Food waste is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions from landfills due to methane released during anaerobic decomposition.

BuildingGreen-Approved Composters

BuildingGreen approves in-vessel commercial composters, which require the smallest footprint and are most likely to be suitable for a densely populated area.

Why... Read more

Hi folks,

Some of you have seen me do a 5-minute presentation on an initiative to divert urine from wastewater. That team is now developing a building-scale urine treatment technology with support from the National Science Foundation's Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) award. 

In order to learn more about the sustainable... Read more

We had so much fun at our Contractor coffee talk that I reached out to our MEP friends to see if they would set up something similar.  And they have agreed to host a talk on Thursday December 2, at 1-2pm EST.  They will talk about decarbonizing buildings, on a schedule that keeps us under the 1.5° C limit and will also address strategies for... Read more

We're wrapping up a multi year project that went through multiple design changes, leaving us with a ton of material samples.  Does anyone know of a good place we could donate these samples to, to keep them out of the landfill.  I'm in the greater Seattle area.  Thank you for any suggestions.

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

Hi Gurus,

We are having a hard time sourcing a baby changing table that is free of anticmicrobial coatings. KoalaKare, the predominate manufacturer, includes Microban in both their plastic and stainless steel product options.  Does anyone have any experience with a durable, ADA compliant and readily available baby changing table free of... Read more

tate 

A draft of AIA’s Top Ten Toolkit was just published!

http://bit.ly/COTEtoolkit

Hopefully useful for everyone toward making more very high performance buildings. More updates to come, including interactive tools like a superspreadsheet. 

All the best,

Tate

Hi,

Are any of you attending this conference? Michelle and I are doing this low-carbon concrete/EC policy work and can't attend this conference on short notice - but if YOU are attending - we might ask a couple of small favors (collecting specific info from trade show etc)

AND/OR: if any of you have attended in the past - was it... Read more

Hey, team. Would it be possible to get premium access to LEED User while we're developing the best practices resources? (without subscribing to it- I don't LEED consult any longer)  Southface has basic membership, so I can't see what's available, etc. Thanks.

Does anyone have a recommendation for software that helps organize and track product and material selections for projects? 

Thanks!

Another Break-out by Firm Size.

Guiding Questions:

SDL Best Practices by Firm Size

What's working and what's not? How are others integrating successes?

What strategies are effective in each of these areas: ongoing education, research, knowledge sharing?

How can we structure our green team across... Read more

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

Be aware of key dates in the history of the LEED rating system.

Have a clear understanding of the new impact areas present in the updated rating system.

Ascertain which types of new credits belong to which impact areas in the LEED v5 rating system.

Welcome to the quiz portion of Resilient Design: 7 Lessons from Early Adopters

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


1. Recount the ten resilient design principles.
2. Recount each of the seven fundamental messages embraced by the model practitioners.
3. Describe... Read more

Hi Green Commons,

It’s been eerily quiet here since Tuesday night. I’ve been quiet mostly because I just didn’t know what to say. The election results are certainly a blow to pretty much everything we’ve been working for. There is so much we don’t know about things might play out, but I’m feeling a range of emotions ranging from... Read more

In trying to help a client write a case study on avoided carbon by using slag and flyash, I am having trouble finding a one for one equivalency that can be verified.

I have found for one pound of flyash, one pound of carbon is saved - but I can't verify that.

Appreciate the feedback!

An elevator system can account for 4%–10% of a building's electric energy load, without considering impacts on heating and cooling. Conventional finishes are also common.

BuildingGreen-Approved Systems

We approve the most efficient tension elevators from leading manufacturers, including models that incorporate: