Hello Green Gurus!

The Climate Smart Wood Working Group would like to give a boost to this Ecotrust initiative to support the market proliferation of mass timber with science that attributes carbon impacts to wood building products. As many of you are aware, a couple years ago, the University of Washington partnered with Ecotrust to... Read more

The Minnesota CLF chapter’s Specification Subgroup (myself, Andy Marolt/Ryan Companies, Laura Eder/ESG, Java Nyamjav/MSR Design, with input from Annie Perkins/SFI) recently collaborated on a draft set of specification templates incorporating embodied carbon requirements into product performance and action submittals. This work builds on sample... Read more

We are looking into different building skin materials from including GFRC and FRP (amongst others) as alternatives to precast. I remember years ago (when I was at LAS) we had retrofitted a Federal Courthouse with FRP for blast resistance. I kind of remember that at the time it had some pretty high offgassing concerns. I haven't been able to... Read more

Who else missed Building Green’s annual April Fool’s issue?

Please share your thoughts in preparation for our monthly call this Thursday (call info below). 

Given these items that are changing at AIA, are any of them motivating changes within your firm? If so, how? If not, why?

1. Awards criteria now includes COTE Measures of Design Excellence

2. Code of Ethics now includes rule on... Read more

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

Hi Leaders,

We've pulled together some highlights from each of the three half-day cross-network workshops that happened in October. This report captures the gist of each workshop:

Welcome to the quiz portion of "Spec This, Not That: Avoiding Toxic Chemicals in Commercial Building Projects"!

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


Producing a ton of cement releases approximately a ton of CO2 into the atmosphere, but accessories like finishes and additives can also be major sources of VOCs, soil contamination, and human health risks.

BuildingGreen-Approved Concrete Accessories

BuildingGreen approves the following concrete accessories:

Hello friends,

We are looking for recommendations for solar photovoltaic consultants to support one of our projects. We have used SEI in the past, but would like to develop a deeper bench and approach it from another angle. We aren’t too concerned about the consultant’s location, but are looking for someone that is on top of the current... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of The Product Transparency Movement: Peeking Behind the Corporate Veil.

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


1. Describe an EPD, naming at least six characteristics that it attempts to quantify.
2. Explain what the HPD Open Standard... Read more

I'm writing an article surveying and comparing various embodied carbon tools, including whole-building LCA tools. I'm looking for interviewees who have used at least TWO of the three major LCA tools currently in use in North America (Tally, Athena IE, and One Click LCA). If you've tried all three, all the better! If you or someone in your firm... Read more

Hi all - back in May I asked you for help reviewing our series ahead of publication. The first 5 posts are up, with the 6th a day or so away. Thanks to everyone who has helped out! 

It's a fail-forward effort to help us figure out what we are missing in our climate action on our projects and advocacy. Enjoy, and let me know if and how... Read more

Hi All,
We have a date and time for the next SCL Carbon Working Group Meeting, "see" you there:

Topic: SCL Carbon Working Group Mtg #2
Time: Mar 31, 2020 09:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://sellen.zoom.us/j/595221970

Meeting ID: 595 221 970

Dial in info:
        +1... Read more

Hi everyone,

I am writing to let you know about a change we are making here at BuildingGreen. We will be changing the name of this all-Peer Networks forum “Green Gurus” to “Green Commons.” 

We’ve made this decision after learning that using the term “guru” outside of its cultural context is appropriative. In an effort to center... Read more