Hi all,

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

We are excited to announce that we will be hosting an all-peer-networks workshop for SMEPL, SDL, and SCL members at Miller Hull’s office in Seattle on July 15, 2024. We’re still working out the details, but given the recent... Read more

Was anyone else surprised to see ASHRAE 228-2023 using eGRID Subregions for both the Regional Electricity Source Energy Conversion Factor and Regional Electricity Greenhouse Gas Emission Factors? In the past I have used eGRID sub-regions but also State and local utility conversion factors depending on what energy or operational carbon story I... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Waste Water, Want Water.

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


1. Help clients make sound, holistic decisions about wastewater that take into account site, municipal infrastructure, energy goals, occupant needs, and maintenance considerations.... Read more

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

Welcome to the quiz portion of Mouth, Meet Money: Case Studies of Outcome-Based Design!

Important: This quiz covers all related articles within this topic. Scroll to the bottom of the article page to find links to all the articles covered by this quiz.

Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be... Read more

Just had a contractor call who said they had a university client interested in using natural-gas-fed fuel cells as an alternative to grid power in some applications.  They were interested in an intermediate scale: 300kW.

Anyone with any experience with these devices? 

I’m a volunteer member of the ASHRAE 209 ("Energy Simulation Aided Design for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings”) Committee.  Are you familiar with ASHRAE 209? It was first published in 2018, and it outlines a process for incorporating energy modeling into the design process. 

From the forward: 

 ASHRAE Standard 209... Read more

I hope this post finds you all well. Some news to share.  I have recently made a decision to leave Thornton Tomasetti with an eye toward finding another opportunity to use my 30+ years of green building experience, education, and advocacy to have an even larger impact on climate change. I am going to move slowly to ensure my next chapter is the... Read more

Hi all,

We are hiring for a Sustainability manager position in Northern California. Webcor is a GC firm, headquartered in SF with offices in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose.

This is a flagship opportunity to align with a large tech clients innovative sustainability goal in downtown San Jose, and act as the sustainability... Read more

Hi SDL: Check out this great interview with Paul Hawken and  COTE members Gunnar Hubbard and Kira Gould. Lots of inspirational ideas about the importance of the built environment in carbon drawdown: 

Here's that link---

https://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/aia-cote-in-conversation-with-paul-hawken_o

thanks.

... Read more

I have a colleague researching existing, proposed, or anticipated changes to urban planning and building codes that encourage lower carbon footprints.

Can anyone comment on or point me to resources on how cities are using carbon footprint analysis and carbon reduction in permitting, now or in the future?

Some specific topics that... Read more

Hi all!

I've heard several people talk about developing tools for assessing/codifying a client's values for a project as part of an integrated design process (ie. a set of questions, survey, etc.). Would anyone be willing to share?

(Z, are you listening? I specifically recall you mentioning a tool like this...)

Thanks!... Read more

Hi,

Does anyone have experience or advice with installing temporary weather stations to gather data? We have a couple of projects coming up on existing occupied sites, and I would like to get what data I can from the sites to supplement the city weather file which is, as always, measured absolutely miles from site. There are thousands of... Read more

For those folks who are on our retrofit electrfication roadmap post-palooza-sub-sub-working group ;-) , I thought you might be interested in these three guides just released from BEI in collaboration with S. Winter Associates.

Here are the three Playbooks:

Hi SD Leaders: I wanted you to know about a terrific initiative that is part of the Project Drawdown effort called Project Drawdown Ecochallenge. The Project Drawdown EcoChallenge is a fun and social way to learn about and take action on the 100 most substantive solutions to global warming. 
Drawdown EcoChallenge provides tools and... Read more