I suspect that some of you have already seen this or already signed it, but just in case, for your consideration:

Add your voice to the powerful chorus for climate policy and sign the LEAD statement.

More than 500 sustainability professionals have now signed, and the number is growing! 

To learn more about this: please read... Read more

Anyone using the USG EcoSmart drywall? I'm writing a short product review and am looking for some quick feedback. I'm particularly curious about reduced greenhouse gas emissions and overall cost. Thanks! Brent

Guiding questions:

Commercial, institutional, and industrial buildings are the primary applications for large translucent wall and roof panels. Some products offer excellent energy performance while providing daylight into interior spaces.

BuildingGreen approved translucent panels

Due to concerns about BPA (bisphenol-A), BuildingGreen does... Read more

Does anyone share the same feeling of stagnation? We are supposed to hit 80% pEUI reduction now and working towards 90% mark, but I don’t see it happening for majority of our projects, even the “right” ones that we implemented integrative design process & iterative energy modeling. I am wondering whether anyone would be willing to share... Read more

Hello everyone,

I wanted to let you all know that I'm no longer at Bergmeyer and have moved on to a new position at Sustainable Brands as of this week.  As a non-architect/non-designer, it's always meant so much to me how readily I was accepted into this group and how much of your knowledge and expertise you willingly shared.  As is the... Read more

Congratulations to Jill Kurtz for her Building Design + Construction 40 Under 40 award! A much deserved recognition.

Meet the 40 Under 40 class of 2021 | Building Design + Construction (bdcnetwork.com)

Dear Gurus,

At Greenbuild this year I'll be discussing how statistics can lie (in the context of green building claims).  I'm collecting examples of this to prepare.  If any of you know of examples, please send them to me! 

Here are a few of the fun ways statistics might lie that I would be looking for: biased or too-small sample... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Why High-Performance Assemblies and Why Now? (recorded webcast)

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


1. Understand how water moves on and through buildings.
2. Describe the details of continuous air, water, and thermal barriers and... Read more

Hi all,

I see that this was a hot topic for the Winter Retreat this past year, but I am wondering how your firms manage standard materials across your practice. two aspects - standard specification items, and also designer choice materials. 

1. Do you have a spec baseline with high performance materials that you start with for all... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Design for Adaptation: Living in a Climate-Changing World.

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

1. Identify the major known causes of climate change
2. Describe the range and reliability of predicted temperature changes.
3. List... Read more

Great career opportunity to make an impact on existing buildings and emissions reductions. City of Seattle will be hiring a full time Building Emissions Reduction Technical Advisor. Closing date to apply is August 6. Please share if you know someone who may be a candidate.

Description from city of Seattle:
Want to influence large... Read more

Hi All,

We are trying to make a case for hiring a full time sustainability specialist in our firm, and one of the arguments we want to use is that the ratio of sustainability specialists vs the ratio of full time employees in our company is quite low. That being said, I want to have an understanding of where other firms stand with this... Read more

Hi Friends - I'm sure you've started to see news and posts from personal contacts about the shortage of masks, gloves and other PPE for hospital workers. Our company GCI General Contractors is pulling what we can to donate locally. Please urge your leadership to do the same! I just talked with a dear friend who is an infectious disease... Read more

Hi folks, I was asking around during Greenbuild and getting a variety of answers on this, and since our Contractor Commitments make a distinction between "GC's" mobile equipment as scope 1 and "Sub's" mobile equipment as scope 3. I know that many of us acting as "CM" claim full "operational control" of a jobsite and consider all fuel using on... Read more

Hello SDL Network,

I am working with members of the Seattle AIA COTE in planning an event that we are tentatively calling "Pathways to Decarbonization" or maybe "Decarbonization Success Stories".  The idea is for the COTE to identify entitities (school districts, local governments, higher-ed institutions, corporations, etc.) that have... Read more