Hello all, 

Wondering if anyone has experience with lead limits in electrical cable and wiring? 

LEED for Healthcare allows a limit of 300 ppm of lead in electrical wire and cabling - my search for compliant products has been all dead ends. (MRc PBT Source Reduction - lead, cadmium, and copper)

Acceptable regulations for... Read more

Hi SD Leaders: As you may know, The National Architectural Accreditation Board (NAAB) is currently drafting their proposed 2020 Conditions for Architectural Accreditation.  AIA COTE has prepared a response and believe it is critical that the NAAB accreditation process address the role of the architect in climate action and the projected impacts... 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

Hello all,

I need future weather files for a project. We are looking at three years, 2050, 2075, and 2095 using two climate change scenarios, low emissions, and high emissions. I have seen ARUP's Weathershift site that uses RCP 8.5 and RCP 4.5. Are we assuming that 2.6 is not achievable? I would have used this as a low emissions scenario... Read more

https://www.architects.org/awards/sustainable-design-0

All,

My BSA Co-chair, Steven Burke, and I want to make you all aware of the BSA Sustainable Design Awards coming up soon. Please see the above link for qualifications and registration information. This is an award which is attempting to work towards the same stringency, rigor... Read more

Anyone has experience with WELL pilot for restaurant? I have new client, restaurateur who's running farm to table concept restaurants in DC, VA, MD area, looking to fit out one of our core & shell.. Also, any other recognized programs or certifications specific to restaurants, I would appreciate any information and resources. Their spaces... Read more

Hi all - I heard from sevearl of you at Greenbuild that you have learned from and perhaps even shared the Path To Zero Carbon series internally at your firms and externally. As I mentioned at Greenbuild, we are attempting to hand off the series to a non-profit, with the idea that groups of experts (including many of you, I hope!) will provide... Read more

Hello! 

We have several projects that are either pending ILFI Zero Carbon certification or the owner is planning to purchase offsets to cover construction emissions. Thus far, I have not considered this in our corporate footprint reporting. However, we are including A5 emissions whenever feasible and multiplying that performance over the... Read more

Chillers are part of larger systems that provide cooling in large commercial buildings.

BuildingGreen-Approved Water Chillers

Because there isn't a single relevant efficiency standard for chillers, approved products use innovations such as magnetic bearings, variable frequency drives, or other technologies that significantly... Read more

Hello Green Gurus!

Here is a [LINK] to an updated version of the letter, including all the signatories we had as of last Friday - thank you all!

This message is really geared for your firm's social media/communications team, so if you aren’t that person, please share this message with them! With that said, all of you (whether your... Read more

High-performance buildings integrate site-responsive orientation, climate-responsive form, hefty R-values, efficient mechanical systems, healthy... Read more

Sujatha Das of Haskell has put together a survey to help define the role of a Construction Company Sustainability Manager--I thought this is something many here might be willing to help with, and benefit from! 

Sujatha will share the results of the survey with those that participate assuming they provide the optional contact information... Read more

There seems to be a slight glitch in that it was posting Seonhee's picture (love Snoopy!) for the post that Duane sent in - is that correctable?

**Just noticed that you can click on the "Edit" tab on the post and correct (e.g. mis-spelled names (Sorry, Seonhee!).**

Hi SD Leaders: I'm hoping that you guys can be a great resource for a family member who teaches at Carnegie Mellon University, Professor Marvin Sirbu. Marvin teaches and does research in the Energy and Public Policy department and each year leads a class that takes on a challenging real-world problem to arrive at innovative solutions. This time... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of How Buildings Fail Their Users!

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


Explain the importance of finding common ground between a client’s project goals and the project team’s sustainability building goals for successful projects that incorporate... Read more