HI Green Gurus. Great news for those who signed the petition to WHO last summer, and even those who didn't. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) released on March 1, 2021 a Roadmap to improve and ensure good indoor ventilation in the context of COVID-19. This document provides practical advice on how to mitigate COVID-19 through airborne... Read more

Hi all,

As you know, the Carbon Leadership Forum has been busy in recent years growing the tent of discipline-based commitments for reducing embodied carbon. SE 2050 and MEP 2040 provide the platform and commitment for structural and MEP respectively, and there is now interest brewing for an additional commitment in support of civil... Read more

Love the profile of Anica as the "featured member" on AIA's website--congratulations, Anica!

It's great to see the "just do it" attitude to achieving the 2030 goals: "We do not rely on clients to tell us to design a high-performance building; we are going to do it anyway, it's our job."

We are looking for colleagues from other firms to join a conference session proposal on "Dirt cheap Net Zero" for the ASHRAE / IBPSA conference (August 12-14, 2020, Chicago). 

We just had the grand opening of our first project designed to achieve net zero, a 50-unit affordable housing project, where we upgraded from the minimums required... Read more

I'm so excited to share that the call for submissions is now open for 16cubits, a design festival and competition for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, to take place at Berkeley’s Urban Adamah in October 2024.

Please share with anyone you think might be interested! Our hope is to create a forum for builders, designers, and architects to... Read more

Does anyone know of reports/studies of financial benefits from the developer perspective on Passive House multifamily projects? Specifically looking for market rate (not affordable) housing examples where there is a direct market advantage (higher rents) for PH buildings. 

Hello Community, 

For those of you who will be in San Diego shortly for Greenbuild, and want to come together to honor Lance, please see the details at :

https://celebratinglance.eventbrite.com

We will meet up outside at 5pm on the 22nd. Details in the evite. 

Please share with anyone outside of this list who was a... Read more

Exterior paints, stains, and primers—particularly alkyds—can have very high volatile organic compound (VOC) levels and can contain numerous chemicals of concern.

BuildingGreen-Approved Coatings

BuildingGreen lists exterior coatings that meet the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s (SCAQMD) VOC requirements of 50 grams... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of New Concepts in LEED v4.

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


1. Recognize the ways in which the Integrative Process credit requires teams to analyze opportunities early in design.
2. Describe how the new Location and Transportation... Read more

Has anyone used the new 3M Smog-Eating Granules on a roof before? Malarkey and Soprema are offering this as an option for their roof shingles. Seems like a great technology for urban areas, but I'd be curious to see if anyone here has actually successfully specified and installed it.

https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/roofing-granules-us/... Read more

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/06/04/new-china-policies-spark-di...

New China policies spark disarray in region’s recycling industry
Buried in the mountains of refuse at Casella’s recycling plant in Charlestown are tons of material that should have gone straight to the landfill — from tires and pots to lobster buoys and... Read more

We are looking at installing an aerobic biodigester in a commercial kitchen for an office client that is VERY concerned about zero waste.  Basically, this system takes food waste, treats it with micro-organisms to remove organic matter, and turns it into water of high enough quality to go straight to the sewer.  The manufacturer we are looking... Read more

Valentina works on the UX/UI design and front-end of the BuildingGreen and LEEDuser websites. With over 10 years’ experience focused on websites usability, she develops prototypes and cross-browser web interfaces as part of the WebDev team. She also collaborates closely with marketing and editorial to create any other visual design project for... Read more

Anyone aware of tools or workflows for modeling of a specific outdoor space and effective surface temperatures?  We've done a goodly amoutn of microclimate simulations, but never explicitly factored in the ground surface, in terms of emissivity and other related factors.   

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

Sitting in SFO after an exhausting but also weirdly refreshing Greenbuild. Saw many of you at the Peer Networks event, which was so awesome!

Before my flight boards, I wanted to let folks know we're seeking a new Editorial Associate. It's pretty entry level with lots of room to grow. If you know a talented writer who's got background in... Read more