News Brief
Energy Source™ Directory
Life has been a whole lot easier around the office since theEnergy Source Directory arrived. Assembled and published by Iris Communications, this is the most complete and most useful guide to specialized products and materials used in energy-efficient construction that we've seen. The 500-page directory is... Read more
Feature
Ozone depletion and global warming are two of our most serious environmental problems—and foam insulation materials containing CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) contribute significantly to both of these problems. The environmentally concerned builder or designer should make it a highest priority to avoid them. Even many of the non-CFC alternatives... Read more
Feature
Susan Maxman is the first AIA president to make sustainable design a priority.
Q.Where would you say architects as a group stand on environmental issues?
A.Architects tend to be reactive rather than proactive. It is important that we take the lead on these environmental issues. The architecture schools in particular tend to be conservative. They just aren’t... Read more
News Brief
The American Institute of Architects convention in Boston this past June was the setting for a changing of the guard in the American architectural establishment. The Institute’s first woman president took the reins, the Committee on the Environment became its largest and fastest growing committee, and the first installments of the Environmental... Read more
Feature
Carefully stake the building site and driveway, remove trees that are within the excavation area or too close, then erect a fence to keep heavy equipment off fragile soils and away from nearby trees.
Protecting trees and the local ecosystem when building on previously unbuilt land is a vitally important—yet often overlooked—part of environmentally responsible construction. Healthy trees and shrubs can reduce a home’s environmental impact and directly benefit homeowners in a number of ways:
•Enhancing comfort by shielding the house... Read more
Op-Ed
Introducing the first issue of our newsletter.
Buildings have a tremendous impact on the environment. In North America, buildings and the building industry account for about 30% of carbon dioxide emissions, 35-40% of ozone depletion, 20-30% of municipal solid waste, vast quantities of natural resource consumption, and dramatic loss of open space each... Read more
Forum topic
Hey all,
Thanks to everyone who joined today's peer network webinar - it was great to share what our working group has been developing in the last year. This group gathered to work through a series of decision-making trees to publish some kind of relatively repeatable guidance for how to advance this conversation with a variety of owners... Read more
Product Guide
Board insulation has good thermal performance ranging from about R-4 to R-8 and is used as an integral part of a building envelope’s continuous insulation system.
Because board insulation is used on the building exterior, it is not always subject to the same material health and emissions requirements as batt insulation used inside the... Read more
Forum topic
Hello Green Gurus,
Here is the information for our second Peer Networks Webinar this month, coming up next week: Better Products = Better Buildings (Low Carbon Specs). We hope you can join us!
Register HERE.
Better Products = Better Buildings (Low Carbon Specs)
Thursday, May 19, 2022
1 - 2pm ET (10 - 11am PT)... Read more
Forum topic
We have all these resources out here in the ether but it’s so hard to pull them into one spot! I was asked, last minute to join a client call today to help convince both the client (affordable housing developer) and the mechanical engineers to "stick with" a commitment to 100% electric design that was publicly stated when the competition was... Read more
Forum topic
Hi: Great to see so many of you at AIA COTE Top Ten last week. I'm forwarding the message below for those of you who know Marsha Maytum and can contribute to this important effort. Deadline is next Friday June 23rd!Thanks.
Mary Ann
Hello, friends,
During A'23, Je’Nen and I discussed our desire to send Marsha photos we have... Read more
Reports, Courses, Study Guides, Live Webinars
A site license allows your entire organization to access and share the report, and to keep a copy in your library. The site license does not allow multiple users to earn CEUs. If multiple individuals in your organization would like to earn CEUs from this report, please purchase individual copies.
The world’s most... Read more
Forum topic
Does anyone know where one can locate weather files (EPW) that has predicted future data for climate change?
Thanks in advance.
Forum topic
Hi everyone - in doing a carbon footprint for our firm, does anyone know if buildings that we design as Architects considered scope 3 emissions, or are they beyond the boundary of emissions? LMN's buildings, despite best efforts, are cumulatively multiple orders of magnitude above our scope 1 and 2 emissions. We have never included these... Read more
Forum topic
I'm looking to compile an outdoor weather station for a local project, and we'd like to add local outdoor CO2 information to our data. I usually work with Onset HOBO products, but they don't offer an outdoor CO2 sensor. Their weather stations can take data from any CO2 sensor with an analog output - does anyone have any suggestions?
Forum topic
Happy Friday Everyone!
Hoping to add a bit of excitement to the end of your week:
Here is the Sustainable Construction Leaders 2020 Summit Report.
Enjoy!
RoseAnn for Candace, Nadav, and the BuildingGreen team

