Hello Sustainable Design Leaders,

Mark your calendars for an exciting webinar next Wednesday, May 27th, at 2:30pm ET and REGISTER HERE!

Missing the Forest: How forest practices impact the carbon embodied in mass timber projects is a follow-up to last month’s conversation on embodied carbon and mass timber. The presenters will be... Read more

Hi folks,

I’m sure most of you know Gail Brager, or at least know of her. For those who don’t, she helps run UC Berkeley’s Center for the Built Environment and is a long-time champion of all the things that make buildings work for their occupants. Perhaps most notably, she was a co-author of the Adaptive Thermal Comfort option in ASHRAE... Read more

Hello everyone,

Here's a reminder that our call for this month will be taking place next Tuesday, November 12th at 2:00pm EST.

Please feel free to join us!

Join Zoom Meeting:

https://zoom.us/j/248664490

One tap mobile
+16699006833,,248664490# US (San Jose)
+19292056099,,248664490# US (New York)... Read more

Hello Colleagues,

You all know our industry’s progress over the past decade related to the impact of materials. We have come a long way. Today we have over 110 firms that have signed onto the A&D Materials Pledge, pledging to a holistic approach to materials considering: Human Health, Climate Health, Ecosystem Health, Social Health... Read more

All, today is the day I had committed to sending out the DRAFT request to equipment manufacturers of what is needed for full electrification.  I apologize that I didn't have time or focus to get my thoughts together till now (I had intended to share this with Chris and others prior to sending to the full group, but just didn't get my thoughts... Read more

We are cautiously rekindling the age-old debate: how are we balancing modeling software for design /visualization and performance analysis during early phase of design.  

We are heavy SketchUp users for early design, and most of our staff have access to COVE tool for early performance analysis. Problem is, I’d rather use Revit to COVE... Read more

Dear All,

I'm happy to announce the Call for Speakers for our next Gulf Coast Green conference, which will take place June 1, 2018 at Rice University in Houston.  The theme is Resilience: Beyond Recovery.  (Harvey, you know).  We absolutely love to have SDL members at Gulf Coast Green, and I know there are several of you who specialize... Read more

Just highlighting a tool from Circular Ecology (the group that brings you the Inventory of Carbon and Energy data) for measuring Scope 1 and 2

https://circularecology.com/organisational-carbon-footprint-tool.html

SDL Group -

Hi all!  After a brief hiatus from the group to move from New Orleans to Portland (OR), start a new job at ZGF Architects, buy a house, and  see my baby boy become a toddler (all in the past year!)---- I'm ready to plug back into the group.  Seeing folks at the ILFI conference re-energized me to reengage :)

So…..does... Read more

Does anyone have an idea when the AIA Materials Pledge Reporting Framework will be available? Or is there a draft of what it looks like? 

BWBR is on a push to refine our approach towards materials. As AIA Material's Pledge signatory, we were hoping to incorporate the reporting framework into our efforts. Trying to get a sense of the... Read more

Hi Gang, 

We are looking to implement the contractor commitment and are running into COVID-19 protocol barriers when looking at the Jobsite Wellness category specific to the soap as well as the food storage/eating areas on site. Anyone else run into this issue? 

-Kena 

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... Read more

All,

I wanted to spread the word to all of you that AIA Minnesota is hosting a virtual edition of Materials Matter, a five-part series starting next Wednesday 3/24, from 10AM-3PM Central Time on five Wednesdays throughout March, April and May. Come to one ($15 per session) or all ($60 for the whole series of 20 CEUs, including GBCI... Read more

Hi SDLers: See the great opportunity to weigh in on the 5th National Climate Assessment at a series of workshops in early 2022. 

Register here:

https://www.globalchange.gov/content/nca5-engagement-workshops?utm_sourc...

Hope all are staying well.

Mary Ann

Bobbie Socks

THIS WEBINAR PURCHASE AND REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.

Hot spots: they might sound like fun places to hang out and have a drink—but in green building, they’re actually a bad thing. Something you track down so you can get rid of it. Kind of like being an environmentalist bounty hunter.

Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is... Read more

Last summer I shared a request here for folks to take a survey we had open that aimed to understand how architects and engineers are (or aren't) using climate projections to inform design. This white paper, written in collaboration with HGA and the University of Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership, reports on the results of that research. ... Read more