Virgin materials can come with major environmental impacts from mining, petroleum extraction, or irresponsible logging practices.

BuildingGreen-Approved Site Furnishings

All approved products contain some post-consumer recycled content, with several boasting 90%–100% overall recycled material. Wood products are responsibly sourced... Read more

Columbia already offers access to free EV charging for our field employees. Of the few projects that have have opted in so far, we've had to custom design and intall EV charging setups. It's good that we're doing this, but it won't scale quickly enough and cost effectively.  I think a practical next step is working with trailer companies so... Read more

Hello All,

A group of us (three architects and a builder- sounds like there should be a joke here) were debating this and we  are stumped.

Application: Residential exterior trim.

50 year warrantied composite product of agricultural byproduct with PVC (EPD not published yet) vs 100 year (if primed on all sides and painted or... Read more

For those of you working in jurisdictions with both prescriptive and performance-based commercial energy code pathways, roughly what percentage of your projects are using the performance pathway? How do your project teams decide which pathway to follow?

In Minnesota we are seeing very few projects pursuing the performance pathway,... Read more

I'm looking to draft some one-page briefs for my consulting engineers to outline what we would like to see in their specs regarding certain materials and systems. For example, letting the plumbing and civil engineers know that we prefer to eliminate PVC pipe and want them to specify alternatives like Polypropylene, cast iron, ABS, etc. The idea... Read more

Hi folks,

I’m sorry to be so last minute with this. LEED v5’s second public comment period ends TOMORROW (Monday, Oct 28). As it currently stands, LEED has eliminated its preferential support for FSC over other forest certification programs and is silent on climate-smart forestry.

I’m hoping that the Climate Smart folks in this... Read more

Apologize in advance if this has been posted before but we are trying to get manufacturers of stage curtains to give documentation that proves that the product does not have halogenated fire retardants. Manufacturers say they don't have them or concentrations are limited to 100ppm but they don't seem to have documentation to provide for it.... Read more

July 29-31, 2020
Chicago, Illinois

Learn more and register

Tuesday, Mar. 17, 11am EDT

Tuesday... Read more

Hi all. Not to poach from your awesome firms, but FXCollaborative is hiring a Sustainable Design Specialist. Here is the job posting:

Sustainable Design Specialist - FXCollaborative, Brooklyn, NY, US

Please send any great candidates my way!

Thanks,

Dan

Hi, all.

Has anyone used Unicel's Timber Curtain Wall System? It uses engineered glulam wood mullions on the inside with aluminum mullion caps / butt joints. Has anyone gotten close to using it, but couldn't get it procured for a particular reason? They note up to 72% more energy efficienct than a conventional aluminum curtain wall and... Read more

Hello,

We're trying to budget Fitwel Certification consulting fees for a non-profit client for whom we're designing an early childcare center in Louisville, KY. It would be for a single tenant new building Fitwel certification and include a Fitwel introduction workshop, working with design team, and coordinating/submitting documentation... Read more

Hi Green Gurus (esp. Sustainable MEP leaders...)

I'm looking for suggestions of contacts for MEP consultants, especially in the Chicagoland region, ideally with sustainability highly integrated into the work, specialization in geothermal systems, and indoor agriculture. (doesn't necessarily have to be all-in-one)

For context, we... Read more

Looking for the Top 10 on the 10th! webinar?  Click here.

IRA NUTS & BOLTS WEBINAR PURCHASE AND REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) offers us a once-in-a-generation chance to equitably decarbonize the built... Read more

All--

Metropolis magazine asked me to write a long piece about the current state of post-occupancy studies. I'm wrestling with whether to do it and how to approach it, but it would be helpful to hear your thoughts on the following--

--importance of the topic

--typical and atypical approaches and criteria

--examples... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Better Steel, Lower Impacts!

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


Understand the process of how steel is made.

Recount how the U.S. steel industry has been improving its environmental footprint, while improving product performance.

... Read more