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Rainwater capture is increasingly important as shortages put pressure on our water systems.

BuildingGreen-Approved Rainwater Harvesting

We approve a wide range of rainwater catchment and storage systems and components, with... Read more

Built Environment Plus (was USGBC MA- aka Meredith Elbaum's band) has organized this awesome sustainability scavenger hunt.

It's fun. It's easy. Anyone can participate from anywhere - it's all app based, and it's a great way to get energized for Earth Day or week! And it's for a good cause, a fundraiser for supportive organization. Have... Read more

Hi everyone, we had a great first all-network call with the SCL members who joined us last month! We’re looking forward to the next all-SCL call on January 8, 2024 at 1pm ET.

In the meantime, we’d love for you to fill out this survey to help us best tailor the all-SCL calls to the needs of the network. Please fill out the survey by... Read more

Team,

See this paper regarding outside air vs. filtration.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360132313002515

MERV-13 is a good way to get most benefits without a huge cost.

Best,
Luke Leung

We have a client thats going through a TI remodel in a building thats a LEED Core+Shell certified building. One of the questions we are trying to figure out is are there things we need to be doing to not imperil the building's certification. 

I think the answer is that the landlord had to write tenant guidelines at the time of... Read more

Many on this list teach or have strong contacts with university programs, so I'm hoping to leverage our network in service of something that may be of general benefit.

EDR has a Research Fellowship program where we host young talent for 3 or 12 months addressing new theme each year. The Fellow(s) get "academic freedom" and have no... Read more

Hi all,

I've tried a couple of different search terms for the forum but haven't been able to find any past conversations on electrochromic glazing yet (which makes me suspect I might be missing something...). We have a potential opportunity to use it in a vertical curtain wall application with a client that is very interested in the... Read more

Our building scientist has been using Insight 360 to model daylight and document it for LEED certifications.  However, it appears that Autodesk is no longer fully supporting the tool and may eventually stop all together.  (we have not been able to run simulations for weeks due to a change to how "cloud credits" work on their end that they... Read more

Hi all,

All members of the WA Building Code Council received an email from Tim Attebery of the Washington State AGC and I'm trying to make sense of the role of the AGC and whether it is representing the consensus option of general contractors in Washington or not. The letter is very much against the energy code advancement, which... Read more

THIS WEBINAR PURCHASE AND REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.

This one-hour crash course will review the concepts and key facts within the WELL Building... Read more

Hi all,

I see that this was a hot topic for the Winter Retreat this past year, but I am wondering how your firms manage standard materials across your practice. two aspects - standard specification items, and also designer choice materials. 

1. Do you have a spec baseline with high performance materials that you start with for all... Read more

Hi folks,

It's here! Highlights, key takeaways, and pics from our packed few days together in Ashland, Mass. in the 2023 Summer Summit report.

From the intro:

Effectively meeting the challenge of the moment is what the world needs from us. Being grounded and energized by connections and sharing with our peers in a safe... Read more

Sustainable Design Leaders in NYC

New York City has been discussing implementing PACE Financing for years but has not taken action. Over 48 municipalities in New York State have PACE financing for Commercial (including multi-family) properties, it's time NYC does as well. I recently learned from colleagues in the City that all of the... Read more

I'm wondering if people are seeing any increase in WELL or Fitwel certification interest? Or any other 3rd party systems aimed at health and wellness? WELL seems like a higher bar and now WELL v2 offers more flexibility. Is interest and adoption of 3rd party health and wellness certs growing? 

All - 

We have corporate clients that are starting to request antimicrobials in response to Covid-19. I assume we are not the only ones seeing an increase in these requests. Knowing that the evidence supporting antimicrobials has limited to no efficacy, how are you approaching these conversations? We want to continue to advise based on... Read more

There are a number of SDL and other peer network folks talking about a potential casual meet up in association with Living Future 24 (next week in ATL).

In the interest of Julie McCoy-ing this thing into being ... 

Who: All y'all ... any Peer Network folks who are in town for LF24 (or local to ATL). 

Why: Connecting is... Read more

HI All,

Really hoping to get some insight from all you wonderful people on how the Sustainability teams are set-up in your construction companies. As mentioned in my introduction post, I am the first ever Sustainability Engineer hired by my company.....until now all the work was handled by project teams. Which worked for them in the... Read more

Hi All:  We are in the design phase for a 5,700 SF project in NH. The team is taking care to drive down embodied carbon where possible. It will be NZE.

A1-A3 emissions are coming in at 67.15 kgCO2e/sf, of which 11.97 kgCO2e/sf is a hot spot attributed to permeable paving and concrete pavers (a little skewed, since lot and patio sizes... Read more