Fluid-applied flooring (FAF), or resinous flooring, is made from various hazardous chemicals that can be released into the building, especially during application.

BuildingGreen-Approved Flooring

BuildingGreen selects FAF that meets CARB emissions standards AND either contains recycled content or offers other positive... Read more

Hey All,

Those of us in the electrification working group have been talking about the impending release of this new NREL tool, which provides hourly (TOU) GHG emissions forecasts for grid regions around the country. This will be a useful tool in evaluating the impacts of HVAC electrifcation, EV integration, load shifting, storage, etc. I... Read more

Hello Everyone,

I'm looking for projects in Chicago that are exemplary in at least one of the following topics: Biophilia, Sustainability, Resilience, or Well-being. I know there is overlap in these topics but we're doing an internal design exercise and are looking at how these different ideas relate and are articulated in buildings. We'... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of What Makes the Building Envelope Green? BuildingGreen’s Guide to Thermal & Moisture Protection Products.

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


1. Describe attributes of the greenest building envelope products.
2. Explain how to... Read more

Hi everyone,
The city of Portland recently expanded acceptable certifications for affordable housing projects they provide funding for to include Enterprise Green Communities Certification. Other options are LEED (flavor depends on project size) and Earth Advantage Multifamily, which is a regionally owned and operated certification. This... Read more

As part of the Philadelphia AIA COTE, we have been proposing implementing sustainability in some fashion into the design awards with our chapter's design committee.  I know that many of you have been down this road before, and wanted to get your feedback at a high level about what your local COTE is doing.  Anyone who's interested, can you... Read more

Does anyone up here do or have familiarity with anyone who regularly does NEPA EIS? If you need a definition for the acronym, please see here: https://www.epa.gov/nepa/national-environmental-policy-act-review-process#EIS. I've been asked if I know anything about it, to which the answer is no, but I'd like to get smarter about it and I'm hoping... Read more

What’s the net present value of that extra insulation? Join us on Tuesday, June 25th at 2:00 pm Eastern for a Peer Networks webinar on “Balancing Embodied and Operating Carbon.” Bill Smarzewski and Jason Fierko of Ewing Cole have developed a method for combining energy modeling with embodied carbon data to determine the carbon “payback” of... Read more

I have a client that is very interested in automated shades for a mid-rise multi-family housing project. Do you have any examples of projects that have attempted this? I assume it would involve occupancy sensors and/or an over-rideable default setting dependant on sun position and temperature. I also have an MEP Engineer team that is having a... Read more

Hello SCL,

Quick reminder to sign up for our SCL Summit in May! True to usual form, we ask what’s important to YOU before we finalize an agenda. In the next couple of weeks, we will be sending out a draft agenda and asking for your feedback. Sign up now so your voice will be heard. Initial ideas so far have included:

Congratulations to Mara Baum (HOK) and Alison Kwok (U of Oregon), FAIA! 

AIA announcement

For consideration in determining CM "Greenness", are we leaders if we wait for city ordinances?  can we collectively agree/adopt a standard?

and for those of you in this market, how is this being received and implemented?

https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/article/701085

Multnomah County, City of Portland commit to reducing... Read more

All,

Some of my colleagues and I have been working to promote interest in mass timber construction for K-12 builidngs.  As part of that effort we redesigned a large high school using mass timber in lieu steel, and conducted a whole building life cycel assessment to measure the reduction in embodied carbon.  We also conducted a program-... Read more

Anne Hicks Harney, FAIA, has more than 30 years of experience, focusing on high-quality design imbued with a solid technical and sustainable foundation. At Long Green Specs, she provides sustainability-focused construction specifications and building material expertise to architectural firms across the country. She was chair of the AIA... Read more

Green gurus!

We're getting some interest from clients abroad on two specific materials which we don't have experience with here in the U.S.:

1) Cross Laminated Timber (CLT)

and/or 

2) CarbonCure concrete

Anyone willing to share lessons learned on these material either here in the forum or offline? Or point me... Read more