnishings

All approved products contain some post-consumer recycled content, with several boasting 90%–100% overall recycled material. Wood products are responsibly sourced... Read more

Check out Fast Company's new list of innovative architecture firms with Perkins + Will and NBBJ at the top with great sustainability tag lines. 

That's a great demonstration of the mainstream importance of sustainability!

Congrats to all.

Here's the link: https://www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2018/sectors/... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Mind the Gaps: Making Existing Buildings More Airtight!

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


Identify key performance problems related to leaky building enclosures.

Examine the benefits of making existing buildings more airtight, such as... Read more

SDL folks,

I wanted to make sure that you all saw that the call for presentations is open for AIA Houston’s Gulf Coast Green conference.  GCG is the leading sustainable design conference in the region and has historically had some great participation from this group.  The theme this year is Sustainability + Technology.  Details here:... Read more

THIS WEBINAR PURCHASE AND REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.

Concrete is one of the construction industry’s largest carbon emitters, responsible for about 5% to 8% of the world’s anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, yet it is also one of the most important building materials.

There are well-proven ways to reduce... Read more

All,

I'm looking for a quick methodology to estimate GHG emissions from refrigerants on a per SF basis. Are there any benchmark studies or quick calculators similar to the embodied carbon study? https://carbonleadershipforum.org/embodied-carbon-benchmark-study-1/

Thanks,

Josh

Hi SDL,

I'm heading to Greenbuild next week and one of my teammates who's not attending has asked me to look for expo hall vendors who are involved in Design for Freedom. He's starting up a new project that he thinks could be a good DFF pilot and wants to get some manufacturer contacts. Is there any kind of informal DFF meetup happening... Read more

Hi all, 

I just wanted to post a quick message to introduce myself to the group. My name is Jeff Geisinger, and I'm an architect with Utile in Boston. We're a 50-ish person firm with a pretty broad project base, including affordable multifamily housing, institutional buildings, commercial interiors, and urban planning/public realm work... 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

If you use the mindfulMATERIALS library to easily access material transparency documentation (if not, check it out!), please take 5-10 mins of your time to fill out this quick survey and help guide the future of the library.

The mindfulMATRIALS Collaborative is an industry-led initiative, visit www.mindfulmaterials.com to learn more. ... Read more

Hi SDLers: See the great opportunity to weigh in on the 5th National Climate Assessment at a series of workshops in early 2022. 

Register here:

https://www.globalchange.gov/content/nca5-engagement-workshops?utm_sourc...

Hope all are staying well.

Mary Ann

Hi all,

For your planning purposes for next year, here’s info on in-person events coming up in 2024:

As you may remember, our Summer 2024 SDL Summit will be July 15-17, 2024 at IslandWood on Bainbridge Island! Tickets will be $1800, which includes the cost of meals and lodging.

We are excited to announce we will also be... Read more

Hello Sustainable Design Leaders!

Here are the details for an upcoming SDL Peer Network web call, this webinar will be a call to share research and resources around mass timber. Hope to see you there!
REGISTER HERE!

Embodied Carbon and Mass Timber – a shared learning conversation
March 31st, 2020
3pm - 4pm ET (... Read more