Curious to see if your firms have researched metals and established a preference for what you use for roof and wall panels?  I'm interested in ranking environmental performance for painted steel, galvanize steel, weathered steel, painted aluminum, zinc, etc.

For those of you who have attended the event above, I think you will agree this has been a high quality event.  But DFC is changing the forum this year. Instead of holding an annual event in September, this year they are holding 4 half day events around the country.  Attendance will be limited to 40 people and it is focused on sustainability... Read more

Hello everyone!  There hasn’t been much activity on this forum in recent months, so we wanted to give an update about what’s been happening and things coming up. 

Firstly, we are very excited for the upcoming inaugural SCL Summit the day before Greenbuild.  We currently have about 20 people signed up for the Summit and we are expecting a... Read more

Hi friends, 

Before i forget, here is the checklist I mentioned yesterday that got such a positive response in our office - again it came about after i was asked (for the Nth time) to write a sustainability description for a concept proposal/ RFP that I was not a part of and frankly didn't have a lot going for it. So it's framed as "you... Read more

Hi All,

I'm teaching a class this semester at CU Boulder on Zero Carbon Buildings and Cities (a new class that I'm making up as I go). The hardest part, I'm finding, is locating some good materials that cover the basics of energy efficiency for non-building engineers or designers (we are energy and sustainability generalists in this... Read more

Hi all,

I am working on a Div 01 sustainability spec section for our firm to include by default on all projects. I've been finding a lot of great sample language out there for embodied carbon measures and material transparency (huge thanks to anyone here who had a part in developing those resources). 

One thing I'd like to include... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Natural Ventilation: The Nine Biggest Obstacles and How Project Teams Are Beating Them

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


1. Explain the primary reasons to design a building for natural ventilation.
2. Understand how cost, comfort... Read more

Hi All- I will be starting bi-weekly mtg for the PFAS working group to align on our goals as consicous firms and finalize our message aka 'letter to manufacturers' for reducing PFAS in building materials. Please email me (pgupta-garg@wrnsstudio.com) to let me know if you are interested in being a part of the group. First mtg will be next week... Read more

I wanted to make sure that you didn’t miss this fun event.  We can all use some fun right now.

Built Environment Plus is celebrating the arrival of spring with a fun competition to get people out and about safely. A digital Scavenger Hunt will allow teams of 4 (or larger families) to complete a series of photo, video, and text missions... Read more

I'm putting together information on natural gas bans (or put another way, all electric buildings) for an advocacy effort and looking for some experts. Anyone have thoughts on banning natural gas and other fossil fuels on residential projects? Specifically what are the considerations/challenges/opportunities at each scale (single family, low... Read more

Has anyone heard of floating solar technology? I can't think of an application other than covering power plant retention or agricultural waste lagoons. Covering up the sun on a natural body of water and adding electrical wiring seems like a bad idea. I am curious though if others have heard of this technology and have other (unbiased) ideas... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Introduction to Fitwel Certification: On-Demand Webcast.

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


1.  Identify the different categories within Fitwel and the particular human health and wellness aspects.

2.  Describe the differences between Fitwel... Read more

Hi all! I'm very excited to report that we have interest from a developer client in tracking embodied carbon through construction. We have issued construction documents and the construction managment team is begining the process to establish the GMP.

We're looking to use EC3, and/ or ZGF's LCA analysis tool for concrete to look at how we... Read more

Hi Fellow SD Leaders: This webinar from the AIA and the Building Resilience Coalition looks highly relevant and with some great speakers. It's free and open to all (I think...not sure how AIAU works for non-members.)

Free climate change risk webinar 10/23

Join members of 52 organizations of the Resilience Building Coalition for... Read more

Embodied carbon in products and existing buildings. What does LCA tell us about renovation vs. new construction and material choices?

Guiding Questions: