Hi Everyone.  Hope you and your families are all healthy and safe.

We are starting to figure out how we are going to implement the Contractors Commitment at my company, and we're using the opportunity to simultaneously set corporate wide and jobsite metrics and goals for sustainability tracking.

Each year we issue a sustainability... Read more

More sustainable forms of transportation are a key component of green building design and resilient communities.

BuildingGreen-Approved Bike Storage

BuildingGreen approves bike racks that offer security, integrated weather protection, or efficient use of space. Some products may also feature recycled content or powder-coated... Read more

Thanks to SERA especially David, Kira and Clark for an inspirational conversation with Paul Hawken about his latest book. I know I needed a positive perspective! Then I found this great "Regeneration Anthem" song and had to share.

https://regeneration.org/news/210915-we-can-change-world-regeneration-an...

Happy Fall to all.

Hi folks,

I'm looking into lower-carbon pipe options for HVAC and plumbing. The MEP 2040 has slides from a Buro Happold study in 2020 showing PEX to be much lower in embodied carbon than copper, which is unsurprising. CPVC is also a lower-carbon option.

But PVC has its issues and neither PVC nor PEX are recyclable (especially if... 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

If you haven't already, please post a brief introduction to the group with your firm, the roles you play especially as they focus on sustainability, a bit about your background and anything you are particularly passionate about. Thanks! 

Hey SDL,

I'm curious if anybody out there has developed specification language requiring a certain level of airtightness (as assessed via one or a series of blower door tests) for a commercial project when it is not going for a Passive House certification and a blower door test is not required by code--basically, something in the... Read more

This webcast was pre-approved for 1 AIA LU|HSW and 1 GBCI CE hour.

Please complete the survey questions to confirm your attendance and receive your CEUs.

By providing your credential numbers in your profile, you will enable us to automatically report these CEUs to these organizations. Please check your profile to be sure your... 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

Hi folks,

No details have been sorted out yet, but I wanted everyone to have a heads-up that the SCL Steering Group is proposing that we graduate to a full, stand-alone SCL Summit in 2020. (Until now we’ve been squeezing our Summit into the day before Greenbuild, which is good in some ways, but problematic in others—and limits our time... Read more

As if you weren't worrying enough already, here's a little something that I ran across through monitoring activity on the American Society of Healthcare Engineers discussion boards:  https://www.id-hub.com/2018/10/17/hospital-plumbing-reservoir-resistance-interview-amy-mathers/, "Hospital Plumbing as a Reservoir for Resistance".  This is both a... 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

Following up on one of our conversations on the vision vacuum and sustainability beyond certifications, I would like to help facilitate an offline conversation with anyone working within their firm to use the AIA COTE measures as a guiding framework in their firms/projects. Attached are my slides on my first pass at thinking about this at Page... Read more

This is a bit off the thread of sustainable design leadership, but how much design and/or leadership can you get done without an adequate amount of caffeination?

We are looking for recommendations and advice on improving the sustainability of our breakrooms, particularly on the subject of beverage (mostly coffee, but also a fair amount... Read more

We think fresh water supplies are endless, but this idealistic vision is clouded by the smoke of countless forest fires in the U.S. West and elsewhere. Instead of endless bounty, climate change is bringing us catastrophic droughts and flooding that now dominate the headlines and threaten entire regions.

This report covers innovative... Read more