First, there was Energy Use reductions

Then there was embodied carbon

Soon it will be refrigerant use/leakage calculations

…and much more

As coordinators and leaders of project teams, what does this look like for the practicing architect and our collaborators?

I have no idea. BUT I’m guessing someone is... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Introducing Fitwel v2.1!

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


1.  Explain the purpose of the Fitwel standard, including how it advances the goals of health and well-being of building occupants—as well as public health.

2. List nine ways in... Read more

Hello SDLs!

Here is the 2018 SDL Summer Summit Report, ENJOY!

In a couple of weeks we will share this report with the broader Green Gurus group. 

We are also working on setting up a webinar to present the 2018 SDL Summer Summit Report and discuss the Summit!

All the best,

RoseAnn

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Erika Heet is the Editor-in-Chief of BuildingGreen. She is the former Editor-in-Chief of Interiors magazine. She has held senior editor positions at Dwell and Architectural Digest, and is the author of two books on modern architecture. She has served on the boards of Greenbuild and the Sustainable Furnishings Council, as well as on juries for... Read more

Hi all,

I'm curious how various firms are approaching their own office projects, re green building certifications. I'm especially interested in medium-large firms that have multiple offices, but policies and processes from small firms may still be instructive.

Do you have a firm-wide policy or is it a case-by-case thing? Has... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of What Makes Plumbing Green? BuildingGreen’s Guide to Plumbing Products.

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


1. Explain how plumbing products affect the environment in ways that go far beyond water consumption.
2. Describe ultra-high-... Read more

A couple Minnesota cities are considering adding electrification to their sustainable building policy (required for new construction receiving City financial assistance). Concerned that the market isn't ready for a full-on mandate, they are considering a more moderate approach of requiring developers/design teams to conduct an electrification... Read more

Hello all, 

Any Fitwel experts out there? I have a 30,000 sf boutique hotel + spa client who would like to certify under the Fitwel rating system but Fitwel folks are telling me that no scorecard is currently available to hotel clients (can't use mulit-tenant or resi, that a hotel scorecard is under development). Has anyone used Fitwel... Read more

We have a client who is asking us to design a roughly 10 ksf Wellness Center for PHIUS 2021 certification.  The program includes several high density assembly type spaces - roughly 300 person peak occupant load for the building.  The Criteria Calculator that the architect showed us puts the building peak cooling load at 4 BTUH/sf (3000 sf/ton... Read more

Ventilation is essential for indoor air quality, but it can bring very hot or very cold outdoor air into conditioned space.

BuildingGreen-Approved ERVs

Heat-recovery ventilators (HRVs) and energy-recovery ventilators (ERVs) can save energy by capturing nearly all of the heat in the air being exchanged. BuildingGreen approves:... Read more

Is LEED Online mind-numbingly slow today for anyone else? Or is it just me? I may give up and try again tomorrow. Frustrating as I was hoping to submit a final review today. :(

Hi All,

My team member is leaving Webcor, and unfortunately that means we have to fill her big shoes with someone new! I thought I'd reachout here and see if you know anyone of high caliber looking for a Sustainability Manager position? Someone with LEED PM experience preferred, and a bit more technical background with MEP/ZNE ideally... Read more

Hi All,

How are folks funding training for your employees? Would it help to have free training opportunities besides lunch and learns or ones you do yourself?

For those of you outside of Massachusetts you may have employees or friends in MA that this could be relevant to.  I'm hoping my friends in MA have already heard this.

Hi friends,

We recently tracked our water consumption on site during the structural demolition of some existing reinforced concrete buildings.  The new OSHA silica regulations required us to keep dust to virtually zero, so we had a bunch of mist cannons and water hoses pumping water around the clock.  We consumed ~855,000 gallons in a... Read more

Resilience Resource Database

The Defining and Measuring Resilient Outcomes Working Group has been developing a Resilience Resource Database as a repository for resources related to the topic of resilience in our built environment. 

This database and map are endeavoring to show resources for resilient design across the country to... Read more

Hello there, 

I am working on a project with indoor plants and active green walls. I would like to design lights for growing plants and people at the same time (which seems to be a non-obvious problem). 
 

I was thinking of Philips, GE, Shneider Lighting, etc. Would you recommend someone I could talk to and eventually engage... Read more