How much will it cost to achieve LEED v4 certification?

“We’d love a green building, but can we afford it?”

“We’re required to be LEED Silver, but we’re not sure how to get there under the new rating system.”

“Sure, we’re interested in LEED, as long as it doesn’t cost extra.”

LEED v4 and cost uncertainty

With... Read more

Hi all,

We have a newly constructed, core/shell project having some hot water issues in the core restrooms.

There is a 0.35 Toto lav installed throughout. The hot water heaters are adjacent on each floor, located in the janitor closets. We did the math, and there could be a gallon of water standing and cooling in the pipe between... Read more

Gather with the Changemakers in Sustainable Construction

You are invited to join BuildingGreen and your peers for the Summit that has always delivered on driving our movement forward. Over three days of collaboration, workshops, learning, sharing, networking, and socializing, we’ll set the agenda for changes to LEED v5, strategize on... Read more

Hi, folks! 

I was recently asked if BuildingGreen could connect prospective speakers to an event organizer in Chicago. Beyond the leaders in the BuildingGreen networks relayed, I wanted to share that the exercise led me to the Women and Climate speaker database: https://www.womenandclimate.co/speaker-database 

When filtering by... Read more

I know that there is a risk of starting a whole flurry of congrats through the forum, but this is a biggie, and deserves some recognition:

Congratulations Andrea and Melanie!! Huzzah!!

And a reminder--If you want to reach out to them privately, rather than through the forum, with your message, you can see anyone's email address by... Read more

Can furniture be hazardous? You bet it can…

From flame retardants in foam cushions to unnecessary stain and dirt repellents on upholstery materials, everyday... Read more

Hi Everyone - I hope this isn't a repeat topic. We are starting to get familiar with TallyCAT at SAR+ and have a few people testing our projects in it. Is anyone willing to help us troubleshoot or share lessons learned? We're running into a few errors and wonder if our Revit models and workflow are the issue, or if we need to be doing something... Read more

Hi everyone,

Have your projects explored, pursued, or successfully achieved the domestic content bonus for PV systems within the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Investment Tax Credit? I have a project that is considering adding the IRA domestic content requirements and we are trying to understand the nuances and potential challenges (cost... Read more

I was recently tasked by my CEO to uncover some qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (surveys) data within our organization related to the value remote working has had on our organization. He's specifically interested in questions such as how this experience has enhanced our value as teams, unity or disunity as a firm? Where has it ... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Are Cool Roofs Green? The Answer's Not Black and White

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


1. Explain why roofing choices are complicated by heating tradeoffs, climate effects, and condensation and how cool roofs are intended to reduce... Read more

Amanda is BuildingGreen's Peer Networks Manager, working behind the scenes to support the Peer Networks team and members. They are passionate about sustainable design and love helping people find tangible ways to help the planet.

Prior to joining BuildingGreen in 2023, Amanda was a campaigns coordinator at a food justice... Read more

All,

The current version of the program manual includes ID numbers for the best practices, as shown below. I know we want to keep a quick reference number or ID, but though it would be worth asking if we want to use the below, reorder them in some way, or use a different kind of ID. Opinions?

Thanks,
Jenny

--------... Read more

Hi Everyone - I'm posting this on behalf of Jeff Frost whom many of you know from his days as an SD Leader with SmithGroup and SERA and in his new role as head of Brightworks Sustainability's materials group.  I am excited to be working with Jeff on this concept of multi-attribute product scoring.  Cheers, Lona

Dear SDL’ers,

We’ve... Read more

Friends,

As some of you know, I joined Perkins Eastman last year and it has been amazing. After years of being the Sustainable Design Leader at my last firm, this move has meant I can concentrate on project work because we have such an AMAZING team, led by Heather Jaurequi and Tanya Eagle. Unfortunately, that also means I'm not in the... Read more

Greetings to all of the AEC SD Leaders (a.k.a. the Green Gurus)!

Over the last two months, the 32-member Build-Back-Better (BBB) letter working group has developed a robust list of first 100-days, built-environment-focused executive actions for the Biden administration to consider. Kara Kempski, the AIA’s Director of Federal Relations,... Read more

Following the summer SDL summit - we formed a spinoff user group called "Carbon Sync" to discuss Life Cycle and Carbon Assessment tools like Tally and Athena.  We've had three successful calls with folks sharing a couple 5-minute presentations about various studies and explorations.  We have a mix of experience levels - but are collaborating... Read more