EBN Advisory Board member Mike Nicklas led an international delegation of renewable energy experts in promoting sustainable energy at the Earth Summit last month. He and others were negotiating for inclusion of renewable energy and energy conservation measures into agreements being worked out for the United Nations... Read more

At first glance,

An Environmental Handbook for Florida Contractors looks like it deals only with the environmental regulations that Florida contractors must contend with. And, indeed, the Handbook describes in detail the requirements for complying with regulations at the federal, state, and local levels. But the book goes much further,... Read more

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

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

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

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

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

Hello fellow SCLers,

Last year I was approached by Green Advantage, remember them from like 2005? There has been a LEED innovation credit for as long as I can remember.

Has anyone employed Green Advantage recently? Is anyone asking for it? Do clients pay for the training, is it an investment by your company, and/or a cost passed... Read more

We are working on a Core & Shell project with a developer that we work with frequently. I'm looking for advice on best approaches to achieving the Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment credit- we haven't used TALLY and done this type of analysis before. What are some approaches to achieving this credit that others have found successful? I... Read more

Hi folks,

We’re working on the agenda for what’s shaping up to be a really awesome Summer Summit at a great new venue in Massachusetts. There is an awesome group already registered, and we’d like to fill the remaining slots soon so that we can develop the agenda with your input.

If you’ve been planning to register, please do it... Read more

Beginning this year, Miller Hull will not only continue to quantify the upfront embodied carbon of every project we finish through construction, but now purchase third-party certified carbon offsets equivalent to one-third of the project’s impact. Great design is no longer enough - we must take responsibility for our architectural impact in the... Read more

Hi Sages,

We had a great conversation in yesterday's Sages meeting. We took the long list of ideas that we brainstormed last month and in our March poll when thinking about what we could/should focus on as a group and we did some refining and prioritizing using dot-voting in Miro (once we got the voting technology figured out!). Notes... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Rethinking the All-Glass Building.

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


1. Describe eight reasons all-glass buildings are so popular in architecture today.
2. List the four elements Arup examined in their modeling of the effect of... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of How Buildings Fail Their Users!

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


Explain the importance of finding common ground between a client’s project goals and the project team’s sustainability building goals for successful projects that incorporate... Read more

Greetings all, and welcome to all those who already introduced themselves!  My name is Steven Burke and I am a Sustainability Manager at Consigli Construction in Massachusetts.  We are East Coast only, but we have a few offices from DC up to Maine.  I’ve been helping Jenn and Nadav get this group up and running, and I’m relatively new to the... Read more

Call for Reviewers and Call for Proposals now out.  If you're not planning on submitting a proposal to present, please consider volunteering as a reviewer, subject matter expert or member of the Program Working Group.  The quality of the education program is directly proportional to the people who select it!  

See many of you in Alabama... Read more

An elevator system can account for 4%–10% of a building's electric energy load, without considering impacts on heating and cooling. Conventional finishes are also common.

BuildingGreen-Approved Systems

We approve the most efficient tension elevators from leading manufacturers, including models that incorporate: