Hi all,

We are taking a deep look at green accreditations within our firm. Gone are the days when we could say: "our staff is XX% LEED APs!" as a metric of firm progress. Here are a few questions we are asking ourselves, and I'm wondering how you approach this in your firms:

Does anyone know of studies that measure for any correlation between the prevalence of collaborative people in leadership positions with financial (or other) success for firms/organizations?

There have been well-publicized studies on how companies with women in leadership positions, and companies with more diversity, do better. (... Read more

Angela has been an integral part of the BuildingGreen team for fifteen years, serving in a variety of roles.

Her diverse career path has led her from union organizing, to cabinet-making and exhibit production for the Boston Children’s Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, to teaching woodworking at Massachusetts College of Art. She... Read more

Hi all - I’m wondering if any of you have heard of or use the National Green Building Standard, which appears to be primarily for residential and mixed use: https://www.homeinnovation.com/green.

The NGBS Green certification program is based on the ICC-700 National Green Building Standard and supposedly is the program of choice for many... Read more

I'm sure most (if not everyone) is aware that LEEDv5 is under public review until May 20, 2024. I know I need to make time to flip through it, review, and comment, but I'm having a heckuva time protecting the time in my calendar to do that. Anyone interested in joining me for a 60 - 90 minute meeting to do this together as an accountability... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Rethinking the All-Glass Building.

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


1. Describe eight reasons all-glass buildings are so popular in architecture today.
2. List the four elements Arup examined in their modeling of the effect of... Read more

Hello Green Gurus,

Here is the information for your October Peer Networks Webinar, Advocating for Electrification. We hope you will join us!

Register HERE.

Advocating for Electrification
October 26th, 2020
1pm - 2pm ET (10am - 11am PT)

Description
Hear from leaders in the AEC and policy community on... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of How Buildings Fail Their Users!

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


Explain the importance of finding common ground between a client’s project goals and the project team’s sustainability building goals for successful projects that incorporate... Read more

Hello Everyone,

I'm looking for projects in Chicago that are exemplary in at least one of the following topics: Biophilia, Sustainability, Resilience, or Well-being. I know there is overlap in these topics but we're doing an internal design exercise and are looking at how these different ideas relate and are articulated in buildings. We'... Read more

How much will it cost to achieve LEED v4 certification?

“We’d love a green building, but can we afford it?”

“We’re required to be LEED Silver, but we’re not sure how to get there under the new rating system.”

“Sure, we’re interested in LEED, as long as it doesn’t cost extra.”

LEED v4 and cost uncertainty

With... Read more

Hi everyone, on our SDL Regional Leaders call today we touched on how different offices are engaging with the Youth Climate Strike on Sept 20, and I offered to share a few resources that we've developed:  

1) Here is our public-facing official statement/endorsement: https://www.vmdo.com/architecture-blog/vmdo-youth-climate-strike/?fbclid... Read more

This is a bit off the thread of sustainable design leadership, but how much design and/or leadership can you get done without an adequate amount of caffeination?

We are looking for recommendations and advice on improving the sustainability of our breakrooms, particularly on the subject of beverage (mostly coffee, but also a fair amount... Read more

Hi SD Leaders,

As you may be aware, this past April a group of manufacturers calling themselves the Living Product 50 responded to the letters that many of us sent about five years ago advocating for transparency in their product ingredients.  A copy of that letter can be reviewed about midway through the page at this link:  https://... Read more

We are in the process of working with our ops people to figure out billability targets for my team. Something that may be useful is the firm survey that BG conducts before each retreat (See attached image). These are great, but it varies depending on which firms attend the retreat. Its also hard to tell (in some cases) which green dot is... Read more

All,

The current version of the program manual includes ID numbers for the best practices, as shown below. I know we want to keep a quick reference number or ID, but though it would be worth asking if we want to use the below, reorder them in some way, or use a different kind of ID. Opinions?

Thanks,
Jenny

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CEUs are available for reading our entire plumbing guide. Click here to learn more and take the quiz.

Excess heat generated by air conditioners, refrigerators, boilers, and water flowing through pipes typically goes unused.

BuildingGreen-Approved Water Heat Exchangers

BuildingGreen lists desuperheating technologies and... Read more

Hi everyone!

My awesome colleague, Paula Melton, is doing a short talk for USGC about mass timber and wants to know if there are SCLers in the group that can share their experience. In particular: 

"I’m wondering particularly about how supply-chain and cost issues are affecting availability and decision-making, and what the onsite... Read more