Anyone aware of tools or workflows for modeling of a specific outdoor space and effective surface temperatures?  We've done a goodly amoutn of microclimate simulations, but never explicitly factored in the ground surface, in terms of emissivity and other related factors.   

Hello Sustainable Community Design Leaders,

Now that everyone invited to the SCDL calls has access to this forum, I want to shift us over here for announcements and reminders, so here's your reminder that this month’s call is next Monday, March 21st, 11am–12pm ET (8-9am PT). Back to our usual time!

You can view the agenda here.... Read more

Hi All,

Our local COTE committee has the opportunity to meet with a local jurisdiction on meeting the targets set forth by their Climate Action Plan.  In preparation I'm looking for innovative building codes/ordinaces that address existing buildings.  I am already digging into Boston's Building Energy Reporting and Disclosure Ordinance... Read more

Someone made a tombstone to mark Internet Explorer’s end-of-support date

https://www.engadget.com/internet-explorer-tombstone-175433997.html

Has anyone worked on a WELL project? I have heard that you can expect about 1.5 to twice the effort of LEED coordination but wasn't sure how accurate that was. Any suggestions for determining the possible time commitment of WELL coordination?

Thanks in advance!

Want to make sure those in Portland are aware of a couple of LF18 Ramp-Up Events happening on April 10th. 

Introduction to the Living Building Challenge (presented by Kathleen Smith)
https://living-future.org/events/introduction-to-the-living-building-challenge/

Incentivizing Living Buildings in Portland 
https://... Read more

Dear All!

I recently met a passionate new hire at an architecture firm in NYC.  Her firm is reluctant to taking meaningful steps towards increasing sustainable impacts of their projects.  (Their work is in market rate of all types.)  This new hire is frustrated with the lack of sustainable adoption and understanding.

What would... Read more

Furnaces heat air that is then distributed through ducting and warm-air registers.

Approved by BuildingGreen

Products approved by BuildingGreen include the highest-efficiency, sealed-combustion furnaces and high-efficiency wood or multi-fuel furnaces. A multi-fuel furnace uses several sources of energy such as wood, wood-pellets,... Read more

All,

A bit of a short notice, but the Tally team is hosting a webinar tomorrow (1/16) from 1-1:30 EST on the Tally to EC3 integration. It's an incredibly powerful workflow for generating real reductions in embodied carbon and has us pretty excited. We expect a lively group of attendees and will be answering any questions from the... Read more

THIS WEBINAR PURCHASE AND REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.

Practitioners interested in reducing the embodied carbon of buildings are likely now used to considering the impact of different materials, like mass timber or low-carbon concrete. Low-carbon... Read more

This message came in earlier today and is something of which we should all be aware.  I took the extra step, in this world of uncertain facts, of checking the veracity of the message with Jason Grant who confirmed it.  From William Bucholtz:

Dear Green Building Colleagues,

No one likes being fooled, but it’s... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of The Sound of Sustainability: Acoustics in High-Performance Design!

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


Describe how increased acoustic performance benefits indoor environmental quality (IEQ).

Recount the negative impacts of poor acoustic... 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

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

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