Hello everyone. I am seeking some guidance on crafting an arguement for why my firm should support a change to the Washington State Energy Code which would mandate electric heat pumps for commercial builidngs.  AIA WA is working on the state commercial energy code update under consideration this spring.  We have been invited to sign on to an... Read more

Hi all -- 

We have a national restaurant client who is looking to source furniture (both indoor and outdoor) made with a minimum of 40% salvaged/recycled material, and they're very interested in finding a vendor that's woman- and/or minority-owned or that would qualify as a "disadvantaged organization" (their terminology).  They would... Read more

Electrochromic glazing holds the promise of less glare and better energy efficiency with fewer moving parts. The reality is much more complicated and includes information you won’t... Read more

The Winter Summit participants have had this for a few weeks now, and no one has screamed about anything being inaccurate, misleading, or too revealing, so it's time to share the latest Summit report more widely. 

Per our long-standing policy, this report can be shared outside our "safe space"--it's a great way to share the wealth of... Read more

Hello All,

News Bulletin: The 2020 SDL Winter Summit will be held January 29th - January 31st, 2020 at The Lodge at Gulf State Park, Alabama!

During the 2019 Winter Summit, we discovered such an amazing venue at the Gulf State Park in Alabama that we’ve decided to go back! This incredible beachfront hotel designed by Lake|Flato is... Read more

I'm advising a nonprofit organization (the Retreat Farm) on whose board I sit that is renovating a large, 8,000 sf, 19th Century barn into a large community meeting space and wedding venue. We are looking for a source of either folding or stacking chairs that are durable, low-maintenance, and environmentally responsible. We may be seeking... 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

Hi all, 

Thank you again to those of you who attended the Spring 2024 SCL Summit! We had an amazing day of learning from one another, including from our presenters.

The slides for the 5-minute presentations are below, as well as the BuildingGreen slides from the Summit. Please be aware that we have permission from all of the... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Reexamining Priorities in Green Building.

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


1. Define green building priorities from a few different angles (separating process priorities from outcome priorities).
2. Differentiate those priorities... Read more

Team,

Many of you saw the BlackRock letter.

https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/investor-relations/larry-fink-ceo-letter

Should we hold our consultants and suppliers accountable for climate change?

Best,
LL

Welcome to the quiz portion of Natural Ventilation: The Nine Biggest Obstacles and How Project Teams Are Beating Them

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


1. Explain the primary reasons to design a building for natural ventilation.
2. Understand how cost, comfort... Read more

Hello Sustainable Construction Leaders!

I have an exciting announcement today, fall Peer Network events are now open for registration! You can see all the event details and register here!

Based on feedback we received from past events and the most recent surveys, we decided against doing one long week of events for this fall and... Read more

How much does every designer need to know? How to support that basic literacy?

Guiding Questions:

Hey Gurus:

I have a client who is interested in reporting to their superiors on the status on energy codes in different states across the US. They are hoping to find some kind of summary that might show relative costs for HVAC systems under the various energy codes in effect across states. They are also interested in data that is... Read more

We've gotten some requests recently, so it must be time to update our salary survey. For those didn't participate in the past, we last did one in 2015, and collected some really interesting data about compensation for SDLeaders.

Our first step in getting this started is to recruit a few volunteers who are interested enough in the data we... Read more