Fellow Sages,

I was at an interesting lecture last night. Phil Bernstein (formerly of Autodesk, now at Yale) was speaking (in Lawrence, Kansas, at the U of Kansas) about AI and design/AEC ... you may know that he authored the 2022 book, Machine Learning, about AI and the AEC field. 

Phil has a very interesting posture about AI... Read more

Hi SDLers,

We’re really looking forward to connecting with many of you in a few weeks for the Summer Summit. Those of you who have registered are now actively helping to set the agenda--as always, it will be filled with rich conversations and connections.

For a range of reasons--new patterns due to the pandemic, the economy, your... Read more

Five types of green buildings explained. Check out this great infographic by the Pembina Institute: What do net-zero and zero-carbon buildings mean for energy use and climate pollution?

Dear SDLers,

I wanted to share that Canadian Architectural Professionals declared a Climate and Biodiversity Emergency and Committed to Urgent and Sustained Action. The declaration was launched last Friday as part of a week of events surrounding the UN Climate Action Summit in New York. Like others around the world, the week of global... Read more

Hello Green Gurus,

Some of you may have heard that the Sustainable Construction Leaders Group has been developing the Contractor’s Commitment, a set of sustainability guidelines for contractors to implement in their companies. 

The Contractor’s Commitment will be going live on November 13th with this half-hour webinar introducing... Read more

Medium-density fiberboard (MDF), particleboard, and interior-grade plywood can emit formaldehyde, a known human carcinogen. Some materials  come from non-sustainable sources.

BuildingGreen-Approved Panels

Products meet California Air Resources Board (CARB) ultra-low emitting formaldehyde (ULEF) or no-added-... Read more

Zero Tool has an expired certificate and isn't functioning. https://zerotool.org/zerotool/

I've emailed info@architecture2030.org but nothing yet. Anyone have any suggestions for contacting the administrators?

Thanks,

Tiffany Broyles Yost

GBBN

I received the following email from Naajia at Southface.  I'll be out of town until November 8, but I'll see if there's time for me to address at least the second part before I leave:

A question regarding the BIT-User Forum was brought to my attention by a participant. Apparently when you are posting a question and you pick your location... Read more

I have a colleague (lawyer) who is trying to assemble a list of precedent projects that used penalties or incentives for achieving energy targets. The topic she is addressing is how contracts may be changed to address growing climate change concerns.

At the moment, the only concrete example she has is a project in Washington by the US... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Embracing the Economy as a Design Challenge!

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


Understand the ways that architects, community developers and others are experimenting with new financial models to support progressive design.

Approach... Read more

Hi everyone, 

We’re so excited to announce that registration for the 2025 SMEPL Summit is now live! Register here and save your seat to join BuildingGreen, your SMEPL peers, and members of all three other networks for a first-of-its-kind summit this year.

In addition to the SMEPL Summit, you’ll have the option of joining us for... Read more

THIS WEBINAR PURCHASE AND REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.

Concrete is one of the construction industry’s largest carbon emitters, responsible for about 5% to 8% of the world’s anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, yet it is also one of the most important building materials.

There are well-proven ways to reduce... Read more

For folks in the Southern New England, New York City area, I wanted to let you know about this interestesting design summit that is focusing on eliminating forced and slave labor in the building materials supply chain. I am not involved in organizing the summit, but I plan to attend. It is at Grace Farms in New Canaan, CT from 9:00 to 5:30 on... Read more

Hello friends, Posting this to help out a friend that you all know!

(please reply directly to Kira at her email below) Tx

Dear Gurus, 

I am curating/hosting a panel at CarbonPositive RESET:

DESIGNED FOR CLIMATE: A New Construction Showcase

North & South America: September 8, 2020 | 4:45-5:25pm (PST)

I am forwarding this request from Kate Simonen from the Carbon Leadership Forum to support a grant application for this research. I don't know if the link will work in this format but if you have questions or want to sign you can contact me or Kate and I can send you the mail with the link my email is:  lstrain@siegelstrain.com     Thanks... Read more