Author
Angela has been an integral part of the BuildingGreen team for fifteen years, serving in a variety of roles.
Her diverse career path has led her from union organizing, to cabinet-making and exhibit production for the Boston Children’s Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, to teaching woodworking at Massachusetts College of Art. She... Read more
Quiz
Welcome to the quiz portion of Biobased Materials: Not Always Greener.
Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:
1. Explain why "biobased" is too general a term.
2. List the primary concerns associated with biobased building materials, finishes and furnishings, and wet-... Read more
Forum topic
The COTE Toolkit just launched on AIA.org's site, please go and check it out and share with your networks. The project spanned over the last year+ with over 40 authors, subject matter experts, and reviewers contributing to the process, (including many Green Gurus!)
With the goal of closing the information gap to designing high... Read more
Forum topic
I have a client that is very interested in automated shades for a mid-rise multi-family housing project. Do you have any examples of projects that have attempted this? I assume it would involve occupancy sensors and/or an over-rideable default setting dependant on sun position and temperature. I also have an MEP Engineer team that is having a... Read more
Forum topic
Jenny/Dan:
What types of content do anticipate having in the Documentation Toolkit tab? Here's an example of what we have on LEEDuser:
https://leeduser.buildinggreen.com/credit/EBOM-2009/SSc5#tab-docs (login required)
The layout is a little complicated on LEEDuser, since we had to work with a lot of legacy content, but... Read more
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Hi everyone,
As part of our monthly SDLS call yesterday, we looked through the 2020 SD Leaders Winter Summit Report. To help paint an even fuller picture of what was covered at that summit, here are slides from many of the 5-minute presentations.
As a note: we have permission from these presenters to share their slides within the... Read more
Forum topic
I am looking for examples of police stations and fire stations that are operating at an ENERGY STAR or better level. Google searches have not provided much to go on - I found one net zero energy police station (Cincinnati Police District 3 West Side). Curiously, Justice Facilities Review write ups do not include details about energy... Read more
Forum topic
Have any of you relied on Green Badger for LEED documentation on projects?
I am familiar with the tool and know Tommy from my time in Atlanta, but have not used it on a construction project.
Have you found value? Thoughts?
Either way, they publish a pretty nifty "LEED v4 Construction Tool Kit" that may be useful for your... Read more
Forum topic
Hi everyone,
Just a reminder that the first-ever Sages monthly call is happening tomorrow, February 13th, at 12pm ET! We'll be introducing ourselves to each other and discussing our visions for the network.
Here is the agenda for the meeting, and below is the Zoom info:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/... Read more
Forum topic
Hi folks,
We had a fun impromptu conversation on our call last week. We got most involved in the challenge of getting developers interested in taking advantage of IRA Tax Credits. That can be quite a challenge given their business model.
We also heard about emerging data on tradeoffs between embodied and operating carbon, and how... Read more
Forum topic
All,
Some of my colleagues and I have been working to promote interest in mass timber construction for K-12 builidngs. As part of that effort we redesigned a large high school using mass timber in lieu steel, and conducted a whole building life cycel assessment to measure the reduction in embodied carbon. We also conducted a program-... Read more
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Join your peers and BuildingGreen February 22–26, 2021 for an all you can eat buffet week of networking, problem solving, and connecting with sustainability leaders within your industry and across the Peer Networks! During this week we will create a space for you to offer and receive support, exchange ideas and resources, and become stronger,... Read more
Product Guide
Alerting building occupants about indoor air pollutants is important in many situations.
BuildingGreen-Approved IAQ Equipment
Products approved by BuildingGreen range from single-use test kits to monitoring systems installed throughout a building. Some test for gases such as radon, VOCs, or carbon monoxide, and some for mold and... Read more
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Green Gurus,
Taking advantage of the good stuff that this pandemic is leaving us with, the Boston COTE has gone virtual for its meetings. That means that all of you around the country can join our great program.
Coming up next Wednesday at 2pm EDT (11am PDT, 1pm CDT) we'll have the always inspiring Andrea Love present along with... Read more
Forum topic
Hi all,
We are designing a mass timber building and are closing in on selecting our mass timber supplier. One supplier is offering FSC wood and the other is offering PEFC. I don't know enough about PEFC to make a clear recommendation to the client about how it compares to FSC. I understand that PEFC endorsed SFI, so that concerns me... Read more
Forum topic
Hi All,
Someone just told me that 80% of his previously certified Energy Star Projects no longer earn certification with the update baselines. Have any of you started digging into this yet?
-Meredith