Hello all, 

Any Fitwel experts out there? I have a 30,000 sf boutique hotel + spa client who would like to certify under the Fitwel rating system but Fitwel folks are telling me that no scorecard is currently available to hotel clients (can't use mulit-tenant or resi, that a hotel scorecard is under development). Has anyone used Fitwel... Read more

Hi friends,

We recently tracked our water consumption on site during the structural demolition of some existing reinforced concrete buildings.  The new OSHA silica regulations required us to keep dust to virtually zero, so we had a bunch of mist cannons and water hoses pumping water around the clock.  We consumed ~855,000 gallons in a... Read more

Board insulation has good thermal performance ranging from about R-4 to R-8 and is used as an integral part of a building envelope’s continuous insulation system.

Because board insulation is used on the building exterior, it is not always subject to the same material health and emissions requirements as batt insulation used inside the... Read more

Hello everyone,

We are far too often asked to include parking in our buildings (because why shouldn't the average family have 2.1 kids, .8 pets, and 3 cars) and it always grates on me that we are putting so many resources (natural and monetary) into something that is almost certainly single use and will need to be demolished in 30 years... 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

Welcome to the quiz portion of Energy Modeling: Early and Often.

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


1. Explain how energy codes and standards are pushing commercial projects beyond what they can do without modeling.
2. Describe the energy and cost-savings benefits... Read more

Hi all - I wanted to see if anyone will be in the Chicago area for the upcoming ASHRAE conference (21-23rd) and is interested in an informal meet-up? Or if you aren't going but are already in the Chicago area? Let me know and I'll see if we can organize meet-up!

Love the profile of Anica as the "featured member" on AIA's website--congratulations, Anica!

It's great to see the "just do it" attitude to achieving the 2030 goals: "We do not rely on clients to tell us to design a high-performance building; we are going to do it anyway, it's our job."

Hello Green Gurus,

Here's another Peer Networks Webinar for September, Prospects for Sustainable Buildings in Congress. We hope you will join us!

Reminder: This webinar is for Peer Networks members only.

I'm waiting to confirm with the presenters whether this will be recorded. Watch this space for updates!

Register... Read more

Trillian Dent

Hi SMEP Leaders,

Our next monthly call is Tuesday, June 13 at 2:00 pm Eastern.

We've had a great series of conversations over the past year kicked off by short presentations from you all: interesting projects, confounding questions, emerging technologies and design strategies. It would be great to line up some more of those for... Read more

Posting at the request of Sara Bayer of Magnusson Architecture and Planning, who will soon join this group:

"In our quest to achieve Passive House EUI levels in all of our multifamily projects in a healthy manner, we are encountering pushback on the one item that is not really code min just yet (in NYC) and adds real cost:  ERV’s.  Our... Read more

Does anyone know of reports/studies of financial benefits from the developer perspective on Passive House multifamily projects? Specifically looking for market rate (not affordable) housing examples where there is a direct market advantage (higher rents) for PH buildings. 

Hi folks,

Our next private webinar is coming right up:

Fusion of Design + Performance: How Payette Was Recognized As AIA Firm of the Year

Tuesday, February 12, 1:00 pm EST

Payette is the first AIA Firm Award recipient to have been nominated jointly by the Committee on Design and Committee on the Environment. Z Smith... Read more

Practitioners interested in reducing the embodied carbon of buildings are likely now used to considering the impact of different materials, like mass timber or low-carbon concrete. Low-carbon construction, however, may be less familiar. 

Contractors are just... 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