On Thursday, September 27 at 2PM Eastern Time you can join the first BuildingGreen Communities webinar where we will share key takeaways from the 11th annual Summer Sustainable Design Leaders Summit (@ the Garrison Institute in upstate New York). Our new webinar format using Zoom will allow for interactive questions and comments throughout. If... Read more

Hey everyone,

This is a quick note to say I am retiring at the end of this month and will be taking a hiatus from the SDL group. I will no longer be practicing architecture, but I will remain active in efforts to preserve the wonders of this world for future generations.   

To all my SDL sisters and brothers (I don't always sound... Read more

Hi! I'm writing a short news piece on WELL v2 and looking for someone very familiar with the existing and v2 standards to interview about the changes. If you meet that description and would like to go on the record with your thoughts, please reply to me directly at paula@buildinggreen.com. Thanks!

So nice when nice happens to nice people.   And smart ones too!  Congrats to Sarah Gudeman, Blake Stanton, Stanton Stafford, Kathy Wardle, and everyone else in this year's class.

https://www.gbci.org/green-business-certification-inc-celebrates-2021-cl...

Welcome to the quiz portion of Choosing Insulation: High-Performance Foundation & Basement Assemblies – Unit 2.

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


1. Explain the insulating performance and durability of different insulation materials.
2. Provide examples of... Read more

Hi Brilliant People: 

I'm hoping you can help me with a quick research question. A local colleague is trying to make the case to replace an existing old slate roof with slate vs. "slate look" asphalt shingles on a local public historic building. The bids are 6X higher for slate over the alternative 25-30 year solutions. They understand... Read more

THIS WEBINAR PURCHASE AND REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.

With the current push for improved window performance to meet energy codes and Passive House, room side low-e coatings can significantly improve window U-values. However, back in 2018 Payette did this excellent study that showed that while room side low-e coatings improved window U-value and increased the interior radiant temperature, the... Read more

Hello, I'm wondering if anyone out in the network has experience with the following:

>Low carbon concete mixes for polished concrete slabs: we're hearing concerns from our concrete supplier that using a low carbon mix design for a polished concrete slab will cause pitting. What experience do others have?

>Low carbon concrete... Read more

Hello SDL Leaders,

Over the past month, I have been working with ILFI to navigate the question of residuals in LBC compliant products vs. products reporting for a Declare label.

Through our conversations, it came to light that ILFI considers the LBC Red List threshold to be 10,000 ppm, rather than the 100 ppm written into the... Read more

Greetings Sustainable Construction Leaders,

As we begin closing out 2021, we wanted to give you a quick update that the next SCL Salary Survey will be coming to you in early January! The BuildingGreen team and SCL Steering Group have been busy this past month polishing up the questions for this anonymous survey.

A reminder of the... Read more

Hi Everyone,

Who has worked on a SITES certification and can share the approximate hours involved for administering and completing documentation? A relative sense of the effort compared to LEED would also be helpful, similar to the thread about WELL on this same subject. 

Appreciate any insight. Thanks! -Hilary

Hey there hive mind,

I'm hoping y'all can help me as I coach one of my colleagues along his path to develop into whoever he's supposed to be when he grows up. He's interested in focusing on the analysis and innovation side of sustainability and I honestly don't know where to send him for networking with other like-minded people beyond my... Read more

Has anyone had a Contractor track GHG emissions during construction? If so, any advice on how to include that in the project specifications?

Thanks!

Yarden

Has anyone used Insight for Revit to document the LEED Daylight Credit If so, would you recommend it?

Thanks,

_Ilana

Hello AEC Sustainability Leaders (aka the Green Gurus)!

As we continue to promote and expand the use of mass timber on our projects, it is becoming increasingly important that we learn more about the spectrum of impacts that this material selection is having on the forests and communities from which we’re sourcing our wood fiber…both... Read more

Anyone have experience with electric boilers? I think in cold climates it's perhaps the first thought when trying to reduce scope 1 emissions in an HVAC application that would have historically used gas-fired boilers... but it seems like they're only an incremental improvement compared to heat pumps / geothermal / VRF type solutions. We haven't... Read more