News Analysis
EBN Advisory Board member Mike Nicklas led an international delegation of renewable energy experts in promoting sustainable energy at the Earth Summit last month. He and others were negotiating for inclusion of renewable energy and energy conservation measures into agreements being worked out for the United Nations... Read more
Feature
Carefully stake the building site and driveway, remove trees that are within the excavation area or too close, then erect a fence to keep heavy equipment off fragile soils and away from nearby trees.
Protecting trees and the local ecosystem when building on previously unbuilt land is a vitally important—yet often overlooked—part of environmentally responsible construction. Healthy trees and shrubs can reduce a home’s environmental impact and directly benefit homeowners in a number of ways:
•Enhancing comfort by shielding the house... Read more
Op-Ed
Introducing the first issue of our newsletter.
Buildings have a tremendous impact on the environment. In North America, buildings and the building industry account for about 30% of carbon dioxide emissions, 35-40% of ozone depletion, 20-30% of municipal solid waste, vast quantities of natural resource consumption, and dramatic loss of open space each... Read more
Feature
Ozone depletion and global warming are two of our most serious environmental problems—and foam insulation materials containing CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) contribute significantly to both of these problems. The environmentally concerned builder or designer should make it a highest priority to avoid them. Even many of the non-CFC alternatives... Read more
News Brief
The American Institute of Architects convention in Boston this past June was the setting for a changing of the guard in the American architectural establishment. The Institute’s first woman president took the reins, the Committee on the Environment became its largest and fastest growing committee, and the first installments of the Environmental... Read more
Feature
Susan Maxman is the first AIA president to make sustainable design a priority.
Q.Where would you say architects as a group stand on environmental issues?
A.Architects tend to be reactive rather than proactive. It is important that we take the lead on these environmental issues. The architecture schools in particular tend to be conservative. They just aren’t... Read more
Forum topic
Hello SDL Network,
I am working with members of the Seattle AIA COTE in planning an event that we are tentatively calling "Pathways to Decarbonization" or maybe "Decarbonization Success Stories". The idea is for the COTE to identify entitities (school districts, local governments, higher-ed institutions, corporations, etc.) that have... Read more
Forum topic
Hi everyone,
As designers who sometimes work in the field of healthcare, we occasionally like to gather data about both current attitudes and future possibilities. Steffian Bradley Architects would greatly appreciate your participation in our 2018 survey by completing the questionnaire linked below.
All responses are anonymous to... Read more
Reports, Courses, Study Guides, Live Webinars
If you don’t spend your “day-to-day” in the healthy materials space, it’s hard to create strategy and align your company to meet your customers' (what seems to be) ever-changing asks and project goals. This... Read more
Forum topic
Hi All,
I meant to put this is in Green Gurus and put it in SAL instead. Rookie mistake.
After this long winter, who is up for some fierce creativity and friendly competition internal to your company or between Green Gurus? What do you think of a location agnostic, virtual, Sustainability Scavenger Hunt from Earth Day to Mother'... Read more
Forum topic
Dear SD Leaders,
As some of you may have heard, EHDD has been working for the last year in developing a data model to support early phase goal setting for holistic low carbon design. This data model is at the heart of our Early Phase Integrated Carbon (EPIC) assessment tool. EPIC is a data-driven goal-setting tool for use in the earliest... Read more
Forum topic
Hi all --
We have a national restaurant client who is looking to source furniture (both indoor and outdoor) made with a minimum of 40% salvaged/recycled material, and they're very interested in finding a vendor that's woman- and/or minority-owned or that would qualify as a "disadvantaged organization" (their terminology). They would... Read more
Forum topic
All,
I'm sure a few of you attended our recent webinar on the LEED v4.1 LCA webinar. In case you missed it, the recording is posted. We were stunned by the amount of engagement from the audience; we allotted 30 minutes for questions and I think it went even longer. The webinar recording should be a great starting point for anyone... Read more
Forum topic
We are looking into organics collection service in our corporate office in NYC. Is anyone else in this group composting at their corporate offices? I'm hoping to build a business case, so I'd like to highlight other firms in this group who are actively managing this process.
Forum topic
Hi - Posting on behalf of Pete Munoz at Biohabitats
Biohabitats is hiring a proposal coordinator in Portland. Please spread the word. Thanks!
PROPOSAL COORDINATOR
Cascadia Bioregion Portland, Oregon is the preferred location, but will consider Denver, Colorado or Santa Fe, New Mexico
Years of Experience: 5+ years... Read more
Quiz
Welcome to the quiz portion of Doing Daylighting Right.
Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:
1. Explain occupants' needs and habits when it comes to daylighting.
2. Recognize at least three recent mistakes in daylighting design and their respective alternatives going... Read more

