Hi SD Leaders! 

I'm Nadav, president at BuildingGreen and facilitator of the Sustainability peer networks. I'm really excited to finally have this network for champions from smaller firms up and running! 

I do a lot of workshop facilitation, design process support, and consulting and training related to sustainable products. I... Read more

Hello everyone,

We are far too often asked to include parking in our buildings (because why shouldn't the average family have 2.1 kids, .8 pets, and 3 cars) and it always grates on me that we are putting so many resources (natural and monetary) into something that is almost certainly single use and will need to be demolished in 30 years... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of The PVC Debate: A Fresh Look.

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


1. Examine the actual cost-effectiveness of PVC in terms of quality.
2. Explain what makes PVC a health hazard.
3. Recognize market effects of PVC's durability and... Read more

At Living Future last week a woman from Google asked about cost comparisons and I shared that the City of Santa Monica conducted a study analyzing the costs of a prototypical mixed-use project for a Living Building vs. LEED v4 Platinum vs. code compliant (Title 24, part 6). I thought this group might be interested as well so here is the link... Read more

Healthcare Design, one of the most respected and widely recognized trade journals in the health care AEC space has released the names of its 2022 HCD 10 winners.  The mission of The HCD 10 is to recognize and celebrate the broad spectrum of outstanding professionals in that industry and the influence they have on healthcare design.

One... Read more

Hi folks,

BSR/ASHRAE/ICC Standard 240P, Quantification of Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Buildings, is out for Public Review until March 18. It covers what construction activities have to be tracked and reported and provides placeholder values to use during design. If you have input or suggestions on what would be needed to make... Read more

Hi everyone,

It was so wonderful to meet some of you last month and experience the whirlwind of a summit! I hope you've enjoyed looking over the Summit Report and the flip chart notes, and they've helped bring some order to the vast amount of material we covered. Here's one more piece for you - slides from the 5-minute presentations.... Read more

Hi all, 

Thank you again to those of you who attended the Summer 2024 SDL Summit! We had an unforgettable few days of learning from one another, including from our presenters.

The slides for the 5-minute presentations are below, as well as the BuildingGreen slides from the Summit. Please be aware that we have permission from all... Read more

We all know the climates are shifting, and the ASHRAE standard that gets invoked for energy codes is shifting along with them--though not in perfect sync.  Louisiana is leaping from ASHRAE 90.1-2007 energy code to 2021 IECC (boom!).  The 2021 IECC as published uses relatively old climate maps; for Louisiana, at least, the same as the 90.1-2007... Read more

Does anyone have a draft copy of the ASHRAE 209P standard? It has not been finalized? See an overview of it here from IBPSA 2016 summer meeting.

The 209 committee plans to release it for a 3rd public review and hopes to finalize it in late winter or early spring. I'm just trying to track down one of the earlier verisons of the document... Read more

Has anyone found/used a non-PVC peel-and-stick countertop film?  Working with a client on a corporate renovation, and while we've been able to find a non-PVC product for the kitchen cabinets, I can't seem to find one that works for horizontal surfaces.  And they're looking for a cost-effective and quick-turnaround solution so don't want to... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Driving to Green Buildings: The Transportation Energy Intensity of Buildings​​!

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


Define “transportation energy intensity” as it relates to buildings and understand its impacts on the environment, human health, and... Read more

Hi there SCLers,

Hope everyone is safe and healthy. I am posting on behalf of the Steeering Committee to let you know that the Committee has now adopted a Core Purpose Statement for the SCL Group. Please give it a quick read; we will likely sit with this and spend some time internalizing what it means at the upcoming Summit. 

The... Read more

Hello Green Gurus,

I'm excited to share another Peer Networks webinar we have on deck for August, coming up next week!

Register HERE.

“How Good is this Product?” - Multi-Attribute Assessment of Products and Product Selection Management Tools
Thursday, August 19th, 2021
12pm - 1pm ET (9am - 10am PT)

... Read more

Greetings, Green Gurus:

As unbelievable as it sounds, the Environmental PROTECTION Agency has launched a PR blitz in support of their "new use rule" on asbestos. So the BuildingGreen community needs to push back harder. I'm reposting the links to the letter of opposition that Mary Ann Lazarus put up last week. We definitely need more... Read more

I'm writing an article surveying and comparing various embodied carbon tools, including whole-building LCA tools. I'm looking for interviewees who have used at least TWO of the three major LCA tools currently in use in North America (Tally, Athena IE, and One Click LCA). If you've tried all three, all the better! If you or someone in your firm... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Measuring Energy Use in Buildings: Do Our Metrics Really Add Up?.

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


1. Explain the differences between site energy, source energy, and energy cost.
2. Summarize three ways in which source energy can... Read more

Does anyone know where one can locate weather files (EPW) that has predicted future data for climate change?

Thanks in advance.