Join your peers and BuildingGreen February 22–26, 2021 for an all you can eat buffet week of networking, problem solving, and connecting with sustainability leaders within your industry and across the Peer Networks! During this week we will create a space for you to offer and receive support, exchange ideas and resources, and become stronger,... Read more

All - 

I know many of your firms do landscape design, and I wanted to make sure you were aware of a new and pretty impressive conceptual calculator to estimate the carbon impacts (emissions and sinks) of landscape design.  Developed by Pamela Conrad of CMG Landscape with grant support, Atelier 10 and an app developer, the tool allows you... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of LEED 2009: The Missing Manual.

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


1. Stay abreast of changes to LEED NC-2009.
2. Understand the more ambiguous aspects of LEED NC-2009.
3. Explain key interpretations of LEED NC-2009.
4.... Read more

Hi everyone -
Some of you already have heard some or all of this news, but I thought I'd share today's press release with the whole group.
The headline is: 
SERA is VERY excited to announce that David Johnson, formerly the managing partner of Bill McDonough's San Francisco office, is now heading up SERA's bay area office.... Read more

Hi everyone! The CLF Boston | NE Hub and BSA are holding an embodied carbon summit and we'd LOVE to see people from this group there. 

The first version of this summit was held in 2019, and since then we've made huge strides. Through our advocacy work, state and city regulations are addressing embodied carbon in procurement and materials... Read more

We have all these resources out here in the ether but it’s so hard to pull them into one spot! I was asked, last minute to join a client call today to help convince both the client (affordable housing developer) and the mechanical engineers to "stick with" a commitment to 100% electric design that was publicly stated when the competition was... Read more

Happy Earth Day! I'm sharing the results of our office Earth Day Mind Map, a collaborative event lead by our Green Team with office-wide participation. https://mm.tt/1471242441?t=4c76rJLKXz 

We are celebrating with a virtual happy hour later today and will use the Mind Map to generate conversation and sharing.

I would love to hear... Read more

Alena Jumplot

Hi all,

We are looking to study Passive House on a couple small multifamily projects. Our understanding is that WUFI Passive only integrates with SketchUp at this time. Our BIM manager has been trying to find an example of a firm that works in Revit and uses WUFI Passive, to point him in the right direction on workflow. I offered to ask... Read more

Hi all, 

I'm posting this on behalf of Wyck Knox of our office. He can be reached at knox@vmdo.com: 

"I’m on the editorial board of the Green Schools Catalyst Quarterly, the only peer reviewed journal dedicated to sustainable K-12 schools. (http://catalyst.greenschoolsnationalnetwork.org/gscatalyst)

One of my tasks in that... Read more

Received answers from below questions from NIST Andy Persily

1. Is there a preferred bookends range of CO2 for both “optimal” energy and human performances?

Andy: No

2.Is the ASHRAE ventilation of 1000-1200 ppm average, probably not based on performance, suggesting current ventilation rate is sub-optimal with cognitive... Read more

Here is a fundamental question regarding measuring operational carbon emissions that I'm sure many of you can clarify for me:  Let's say you are considering design options and you want to know the relative contribution of GWP of adding an additional inch of continuous insulation to the building envelope.  The GWP from embodied carbon will... Read more

Hi all,

I'm curious if anyone has insight as to the "New Federal Building Performance Standards" that were announced in May of 2021 and then referenced again when E.O. 14057 came out. The memorandum for heads of agencies that was sent out with E.O. 14057 said that the CEQ would issue these standards, but I can't find a commitment to when... Read more

Hi all,

Thanks again to those who presented at the AIA Show & Tell! Here are the slides for some of the fascinating presentations we saw. Please do not share the slides outside of the networks unless they are marked “PUBLIC.”

There may be more to come; if you presented but did not yet provide permission for your slides to be... Read more

Hi All,

My team member is leaving Webcor, and unfortunately that means we have to fill her big shoes with someone new! I thought I'd reachout here and see if you know anyone of high caliber looking for a Sustainability Manager position? Someone with LEED PM experience preferred, and a bit more technical background with MEP/ZNE ideally... Read more

The overwhelming majority of wallcoverings are flexible vinyl, laden with all the life-cycle concerns that come with PVC. Products used to contain orthophthalate plasticizers—which make up a large percentage of these products. Phthalates are not bound in the material and can slough off in dust, exposing occupants during everyday work or play.... Read more