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I am getting started on a research project to evaluate the feasibility, costs, and benefits of using phase change material (PCM) to passively regulate temperature in Minnesota buildings. If anyone has experience designing with PCM, installing PCM, or occupying buildings with PCM, can you share any lessons learned that would be relevant as... Read more
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Curious if folks know of any resources on hempcrete, specific to durability. We have a one-story carbon-neutral operational energy project where the design team and client have bought into the aesthetics and carbon-sequestering potential of hempcrete, and amazingly it is looking to be no more expensive than a more typical concrete wall... Read more
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It was great to see everyone who was able to join in the peer networks webinar and to be able to share a brief update on what the Defining and Measuring Resilient Outcomes working group has accomplished over the last year... and what we are looking forward to tackling in the coming year.
I've both attached a copy of the deck here and... Read more
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I've been researching the job description for "Director of Sustainability" and Sustainability Director" as I'm at a point where Sustainability Specialist no longer seems to fit. If you have either of these titles and are willing to share your job description with me, I'd appreciate it. I need to write my own job decription and I can write what... Read more
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This might be going down a rabbit hole, but in moving to California this year I noticed that "zero net energy" (ZNE) is the standard term, whereas "net zero energy" (NZE) was more common back east. The DOE's 2015 definition (below) uses "zero energy building" (ZEB), which to me implies a building uses no energy at all.
Regional... Read more
Product Guide
Stone was one of humanity’s first building materials and continues to play an important role in today’s green building industry. There are many stones used in the building industry, but the most common ones used for exterior cladding are limestone, granite, marble, slate, and sandstone.
BuildingGreen-Approved Stone and Masonry Cladding... Read more
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Hi folks,
I’m sorry to be so last minute with this. LEED v5’s second public comment period ends TOMORROW (Monday, Oct 28). As it currently stands, LEED has eliminated its preferential support for FSC over other forest certification programs and is silent on climate-smart forestry.
I’m hoping that the Climate Smart folks in this... Read more
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For those of you working in jurisdictions with both prescriptive and performance-based commercial energy code pathways, roughly what percentage of your projects are using the performance pathway? How do your project teams decide which pathway to follow?
In Minnesota we are seeing very few projects pursuing the performance pathway,... Read more
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I just saw this post from Conor on LinkedIn.
Starting in January 2019, all new Columbia Construction Company projects require LED temp lighting.
Are others doing this too? Frankly, given all the benefits and how quickly the industry is matured, it's hard for me to understand why anyone would use anything other than LEDs on a job.... Read more
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I'm hoping someone knows the anser to this question. For the LEED ND certification the minimum requirement is "The LEED project should contain at least two habitable buildings and be no larger than 1500 acres." Does habitable mean buildings with dwelling units?
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I wanted to alert you to this opportunity to help develop a new ASHRAE Standard. They are especially looking for people who have not served with ASHRAE previously (aka the usual suspects)
ASHRAE Standard 242P, Standard Method for Calculation of Building Operational Greenhouse Gas Emissions
1 Purpose: This standard provides a... Read more
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Hi Green Gurus (esp. Sustainable MEP leaders...)
I'm looking for suggestions of contacts for MEP consultants, especially in the Chicagoland region, ideally with sustainability highly integrated into the work, specialization in geothermal systems, and indoor agriculture. (doesn't necessarily have to be all-in-one)
For context, we... Read more