The results from the "CogFx" study are compelling, showing that people in environments with low VOCs and low ambient CO2 levels score higher on tests of cognitive function.  Specifically, they show that providing 40cfm of outdoor air per (actual live) occupant results in significantly higher scores than even the "Enhanced Ventilation" scheme... Read more

Dana Manafarm

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

Hello all,

I need future weather files for a project. We are looking at three years, 2050, 2075, and 2095 using two climate change scenarios, low emissions, and high emissions. I have seen ARUP's Weathershift site that uses RCP 8.5 and RCP 4.5. Are we assuming that 2.6 is not achievable? I would have used this as a low emissions scenario... Read more

Hi folks,

We've arranged a room where we can gather for an hour and check in during the Thursday afternoon reception time at Living Future. If you'll be there, come join us!

Thursday, May 2 at 5:30, Skykomish Room (#604, 6th floor)

The group will be mostly Sustainable Design Leaders, as that's by far our largest group, but... Read more

We have a client who is asking us to design a roughly 10 ksf Wellness Center for PHIUS 2021 certification.  The program includes several high density assembly type spaces - roughly 300 person peak occupant load for the building.  The Criteria Calculator that the architect showed us puts the building peak cooling load at 4 BTUH/sf (3000 sf/ton... Read more

How interested are you in a Sustainable MEP Leaders Summit this summer? 

Please respond to this poll ASAP, as we need to gauge interest before we finalize any details.

When: Wed. July 26 at noon to Thurs. July 27 at 1:30. 
Where: At a conference facility near Boston
Cost: $1200, which includes lodging, meals, and... 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

Hi all, 

I'm posting this on behalf of Wyck Knox of our office. He can be reached at knox@vmdo.com: 

"I’m on the editorial board of the Green Schools Catalyst Quarterly, the only peer reviewed journal dedicated to sustainable K-12 schools. (http://catalyst.greenschoolsnationalnetwork.org/gscatalyst)

One of my tasks in that... Read more

The Path to Zero Carbon is a series of rigorous, deeply researched white papers produced by Kjell Anderson and others at LMN Architects in collaboration with subject matter experts from across the industry--including some of you! Architecture 2030 is exploring capacity and funding needs to host and convene experts to regularly update the series... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Climate Change: Building Industry, You’ve Got This!

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,... Read more

Hello Green Gurus,

A close colleague of ours, Frances Yang of Arup, is distributing a survey developed in partnership with the Healthy Building Network (HBN).

The survey asks for which product categories you need more health information. Answers will help inform which product categories HBN next incorporates into its HomeFree and... Read more

HI Green Gurus. Great news for those who signed the petition to WHO last summer, and even those who didn't. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) released on March 1, 2021 a Roadmap to improve and ensure good indoor ventilation in the context of COVID-19. This document provides practical advice on how to mitigate COVID-19 through airborne... Read more

Hello there, 

I am working on a project with indoor plants and active green walls. I would like to design lights for growing plants and people at the same time (which seems to be a non-obvious problem). 
 

I was thinking of Philips, GE, Shneider Lighting, etc. Would you recommend someone I could talk to and eventually engage... Read more

We are looking for colleagues from other firms to join a conference session proposal on "Dirt cheap Net Zero" for the ASHRAE / IBPSA conference (August 12-14, 2020, Chicago). 

We just had the grand opening of our first project designed to achieve net zero, a 50-unit affordable housing project, where we upgraded from the minimums required... Read more

Stone was one of humanity’s first building materials and continues to play an important role in today’s green building industry. There are many stones used in the building industry, but the most common ones used for exterior cladding are limestone, granite, marble, slate, and sandstone.

BuildingGreen-Approved Stone and Masonry Cladding... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Whole-Building LCA Tools for LEED v4 and v4.1.

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


1.  Understand the basic goals of whole-building life-cycle assessment, including how it can improve environmental performance and contribute to credit achievement in... Read more