News Brief
Carol Venolia, Publisher/Editor
If “progressive construction” can be defined as pushing the tools and techniques of conventional builders in the direction of less environmental destruction, then Building With Nature’s material goes beyond progressive, into the forefront of visionary thinking about construction. This bimonthly newsletter, now... Read moreNews Brief
The American Institute of Architects convention in Boston this past June was the setting for a changing of the guard in the American architectural establishment. The Institute’s first woman president took the reins, the Committee on the Environment became its largest and fastest growing committee, and the first installments of the Environmental... Read more
Feature
Carefully stake the building site and driveway, remove trees that are within the excavation area or too close, then erect a fence to keep heavy equipment off fragile soils and away from nearby trees.
Protecting trees and the local ecosystem when building on previously unbuilt land is a vitally important—yet often overlooked—part of environmentally responsible construction. Healthy trees and shrubs can reduce a home’s environmental impact and directly benefit homeowners in a number of ways:
•Enhancing comfort by shielding the house... Read more
Feature
Ozone depletion and global warming are two of our most serious environmental problems—and foam insulation materials containing CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) contribute significantly to both of these problems. The environmentally concerned builder or designer should make it a highest priority to avoid them. Even many of the non-CFC alternatives... Read more
Op-Ed
Introducing the first issue of our newsletter.
Buildings have a tremendous impact on the environment. In North America, buildings and the building industry account for about 30% of carbon dioxide emissions, 35-40% of ozone depletion, 20-30% of municipal solid waste, vast quantities of natural resource consumption, and dramatic loss of open space each... Read more
Feature
Susan Maxman is the first AIA president to make sustainable design a priority.
Q.Where would you say architects as a group stand on environmental issues?
A.Architects tend to be reactive rather than proactive. It is important that we take the lead on these environmental issues. The architecture schools in particular tend to be conservative. They just aren’t... Read more
Forum topic
Hello Everyone - we posted this to SAL, but also wanted to reach the Green Gurus folks!
To prepare for a co-creative workshop at the Environmental Design Research Association annual conference, "Health in All Places" our team ( myself, B. Sanborn, Penny Cole) is soliciting input via an all-questions-optional survey regarding ungendered... Read more
Forum topic
Hi everyone,
The winning date for our Waste Management call is 3/24/2020 from 12pm-1pm PST.
Here is a link to the Google hangouts meet as well as a call in number for those without gmail accounts:
meet.google.com/cae-gdxd-qpp
(US)+1 240-224-0800
PIN: 996 308#
I am working on putting together an... Read more
Forum topic
All,
I am on the Board of an Environmental organization in the Catskills (The Catskill Center for Conservation and Development https://catskillcenter.org/). We are trying to develop a policy on siting of clean energy projects. For example, we know of one town that bans PV's that can be seen from the road, another is a proposal to... Read more
Basic page
Portal
The current Stantec/BuildingGreen featured topic is Material Health. Read on to learn the essentials, and then dive deep to earn CEUS.
Also see the Resilient Design featured topic, and also a survey of topics trending in Stantec’s regions.... Read more
Forum topic
Hi All,
I am looking for a lifecycle analysis consultant to work on a feasibility study in New York. They should have capacity to analyze and compare various architectural, structural and mechanical components for environmental impacts, primarily GHG emissions. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated.
_Ilana
Forum topic
Now that Ben has set up access restrictions, we have to decide what message to put on "paywall" screens. For example, on the Best Practices pages, the "Official language" tab is fully accessible, but if an anonymous user clicks on any of the other tabs they'll hit a login wall:
https://live-bituser.pantheonsite.io/best-practice/energy-... Read more
Forum topic
Hello everyone,
Wondering if anyone has evaluated/considered/specified wood fiber insulation for use in lieu of mineral wool as the exterior wall insulation? Am mostly looking to better understand domestic availability, r-value and fire/combustibility.
We have a multi-family building in DC where the client is interested in using... Read more
Forum topic
I am still basking in the afterglow of this week's summit, and getting ready to share nuggets of wisdom with my colleagues at our all-staff next week. I was so immersed in the moment that documenting the outlines and choices presented for breakouts slipped my mind. Is there somewhere to access these slides to refresh my memory?
Thanks... Read more
Reports, Courses, Study Guides, Live Webinars
THIS WEBINAR PURCHASE AND REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.
Forum topic
Hi folks,
We had a great conversation about this today, following up on a past agenda item that we didn't get to, but that Kim wrote about a few weeks ago on a different thread. He said:
We didn't get to item 7: "Question about company size as a qualification for the network". I'd like to offer this input: I'd like to open it... Read more
Forum topic
Hello Green Gurus,
We have an exciting cross-network opportunity coming up next week! Members of the SDL (Design Leaders) and SCL (Construction Leaders) networks will share about their experience at the recent SDL/SCL Summits. We will also preview the Reports for each Summit, and share some news about other events coming up this year.... Read more

