Wood decking requires potentially hazardous preservatives and stains, and plastic waste is a significant environmental problem.

BuildingGreen-Approved Decking

Composite decking approved by BuildingGreen has at least 50% total recycled content. For plastic decking, post-consumer content has to be greater than 50%.

Health and... Read more

Green Gurus,

Taking advantage of the good stuff that this pandemic is leaving us with, the Boston COTE has gone virtual for its meetings. That means that all of you around the country can join our great program.

Coming up next Wednesday at 2pm EDT (11am PDT, 1pm CDT) we'll have the always inspiring Andrea Love present along with... Read more

Hi folks,

We had a fun impromptu conversation on our call last week. We got most involved in the challenge of getting developers interested in taking advantage of IRA Tax Credits. That can be quite a challenge given their business model.

We also heard about emerging data on tradeoffs between embodied and operating carbon, and how... Read more

Hi everyone,

I’d like to invite you to join this Friday’s webinar hosted by the Embodied Carbon Network: Using Whole Building LCA to Reduce Embodied Carbon within LEED and Beyond, and to follow up with a tool that I presented at this summer’s Architecture SDL summit, which ZGF has now upgraded and made free to the industry at large.... Read more

Older buildings—especially those from the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s—need our help. Many leave something to be desired in terms of aesthetics and comfort. But the truth is that they are part of the urban and suburban fabric now, and they aren’t going anywhere. As tempting as it might seem to tear them all down and replace them with high-performance... Read more

At the summit we discussed sharing which consultants our firms have used for anti-bias training and EDI education. My office will participate in the upcoming AIA Seattle pilot Intercultural Leadership Program, but that only includes two of our firm leaders. If anyone can refer a consultant in the Seattle region for all-office trainings, I'd... Read more

On our Contractor Coffee talk a few weeks ago, Emi LaFountain (Turner Construction) brought up the idea that there was a lot of blue stain wood that are being landfilled instead of used, and suggested that maybe the designers among us could find a way to turn ugly into beautiful.

I had never heard of this issue, but I was on a call the... Read more

Hi SCL,

It's my first time posting in the SCL group, as a somewhat new member. I'm grateful for any input you can provide to me!

My company, Nibbi Brothers, is currently brainstorming how to roll out an EV incentive program to employees. We recently polled our staff to get a general idea of where they stood with EV in terms of... Read more

All,

My team at WSP has a pretty awesome senior position available and I wanted to bring it the group's attention as we try to get the word out. The role is to lead our Sustainable Design Analytics group (part of our Built Ecology team), ideally based in CA or NYC, but open to wherever good candidates may be. If anyone knows someone that... Read more

Hi all,

For your planning purposes for next year, here’s info on in-person events coming up in 2024:

As you may remember, our Summer 2024 SDL Summit will be July 15-17, 2024 at IslandWood on Bainbridge Island! Tickets will be $1800, which includes the cost of meals and lodging.

We are excited to announce we will also be... Read more

Hi SDL: Check out this great interview with Paul Hawken and  COTE members Gunnar Hubbard and Kira Gould. Lots of inspirational ideas about the importance of the built environment in carbon drawdown: 

Here's that link---

https://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/aia-cote-in-conversation-with-paul-hawken_o

thanks.

... Read more

Last summer I shared a request here for folks to take a survey we had open that aimed to understand how architects and engineers are (or aren't) using climate projections to inform design. This white paper, written in collaboration with HGA and the University of Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership, reports on the results of that research. ... Read more

Anyone know of tools/methodologies for estimating embodied carbon and carbon sequestration potential of individual green infrastructure projects (e.g. bioswale along bikeway)? I've seen tools for the larger scale (e.g. land use change) as well as specific to trees (e.g. i-Tree), but these don't fully meet my needs.

Thanks!

Dennis,

I was wondering if you have any previous experience implementing SSO authentication with Salesforce before and if you had any pointers. This morning I created a developer account on Salesforce and enabled it as an identity provider and am in the process of trying to get Drupal to act as the service provider. The Salesforce... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Pest Prevention: Steps Designers Can Take!

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


Will you be at Greenbuild in Chicago? Stop by BuildingGreen/LEEDuser booth #1522 for informal conversations with guest experts and BuildingGreen editors. You are encouraged to RSVP and add the meet-ups to your calendar, but not registration is not required.

WEDNESDAY NOV. 14

10:45 AM - 11:15 AM
Dan Winter, Neil... Read more