Greetings friends.

Many of you have heard about the CARE Tool, (formerly the 2Build or not 2Build Carbon Calculator.) We are now in the final stages of bringing it online as a free, open access tool hosted by Architecture 2030. We are finalizing and aligning data and working with a web developer (the same one that brought us... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Video: Insights to Success on LEED-CI Certification.

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


1. Identify key changes to LEED CI 2009 (ID+C).
2. Identify the circumstances of a LEED-CI project that challenge the abilityto certify.
3.... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Five Reasons to Be Optimistic About Solar Energy!

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


Describe three ways how PV decreases environmental impact while increasing sustainability and health measures for communities.

Discuss PV life-cycle... Read more

Dear Colleagues:

This is a request from AIA COTE Advocacy to sign another petition on behalf of your firm. I know it's incomprehensible that we have to do this, but we at AIA COTE Advocacy think the US Federal Emergency Management Agency's removal of the term "climate change" from all their strategic planning documents is evidence of an... Read more

Faucets with high flow rates waste water—not to mention the energy used to treat and deliver it to our buildings—and the additional water stresses our wastewater treatment systems.

Hi Fellow SDLers: I'm writing to share intel about two recent climate change articles that provide links to some great new resources:

1. From the AIA Trust: An excellent article in this month's AIA Trust Newsletter on "Climate Impact on Professional Liability." This includes links to some useful resources including the new AIA Hazard and... Read more

Hello All,

ASHRAE and ICC released a draft standard for operational and embodied GHG evaluation.  It's on a fast track to be completed in time for the next code cycle.  This 30 day advisory draft includes dozens of questions looking for feedback from experts like all of you.  Please take a look and provide comments.  I've uploaded the... Read more

Nothing exciting like embodied carbon or EPDs... but I'm interested in some real talk on the actual performance of low-flow fixtures.  

We continue to encounter pushback on water-saving fixtures for concerns of ongoing performance. I'd love to have a dialog in this group because I find it hard to believe these challenges can't be... Read more

Hi,

Has anyone used a sustainable product that complies with the EQc Low-Emitting Materials requirement that is a general construction adhesive similar to Liquid Nails? I've checked the Mindful Materials website and can't find anything. I found Red Devil General Prupose Construction Adhesive on UL Spot, but have never used it before. Any... Read more

Figured I'd throw out this topic to the hive mind!

We are working on a project in the Midwest that involves taking down and replacing an 100-ish-year-old brick building. We are hoping to find a way to salvage and reuse some of this brick in new construction. I'd love to do an LCA comparison showing the benefits of salvaging the brick vs... Read more

I've got exciting news to share! Ayers Saint Gross' JUST disclosure went live on Monday. See our blog post about it here: https://asg-architects.com/ideas/blog/. That has a link out to our actual disclosure as well. It's been a bananas week with our internal communications campaign on it in full swing. I know a number of your firms, based on... Read more

Friends, I reviewed the firm's 2019 AIA 2030 data with a Principal, having organized the data in such a way that we could manipulate it. I included the average EUI and weighted EUI, since the latter gives a truer picture of where we are as a studio. In the past, the assumption was we would raise all boats with efforts to improve our practice in... Read more

Not to distract from Tanya's post, but we too have a new opening for a Sustainability Specialist in our Dallas office. If you know anyone...https://careers-pagethink.icims.com/jobs/1254/sustainability-specialist/job

Hi All,

At the SCL Summit in November 2019, the Carbon Group discussed meeting in Q1 2019 to craft an action plan for measuring and voluntarily disclosing carbon emissions from our operations.   To kickoff that effort, we will be having an online meeting. 

If your company is already disclosing greenhouse emissions or if that's... Read more

Hi folks,

Wondering if this group has insights about the low-embodied carbon product "Vertua" from Cemex, which appears to be a proprietary concrete product launched in 2020.

Our client wants to use CarbonCure; but our likely concrete sub is saying Cemex (where they typically source their concrete) offers an alternative called... Read more

Section 901.5.1.3 of the 2018 IgCC includes a requirement that "A critical review shall be performed by an external expert independent of those performing the LCA."  I'm curious as to what other's experiences are with having an external expert review an LCA - how does one find such an expert?  Do you have any favorites that you'd recommend? ... Read more