Hi all,

The Sustainable MEP Leaders are assembling an industry push to expand the availability of embodied carbon data for MEP equipment. Our first steps are to send a letter to industry announcing a call to action and future educational webinars on the topic, the current draft letter is attached. In a similar manner as the... Read more

We had so much fun at our Contractor coffee talk that I reached out to our MEP friends to see if they would set up something similar.  And they have agreed to host a talk on Thursday December 2, at 1-2pm EST.  They will talk about decarbonizing buildings, on a schedule that keeps us under the 1.5° C limit and will also address strategies for... Read more

Hi friends! Despite thinking I had joined this forum on Day 1 - I hadn't! Just a quick hello and great to join you all. For anyone I don't yet know - my key focus through Sustainable Performance Institute is in helping companies institutionalize sustainability in their culture, systems and processes and helping them embark on a path of... Read more

I am forwarding this request from Kate Simonen from the Carbon Leadership Forum to support a grant application for this research. I don't know if the link will work in this format but if you have questions or want to sign you can contact me or Kate and I can send you the mail with the link my email is:  lstrain@siegelstrain.com     Thanks... Read more

HI All,

Really hoping to get some insight from all you wonderful people on how the Sustainability teams are set-up in your construction companies. As mentioned in my introduction post, I am the first ever Sustainability Engineer hired by my company.....until now all the work was handled by project teams. Which worked for them in the... Read more

A couple questions for this group. I know we're having a Green Commons meeting on this next week. But can anyone comment on the following questions?

-Have you or your firm split the benefit of the 179D with a client? Is this typical?

-Is prevailing wage a requirement for all 179D benefit, or does it follow the same lines as... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of How to Build Green At No Added Cost

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


1. Know how to make a value proposition for green buildings.
2. Explain how shrinking a green building and investing in its envelope can reduce first costs of its... Read more

Fellow SCLers,

This is a small ball item, but I recently had a conversation with a safety glove manufacturer called Traffi. They make PPE, but in particular they have a line of gloves that they promote as carbon neutral. Their organization's operations are offset with retired RECs, but one line of their gloves, LXT, is offset by a... Read more

We are cautiously rekindling the age-old debate: how are we balancing modeling software for design /visualization and performance analysis during early phase of design.  

We are heavy SketchUp users for early design, and most of our staff have access to COVE tool for early performance analysis. Problem is, I’d rather use Revit to COVE... Read more

Hi: SD Leaders.  It was so nice to see so many of you at Greenbuild in Chicago. By now I'm sure all have seen the announcement of the release of the Fourth National Climate Assessment Report vol 2. (https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/) It's well worth a deep read - so much important and extremely informative material. I want to draw your... Read more

Here's a file upload.

Was anyone else surprised to see ASHRAE 228-2023 using eGRID Subregions for both the Regional Electricity Source Energy Conversion Factor and Regional Electricity Greenhouse Gas Emission Factors? In the past I have used eGRID sub-regions but also State and local utility conversion factors depending on what energy or operational carbon story I... 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

Hello, 

We are becoming involved with the design/construction of a new k-12 school that is intersted in entertaining geothermal. Does anyone have payback studies on geothermal?

Thanks!

Protection against corrosion is the primary function of steel coatings, which often contain corrosion inhibitors, volatile solvents, heavy metals, and other hazardous chemicals.

These coatings are specified when steel is used structurally, outdoors, or in high-use areas. In these situations, hazardous coatings are often applied off-site... Read more

Hello SMEPers,

I’m hoping to crowd source some anecdotes for a guest lecture I’ll be giving at Yale’s architecture school. The topic is integrated design (especially between architects and engineers) and how it enables better sustainability outcomes.

John Boecker has this great story about how choosing a paint color with higher... Read more