For a number of years a colleague and I have been teaching a course about sustainability and water in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania's architectural school (PennDesign).  This year we're hoping to bring a few new opinions to the table for at the same time as we broaden the discussion.  Because the class will be virtual again... Read more

Are your firms discussing the health effects of silica dust on people working with engineered stone and the recent announcement of the upcoming ban in Australia, as of July 2024?

https://www.dezeen.com/2023/12/14/australia-bans-engineered-stone-silico...

According to the article, a recent report says that there is no safe level of... Read more

Hello SAL Members - after last month's call, and invitation to do some thinking around the direction of the group, a few of us connected and brainstormed questions that might help guide and refine our network. It would be great to have a conversation around everyone's needs and goals, so if you could please take 5 minutes to respond to these... Read more

There has been a lot of discussion re antimicrobials in this group, so here is a pre-release of this month's article on the topic. It's not an extensive feature, but I hope you find it informative.

Brent

My colleague, Kira Gould, from the AIA National COTE communications committee, has a great question I am reposting here...

AIA National COTE: In the early 00s, COTE supported an initiative through which we created a Guide to the Green RFP and collected sample RFP language. That now dated guide is no longer findable in our resources and... Read more

Hello SD Leaders!

Two weeks ago a group of us gathered for the Winter 2020 Sustainable Design Leaders Summit. Those of us from BuildingGreen that were on site, greatly appreciated everyone's time and energy. It's always a pleasure to work along side you all!

Here is the summit report!

Reminder: We are giving a priority look... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Solar Thermal Hot Water, Heating, and Cooling.

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


1. Explain active and passive; direct and indirect; and low-, medium-, and high-temperature solar thermal systems.
2. Distinguish between the three most... Read more

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 ... Read more

HI All,

I am curious if others are using THERM in-house for your envelope design?

We usually use our building envelope/curtain wall consultants (Boston - so mostly RWDI and Heintjes) but our teams are finding that they need the information faster than our consultants can provide, they are backlogged, or we have some curtain wall... Read more

Hello good people and fabulous troublemakers,

PFAS is in everything. In May, the NY Times published an article about this, along with the governments work to remove it from drinking water. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/10/climate/six-things-to-know-about-forever-chemicals.html

As you may know, a working group has been gathering... Read more

What a great first day!

Here are the slides from the show and tell presentations last night at SOM's office; everyone who presented with slides has given approval to share them.

Metal windows are used in commercial building because of their durability, low maintenance, and ability to handle wind loads.

BuildingGreen-Approved Windows

Metal windows must achieve an NFRC-certified unit U-factor of 0.20 or lower to be approved by BuildingGreen.

Manufacturers also must demonstrate that their highest-... Read more

I am excited to share with you the final draft of the letter back to LP50 manufacturers.  The LP50 manufacturers sent their “Closing the Loop on Product Transparency” to design firms earlier this year.  For more background information, please check out Chris Hellstern's original August 20th post on this Green Gurus forum.  When we posted the... Read more

Auto-quiz used for CEUs for attendees of the 2023 SCL Wintger Summit.

Hi All,

I have a commercial restauranter in Colorado who is (reluctantly) considering induction cooking. Does anyone know of any good resources out there that can help make the case for this? That would include testimonials, research, videos, testimonials, or whatever else can help get a commercial kitchen comfortable to moving to... Read more

Hi - I'm wondering if you have recommendations for a web/mobile app for occupants to self-assess comfort at regular intervals. I've downloaded comfy, but it wants to actually DO something about thermal discomfort by alerting discomfort and connecting, I believe, to the BMS. We just want to collect information at this point. And since I'm a... Read more

Hi folks,

We often hear from you with a suggestion of someone who would be great for the network, and a question about how to refer them. We've now made that easy, with three steps laid out in an Outreach Toolkit that's posted in the left margin of the Member Directory.

So, if you're thinking of someone to invite or come across... Read more