Hi SD Leader: Please review, consider or pass along this terrific new position leading the Sustainability strategic direction at the Washington University School of Medicine. WashU has an ambitious sustainability leader role regionally and across the nation and the School of Medicine (highly ranked nationally) plays a big role in that. The job... 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

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

Hey Peer Network! Curious, if we can crowd-source a solution here for the pervious pavers at our Omaha office (climate zone 5A). Apparently over the years we've tried to add different kinds of fill here (gravel) but it keeps... disappearing. Any recommendations with either a replacement product or fill item? 

"The man with one watch knows what time it is; the man with two is never sure."   --Segal's Law

We recently purchased two indoor air quality meters in the $200-$300 range and find that they never agree, not even close. I would like to find out what other people's experiences have been, and if they have tested affordable models that... Read more

THIS WEBINAR REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.

Wondering how LEED v5 development is progressing? Here’s your chance to find out from two of the folks who’ve been closest to the process. Join us for this 45-minute event on July 26 at 11:30 Eastern (8:30 Pacific) .

LEEDuser hosted... Read more

Hello Sustainable Advising Leaders,

Happy 2022! Here's your reminder that this network's first monthly call of the year is next Tuesday, January 25 at 3pm ET. Zoom call information is below.

All members of the network are welcome! You can see the agenda here. Here's a quick preview:

Hi all,

We are taking a deep look at green accreditations within our firm. Gone are the days when we could say: "our staff is XX% LEED APs!" as a metric of firm progress. Here are a few questions we are asking ourselves, and I'm wondering how you approach this in your firms:

Hi Everyone, 

Our Vancouver team is looking for some innovative, high performance  building retrofit case studies. We are have been retained to retrofit a significant heritage building in Vancouver and the client has a net zero carbon institutional goal. As such we are looking for some innovative precedents that will provide design and... Read more

Hi all,

Just a reminder that the last day to RSVP for the Living Future 2023 Peer Networks Meetup is tomrorow, April 26th! There are still some spaces left, with 34 people currently signed up. Please RSVP here if you'll be attending.

When: Wednesday May 3, 2023, 7:30-9pm ET

Where: SmithGroup, 1700 New York Avenue, NW, Suite... Read more

Hi all!

I've heard several people talk about developing tools for assessing/codifying a client's values for a project as part of an integrated design process (ie. a set of questions, survey, etc.). Would anyone be willing to share?

(Z, are you listening? I specifically recall you mentioning a tool like this...)

Thanks!... Read more

Conventional asphalt and concrete contribute to excessive stormwater runoff and pollution.

BuildingGreen-Approved Pavements and Pavers

We look for products that improve on the environmental characteristics of asphalt as well as permeable alternatives to concrete. These include:

Hi SDL: today is the last day to cast your vote in the voting for Greenbuild by 5PM ET.  

please vote for the terrific program put together on PV23 "The Tools You Need to Design for Climate Emergency Action" with me, Betsy and Beth Heider that will bring together a collection of tools, including brand new ones from Saskia, using the Top... Read more

Hello Everyone,

As the staff here at BuildingGreen prepares for our third peer network summit in two months, we'd like to share out the Summit Report from the first online summit with the Sustainable MEP Leaders. We're a little delayed in sharing this with the wider Green Gurus group, but there is still plenty of time to review before... Read more

Has anyone heard about batu or cumaru as substitutes for ipe? I am looking for a durable deckling material, and would appreciate your recommendations for sustainable choices!

Dear all,

Greetings. I'm presenting virtually to an audience of architecture and engineering faculty in India on the topic 'Introduction to Climate Change and Adaptive Architecture.' What is expected of the presentation is a broad overview of how climate change affects the built environment, challenges faced and some coping mechanisms. I... Read more