News Brief
Energy Source™ Directory
Life has been a whole lot easier around the office since theEnergy Source Directory arrived. Assembled and published by Iris Communications, this is the most complete and most useful guide to specialized products and materials used in energy-efficient construction that we've seen. The 500-page directory is... Read more
News Analysis
It isn’t just environmental zealots who are up in arms about the U.S. Forest Service’s policies on managing the nation’s timber resources. The Association of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics has jumped into the fray—from the inside. Jeff DeBonis, the Association’s founder and executive director,... Read more
News Brief
Carol Venolia, Publisher/Editor
If “progressive construction” can be defined as pushing the tools and techniques of conventional builders in the direction of less environmental destruction, then Building With Nature’s material goes beyond progressive, into the forefront of visionary thinking about construction. This bimonthly newsletter, now... Read moreNews Analysis
The recent ruling to allow logging on several thousand acres of old-growth forest in western Oregon was portrayed in the national media as a blow to environmentalists, but the action may not prove so damaging in the end. While the ruling permits logging on 13 of the 44 sites that were under consideration by the so-... Read more
Product Review
The company's promotional material is the epitome of environmentally friendly packaging—like a Ben & Jerry's annual report. The article reprints sent were even bound in a jacket made from corrugated cardboard. So we were quite intrigued by the product. Syndecrete™ is a lightweight, pre-cast,... Read more
News Analysis
A study published in the June 5, 1992, issue of
Science by researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the University of Arizona suggests that smoke emitted into the atmosphere from human activities may be having a significant effect in counteracting... 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
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
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
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
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
Forum topic
Greetings,
I posted this a while back on the MEP SDL forum but also wanted to appeal to the broader community. We need help gathering existing plug/process load data. We know it is out there! Two golden stars to Becky Alexander from LHB who reached out to us after this month's meet-up with some useful material. We need more! Please... Read more
Forum topic
Hi GG: Just wanted to make sure you know about a free webinar that Buildings & Cities and Carbon Leadership Forum are putting on:
Zero Carbon: Can Built Environment Education Deliver?
Monday 8 February 2021, 9 – 10 am PST
Details and registration through this site:
https://carbonleadershipforum.org/zero-carbon-... Read more
Forum topic
The prepublication version of the AGC playbook is online now. I just stumbled on this this morning but thought it would be great to get eyes on this early and start a discussion here on any of the included guidance. Happy Reading, excited to follow the discussion!
AGC Playbook on Decarbonization and Carbon Reporting in the Construction... Read more
Forum topic
Healthy Building Network (HBN) is hiring and they just posted a new career opportunity for "Director of Product Tranformation" https://healthybuilding.net/careers/14
"Healthy Building Network (HBN) is seeking an experienced leader who wants to help transform the building materials market. This role will inspire product innovation by... Read more
Quiz
Welcome to the quiz portion of No More Red Lines: Undoing Our Legacy of Urban Segregation.
Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:
Forum topic
Hello Everyone,
Here are some of the Show & Tell presentations from the 2019 SDL Winter Summit, enjoy!!
Best,
RoseAnn
Forum topic
Hi folks,
Oregon’s ZERO Coalition is looking for responses to the question below on local policy for electrification, and I thought tapping this group would be helpful.
Are you aware of any local governments outside of Oregon that are promoting or enforcing electrification?
Berkley, CA is one example that as of Jan 1, 2020... Read moreForum topic
HGA is collaborating with the University of Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership (MCAP) to research how the AE industry is currently using climate projection data, and what they need in order to grow their use of data. MCAP is currently producing a set of dynamical downscaled climate projections for the state of Minnesota and unlike other... Read more

