Hello all,

The Bay Area SCL contingent has recently published an anti-idling toolkit so contractors can get empowered to enact their own anti-idling policy on their jobsites. We're all in this together - if you haven't already brought this up with your company management, hopefully this toolkit serves as a good starting point. 

... Read more

Hello,

We are having a discussion / a bit of a debate in our office about the merits and sustainability of different roofing materials. Our current standard is to use a PVC membrane, which we all know is highly toxic. TPO is an obvious alternative that is less toxic, but it has some performance concerns and can often lead to leaking (not... Read more

Hi Everyone,

Who has worked on a SITES certification and can share the approximate hours involved for administering and completing documentation? A relative sense of the effort compared to LEED would also be helpful, similar to the thread about WELL on this same subject. 

Appreciate any insight. Thanks! -Hilary

The Center for the Built Environment (CBE) at the University of California, Berkeley is conducting a survey to understand current practices and outlooks among design practitioners: architects, engineers, energy modelers, and related professionals. Our goal with this work is to improve climate change adaptation guidelines that support building... Read more

Please use this thread for you're actions / ideas for creating more sustainable job site construction office trailers.

I know that Pepper Construction led the way with a Net Zero Construction Jobsite Trailer. (Thanks Susan Heinking!)  Is this a one off?  Any lessons learned? Any one else pursing this?  Is pepper the first and only doing... Read more

Hi! I'm writing a short news piece on WELL v2 and looking for someone very familiar with the existing and v2 standards to interview about the changes. If you meet that description and would like to go on the record with your thoughts, please reply to me directly at paula@buildinggreen.com. Thanks!

Welcome to the quiz portion of The PVC Debate: A Fresh Look

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


1. Catalog the history of PVC in the building industry.
2. Recount the connections between PVC and chlorine, dioxins, mercury, and vinyl chloride.
3. Explain the... Read more

In the wake of pandemic WFH requirements, we are looking to revamp employee policies and I thought this type of information share would be something we Green Gurus would love to thought-share on. 

We are a very 'low-policy company' (20 when I joined, now 75 employees currently) and our employee handbook is quite small (5 pages). Most... Read more

Hello everyone,

We have a higher ed client in New Jersey that is interested in learning more about the 179D tax credit and would like to speak to someone who can help answer questions and offer guidance. If you have experience that you can offer, or you can provide some contacts - ideally with higher ed experience - who would be willing... Read more

Hello all,

Could any of you point me out to recent studies showing the health impacts of plastic piping vs. copper piping? 

We have a project where NIRON or Aquatherm are proposed as a VE item in lieu of copper.  I know there is some studies showing PEX and PVC piping health impacts, but I can't seem to find anything on these 2... Read more

In the run-up to Earth Day 2023, we're trying something new at VMDO: Full, public transparency on everything we know about how our portfolio is performing (or how we anticipate it performing). Here's a link to all of the details on our sixth year of reporting to the 2030 Commitment and more: https://www.vmdo.com/radical-transparency-commitment-... Read more

Hey Sages, Just lobbing this over the transome - not sure if anyone else cares :) but this would be a great group to dig in if anyone IS interested.

 For the past few years, I've been working on melding two completely separate worlds - our world (with typical project delivery) and the world of Agile (not just software development process... Read more

Hi all - I can't remember this topic being posted recently so here goes. With fossil fuel free finally being something our clients are increasingly wanting to know about, we are stuck on diesel generators. They have several advantages including: cost, inherent refillability from a truck, reliability, and are the market standard. In initial... 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

Hello friends in the construction group!

I am advising an owner on a huge redevelopment project and - we are of course looking at carbon/embodied carbon from a design perspective - but I remember hearing some of you talking about how you are addressing emissions during construction (including both recommendations related to specific... Read more