Greetings Gurus, following the AIA COTE Design for Economy concept, does anyone have a resource for a list of building efficiency ratio "targets" by space type? I've always struggled with this initiative. 

Welcome to the quiz portion of Engineering a Wood Revolution

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


1. Compare engineered wood to steel and concrete; and describe how engineered wood offers better dimensional stability, less waste, and more consistent performance than... Read more

Hello, what acceptable levels of air quality are you using to evaluate natural ventilation strategies for your projects?  In our Living Building we only open windows when PM10, PM2.5, etc. are within LBC and WELL limits.  In a seasonally smoggy urban environment, this limits how often we can utilize natural ventilation even if the outside... Read more

Has anyone had any success with achieving the LEED Building Envelope commissioning points with an alternative compliance path using the requirements of the PHIUS verifier? It seems like an unnecessary duplication to ask the client to pay for a BECx agent and a Passive House verifier. Or am I missing something? I can't find any LEED... Read more

Gurus -

I'm looking for (or to build) a set of US district energy projects for developer-led mixed-use/residential neighborhoods/districts.  Does anyone have a resource for this or have started something similar?   

I am not a member of IDEA but utilize their site quite often. Any other resources come to mind?  I'd be happy to... Read more

Hello Sustainability Leaders,

Great to see some of you at Greenbuild last week.  Thanks to all who responded to Nadav’s post-election blues post.  Lots of helpful insights and sentiments that left me very grateful to be part of this community.  On a related note, since the election I’ve been asked by people in our office and in life if... Read more

Hi SDL: sorry to send another missive so soon but I wanted all to be aware of a great new effort just announced today coming from Greg Kats and Vivian Loftness among others - The Smart Surfaces Coalition. This effort brings together resources and research around city-scale resilience. "The Coalition is committed to the rapid, cost-effective... Read more

Has anyone here found an alternative to XPS for the void former?

A structural engineering contact was included in recent conversations about embodied carbon in insulation materials and brought to our attention that this is a common use for XPS that has nothing to do with its insulating properties. It is typically used where concrete is... Read more

Hello. Has anyone tackled "tracking emissions from all company-purchased cloud computing" yet? This is in the best category for CC 2.0 and wanted to ask.

How "deep" did you go? 

This was an interesting read, but still left me a little confused about how far I need to go and even what questions to ask:   

https://medium.com/... Read more

Hello Green Gurus,

Here is the information for October's Peer Networks Webinar, How to use the Building Environmental Justice Tool for your next project. We hope you will join us!

Register HERE

How to use the Building Environmental Justice Tool for your next project
Monday, October 24, 2022
2 - 3pm ET (11am -... Read more

Water treatment systems often rely on harsh chemicals to treat bacteria, and on high water use from drawdown of water to reduce build-up of concentrates—a process called blowdown.

BuildingGreen-Approved Water Treatment

BuildingGreen approves systems that:

Thank you to everyone who signed on to the Materials Pledge letter.  It was officially released on April 15th with 56 signatory firms.  The Materials Pledge will soon have a new home online and a way to continuously add more signatory firms.  I'm keeping a list for now and there are already four more firms who want to join.  I will let everyone... Read more

Happy new year everyone!

My name is Vandita Mudgal, I am the first ever 'Sustainability Engineer (district)' for Hensel Phelps N. California district (covers Nor Cal and Pacific NW). As mentioned, this is the first ever sustainability position at Hensel Phelps, therefore I am developing a lot of processes and systems for our district... Read more

Hi!

I'd love to hear what you all--especially the New Yorkers--think about the newly adopted gas ban. Is this the bill we were hoping to see? Any concerns or questions?

One question I have--maybe just reveals my ignorance--but it seems to leave the door open to steam hookups, which I guess are still an option through much of... Read more

For any of you who are already tracking your Scope 1, 2 & 3 emissions: Do you do so through a program (like the Carbon Disclosure Project) or do you have an in house excel file or ???? I'm looking for a good template and am open to suggestions.  Looking for what you like and what you find challenging.  Thank you.

With extensive environmental science research background, Elene Drosos provides contemporary commentary on the current climate affairs. She contributes up-to-date trends and shifts in regulations in major green building issues such as LEED and natural disasters. Her passion is to strive for biophilic design where native landscapes can dominate... Read more