News 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
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
Quiz
Welcome to the quiz portion of Solar Thermal Hot Water, Heating, and Cooling.
Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:
1. Explain active and passive; direct and indirect; and low-, medium-, and high-temperature solar thermal systems.
2. Distinguish between the three most... Read more
Forum topic
Hello Green Gurus, here's a reminder that this webinar is happening one week from today!
Register here.
Planning for Resilience in a Climate-Changed World
Thursday, February 11th, 2021
3 - 4pm ET (12 - 1pm PT)
Description: The world is focused on Covid 19 right now, but the pandemic is just a dress rehearsal for... Read more
Forum topic
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
Forum topic
Sasaki seeks a Sustainability Coordinator for Planning & Urban Design Sustainability Coordinator with experience in planning or urban design for our Boston office, to work on a variety of college and university campuses, urban mixed-use districts, corporate campuses and resilience planning. You'll work me and with Alison Nash, our... Read more
Forum topic
Has anyone heard about batu or cumaru as substitutes for ipe? I am looking for a durable deckling material, and would appreciate your recommendations for sustainable choices!
Quiz
Welcome to the quiz portion of Behind the Logos: Understanding Green Product Certifications.
Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:
Explain certification basics: standard development, the degree of separation between the certifier and the company whose product is being certified, and... Read moreForum topic
Just had a contractor call who said they had a university client interested in using natural-gas-fed fuel cells as an alternative to grid power in some applications. They were interested in an intermediate scale: 300kW.
Anyone with any experience with these devices?
Forum topic
Hello Green Gurus,
Here is the information for February's Peer Networks Webinar, A Tale of Two Working Groups: Decarbonizing Existing Buildings & Defining and Measuring Resilient Outcomes. We hope you will join us!
Register HERE
A Tale of Two Working Groups: Decarbonizing Existing Buildings & Defining and Measuring... Read more
Forum topic
Hi SD Leaders: I wanted you to know about a terrific initiative that is part of the Project Drawdown effort called Project Drawdown Ecochallenge. The Project Drawdown EcoChallenge is a fun and social way to learn about and take action on the 100 most substantive solutions to global warming.
Drawdown EcoChallenge provides tools and... Read more
Forum topic
Dear SDL community,
I am supporting one of our health authorities in developing a business case for regenerating healthcare infrastructure as part of the indicative design for a new hospital and cancer centre. While I will be deepening this inquiry through the lens of a PhD over the next few (hopefully 4 or less!) years, I - and we - are... Read more
Forum topic
Welcome to the Sages forum! Some of us have been hanging out together for ages, but others might be new to this group (if not to sustainable design/construction). So let’s start by introducing ourselves, with some highlights from our career and history with the Peer Networks, and why we’ve now joined this one.
My career history is pretty... Read more
