Greetings Gurus, following the AIA COTE Design for Economy concept, does anyone have a resource for a list of building efficiency ratio "targets" by space type? I've always struggled with this initiative. 

Hello, what acceptable levels of air quality are you using to evaluate natural ventilation strategies for your projects?  In our Living Building we only open windows when PM10, PM2.5, etc. are within LBC and WELL limits.  In a seasonally smoggy urban environment, this limits how often we can utilize natural ventilation even if the outside... Read more

Hello Green Gurus,

We’re happy to see the first round of summit registrations rolling in! We’ve had lots of questions about specific topics for the sessions. As usual, the agenda will be based on topics that are top of mind for you.

Whether you are already registered or not, please fill out the Pre Summit-Palooza Survey to help us... Read more

Hi Fellow GG: I just wanted to make sure everyone saw the great announcement from the White House yesterday about Code updates to address energy efficiency and resilience. It's great to see these kinds of initiatives that hopefully can continue for a few more years. So let's try to take advantage of them (said by someone who lives in Missouri... Read more

Hello Sustainability Leaders,

Great to see some of you at Greenbuild last week.  Thanks to all who responded to Nadav’s post-election blues post.  Lots of helpful insights and sentiments that left me very grateful to be part of this community.  On a related note, since the election I’ve been asked by people in our office and in life if... Read more

Ventilation fans, kitchen range hoods, and laboratory fume hoods can use significant amounts of energy from both the fan motor and from venting heated/cooled air out of the building—air that then has to be replaced and conditioned by energy-intensive HVAC systems.

BuildingGreen-Approved Ventilation Fans

BuildingGreen ventilation... Read more

Hi all,

We have an institutional client who has tired of LEED and is instead putting forth EarthCraft Light Commerical as a replacement certification (they like the performance verification & lower cost that ECLC provides).  Has anyone used ECLC? It seemed an odd choice but wanted to hear from others on their experiences. The... Read more

I'm working on the Best Practice pages, and I want to verify the role of "BITuser experts" (analogous to LEEDuser experts, as shown on this credit page). My questions:

Note that the role of the expert,... Read more

Trillian Dent

Our Peer Networks offer a safe haven to you and other leaders where you can support one another and work together toward sustainable solutions that are intent on moving projects and the industry forward in the best possible ways.... Read more

Hello. Has anyone tackled "tracking emissions from all company-purchased cloud computing" yet? This is in the best category for CC 2.0 and wanted to ask.

How "deep" did you go? 

This was an interesting read, but still left me a little confused about how far I need to go and even what questions to ask:   

https://medium.com/... Read more

Hive mind,

We recently learned that 3M has discontinued the production of their 3M Daylight Redirecting Film (https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/building-window-solutions-us/solutions/dayli...). This product was selected by an architecture client last year as the optimal daylight/glare control strategy for a school project, and we're assisting... Read more

Are any of you working on projects that are pursuing the additional point for Indoor Water Use Reduction on a HC project via Table 4 Compliant laboratory and medical equipment? If so, what sterilizers are the projects using?

We are receiving pushback that the Sterilizer metric doesn't make sense. I am interested in any insight or a... Read more

Hi All,

I've been signed up to give a Green Building Rating Systems overview presentation to Clean Energy Interns this summer.  I thought I'd reach out and see if anyone has an updated overview presentation like this already pulled together that they'd be willing to share. It's been a while since I've given a presenation on this topic. ... Read more

Hi Green Gurus,

We have recently had a beloved member of the HKS DesignGreen team relocate to Toronto due to work visa challenges in the US. Our loss could be your gain if you have an office in Toronto! We are hoping to collect a list of leads for him once the dust settles on his move and he begins his job hunt. If you have any... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Can We Replace Foam Insulation?

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


1. List four ways in which foam is environmentally problematic and provide four examples of foam replacements.
2. Discuss the industry's relationship with foam... Read more