We just wrapped up an awesome Winter Summit at Gulf State Park in Alabama. I'll be posting flip chart pages and notes here--we can use this forum to continue the conversations. 

Apologies for the flurry of emails, but it seems best to start separate threads for each topic. If you'd rather limit the flow, you can switch to daily digest... Read more

Hey there SDLs!

We're having a debate in our firm about whether we're at a tipping point to hire an in-house energy modeler - someone capable of doing an MEP-caliber energy model inside a design firm. I know some you have in-house energy modelers on staff and I'd love to hear your experiences:

- How did you know your firm was at a... Read more

Does anyone know if GreenTag is a legitimate Product Certification?

http://www.globalgreentag.com/

thanks

len

Gypsum is calcium sulfate dehydrate, which is mined or produced as a byproduct of flue gas desulphurization (FGD) from coal-fired power plants. FGD gypsum may contain trace contaminants from coal processing, but not enough to represent a hazard to users. Years ago, some imported products created indoor air quality problems that required... Read more

Sustainability leadership has requested that you take this quiz to help assess sustainability literacy across the firm. Your own results will be presented to you at the end of the quiz but will not be shared with anyone else. Only aggregated, anonymized results will be available to others.

Please don’t do research to inform your answers... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of 20 Ways to Advance Sustainability in the Next Four Years!

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


Identify the challenges to green building during a time of environmental urgency and political unrest, and find opportunity in these challenges.

... Read more

Hello Community, 

For those of you who will be in San Diego shortly for Greenbuild, and want to come together to honor Lance, please see the details at :

https://celebratinglance.eventbrite.com

We will meet up outside at 5pm on the 22nd. Details in the evite. 

Please share with anyone outside of this list who was a... Read more

Hi all, how many of your companies have started ESG reporting? If so, are you working with a consultant to calculate your impact of business operations? Or are you calculating it yourself? Are you purchasing offsets? I've been getting a lot of cold calls about this, mainly from a UK-based company. We are not yet at this point, but it seems like... Read more

Hi SDLers-

Like many of you, I have found myself involved in our firm’s nascent Social & Racial Justice working group. Our group is laser focused on advancing BIPOC and is seeking to understand more about approaches our firm can take on advocacy, transparency, and training. They are interested in hearing about specific approaches... Read more

The NYC SDL Group met to discuss the recent SDL Summit Report. The North Star tenant "About the well being of all species" spurred discussion of an example of building's impact on other species: bird collisions. Links to some resources to address this issue are below. Feel free to ask me and/or Stefan Knust about it. We would be more than happy... Read more

For those who work for companies that track and offset their carbon each year, how do you do it? Looking for best practices and how you vetted where to send your money. Don't need insight on quantifying carbon footprint, just offsetting.  Thanks!

Mithun has a part-time employee Jake Minden who is a graduate student at the University of Washington. Jake is participating in a year-long research fellowship focused on equitable design practice. He has developed a survey to collect perceptions of workplace culture. 

Please consider taking 10-minutes to help gather this valuable... Read more

The Sustainable MEP Leaders peer network brings together the most committed sustainability directors from leading MEP design firms throughout the U.S. and Canada. We invite you to apply for membership.

We look for the... Read more

Anyone has experience with CertiPUR-US? I’m having a hard time finding assurance documentation for foam padding for seating.

I would appreciate any feedback or experience on CertiPUR-US program or any recommendations on product.

Has anyone used the new 3M Smog-Eating Granules on a roof before? Malarkey and Soprema are offering this as an option for their roof shingles. Seems like a great technology for urban areas, but I'd be curious to see if anyone here has actually successfully specified and installed it.

https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/roofing-granules-us/... Read more

Greetings, All.

The Resilient Outcomes Working group has been putting together a resource list (and map) of resources for supporting resilience-focused design across the US.  So far, we have around 50 resources on the list, ranging from the AIA Resilient Design Toolkit to local Vulnerability and Adaptation reports and tools.

We... Read more

I wanted to post a reminder for you all that the Sustainable Design Leaders Summit will be kicking off with a Pre-Summit workshop in Seattle July 31st, 9am - 3pm. If you are interested in joining your peers for this workshop, please see the registration link below. Also, if you know someone in the Seattle area that would be good to have in the... Read more