The Getting to Zero Forum is happening next week in Minneapolis, Minnesota (my home state!). Anyone else from this group planning to attend in person? I'm especially curious as the Forum comes so quickly on the heals of the Living Future Conference.

As a proud Minnesotan, I have a hard time imagining how anyone could ignore an... Read more

Hi everyone,

Since I know we have a lot of talented people in this group, I'd like to reach out to those of you based in Los Angeles and see if anyone is interested in talking at an upcoming Living Building Challenge collaborative event.  The topic of the meeting is "Selecting Healthy Materials 101: From the perspectives of... Read more

We have a client who just hired their first director of sustainability. That person is looking to connect with other people in similar roles within Healthcare / Hospital organizations. Does anyone have organizations they have worked with who have someone in this role (I know it is less common than other markets) or have a healthcare specific... Read more

Are FSC glulams available? By many manufacturers? Which ones?

Hi All,

We’re planning a conference here in Boston, October 23rd & 24th, focused on Designing for People.  We’re rounding out our speaker lineup and I thought I’d reach out to you all for ideas.  If you had an all-star list of people speaking on Health and Wellness in the Built Environment who would be on that list?  Send me 3 names... Read more

Wondering if we can have a dialog on HVAC load calculation software... we are currently still using Trane Trace 700, but with the future migration to Trace 3D+ coming are looking into other options. Never used HAP but I haven't heard great things, and we dabbled in IES VE for a while, but went back to Trace since at that time there was no... Read more

Hi All,

I will be catching up on learning units over Thanksgiving weekend and I am wondering if anyone else is experiencing the challenge of credential maintenance of their CPHD? Ideally we would have a client go for Passive House accreditation on a project, but lacking that, how are folks maintaining their 20 credits per year? For... Read more

Has anyone here had success in comparing life cycle impacts for different window system options? We have been trying to compare different options but have only been able to source one expired EPD for an actual window (frame + glazing). Is the typical approach to separately compare glass and framing options? Are we missing something or is there... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of The Cost of Comfort: Climate Change and Refrigerants!

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


Explain how refrigerants work, the energy challenges they present for design teams, and the opportunities for efficiency and building performance.

... Read more

You’ve probably heard that wood products are carbon neutral. You might also have heard that timber harvesting causes immense carbon emissions.

Which is it?

Could it be both?

Who else is playing in this year’s #SustainabilityScavengerHunt by BE+!?

Meredith Elbaum and team at Built Environment Plus are launching the second annual hunt this Friday. Teams of up to four people compete over a couple of weeks to complete missions and bring awareness to environmental topics.

It was a lot of fun last year - we... Read more

Hi all,

As follow-up to the summit, I’m attaching a draft letter on MEP embodied carbon written by our group (Luke, Kristy, Adam).  The goal is to start a dialogue with manufacturers to include embodied carbon info for major equipment.  Will explain more on the call.  Please read in advance if you get the chance!

Thanks!

I am working on a new community development in St. Paul that is striving to achieve net-zero energy. We are able to get there mathematically by using the extra generation on light industrial rooftops to offset medium-density housing energy use (all buildings are anticipated to have different, private owners). However, this puts us over... Read more

Hi Leaders,

If your experience was anything like mine, it was a stressful night. I'm feeling a hunger for talking with smart, passionate people about what this all means.

I'm not interested in making this into a political forum--we can all get plenty of that elsewhere. But if you'd like to hang out and just process how you're... Read more

Is anyone aware of research or guidance that has looked at VOC’s from roofing products and ventilation intakes? I’ve done some searching, and focus is mainly on managing the construction process to reduce installer exposure. 

Thanks for any help!

Tate

SDL Show & Tell in Chicago, Tuesday, November 13 from 7-9:30 PM (CST)
HKS | 125 S Clark Street | Chicago, IL 60603

What better way to kick off your time at Greenbuild than with snap previews of the best sessions? The Sustainable Design Leaders Show & Tell is back, brought to you by BuildingGreen and HKS! This event is by... Read more

We have several projects that are small enough that we don't hire consultants to run energy models. I just received permission to do some training so that I can run these models myself. I am looking at doing this training on eQuest:

https://www.udemy.com/course/equest-energy-modelling-detailedtraining/?c...

I am thinking it would... Read more