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

Anyone know of tools/methodologies for estimating embodied carbon and carbon sequestration potential of individual green infrastructure projects (e.g. bioswale along bikeway)? I've seen tools for the larger scale (e.g. land use change) as well as specific to trees (e.g. i-Tree), but these don't fully meet my needs.

Thanks!

Hi folks,

We had a rich conversation in our monthly meeting last week. I've summarized the highlights below. Next call is July 11 at 2pm eastern. If it isn't already in your calendar, here's the Zoom link.

What’s on people’s minds?

Looking into high-temp water-source heat pumps for industrial applications. Transom and... Read more

Gypsum is calcium sulfate dehydrate, which is mined or produced as a byproduct of flue gas desulphurization (FGD) from coal-fired power plants. FGD gypsum may contain trace contaminants from coal processing, but not enough to represent a hazard to users. Years ago, some imported products created indoor air quality problems that required... Read more

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 answers... Read more

Hi SDL: Check out this great interview with Paul Hawken and  COTE members Gunnar Hubbard and Kira Gould. Lots of inspirational ideas about the importance of the built environment in carbon drawdown: 

Here's that link---

https://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/aia-cote-in-conversation-with-paul-hawken_o

thanks.

... Read more

Just had a contractor call who said they had a university client interested in using natural-gas-fed fuel cells as an alternative to grid power in some applications.  They were interested in an intermediate scale: 300kW.

Anyone with any experience with these devices? 

I have a colleague researching existing, proposed, or anticipated changes to urban planning and building codes that encourage lower carbon footprints.

Can anyone comment on or point me to resources on how cities are using carbon footprint analysis and carbon reduction in permitting, now or in the future?

Some specific topics that... Read more

Greetings to all of the sustainability leaders in the Green Commons!

Note: This is a message about politics, which we generally try to avoid in our safe space--but in this case it’s directly tied to climate action so I feel good about sharing it. Feel free to let me know or check in with the BuildingGreen folks if you have concerns or... Read more

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

Dear SD Leaders: I'm writing to let you know about a great opportunity in campus-wide sustainability and design leadership. Washington University in St. Louis (my alma mater) is seeking a new University Architect and Assistant Vice Chancellor. WashU has a very strong legacy of sustainability leadership which has recently been reinforced with... Read more

Hi,

Does anyone have experience or advice with installing temporary weather stations to gather data? We have a couple of projects coming up on existing occupied sites, and I would like to get what data I can from the sites to supplement the city weather file which is, as always, measured absolutely miles from site. There are thousands of... Read more

For the fourth year in a row, we’re proud to release our sustainability survey findings, based on the real-world knowledge and experience of our clients and partners, to help determine how sustainability, resilience and wellness are perceived by the commercial real estate industry. We’ve compiled these survey results in our 2019 report, which... Read more

Hi everyone,

Remember the thread on here from last fall that “broke the internet?” We have some progress to share and a chance for members to re-engage. A core team has been meeting to compare project process diagrams and challenges. They will share examples from their firms, along with learnings and best practices, on Wednesday, March 6... Read more

Hi SD Leaders: I wanted you to know about a terrific initiative that is part of the Project Drawdown effort called Project Drawdown Ecochallenge. The Project Drawdown EcoChallenge is a fun and social way to learn about and take action on the 100 most substantive solutions to global warming. 
Drawdown EcoChallenge provides tools and... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Finding Products for LEED v4—A Guide

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


1. Describe ways in which the LCA approach is gaining ground in LEED v4 and how the transition is reinforced by manufacturer transparency and disclosure.
2.... Read more

Hi everyone -

I'm writing to conduct an informal (and unscientific) poll about the green certifications achieved by office spaces (main or branch) for Green Gurus firms. SERA is preparing to embark on the journey of finding, designing and inhabiting new office space, and we're interested to hear and learn from your experiences,... Read more