Another Break-out by Firm Size.

Guiding Questions:

SDL Best Practices by Firm Size

What's working and what's not? How are others integrating successes?

What strategies are effective in each of these areas: ongoing education, research, knowledge sharing?

How can we structure our green team across... Read more

Hello All,

News Bulletin: The 2020 SDL Winter Summit will be held January 29th - January 31st, 2020 at The Lodge at Gulf State Park, Alabama!

During the 2019 Winter Summit, we discovered such an amazing venue at the Gulf State Park in Alabama that we’ve decided to go back! This incredible beachfront hotel designed by Lake|Flato is... Read more

Hi folks,

Some of you have seen me do a 5-minute presentation on an initiative to divert urine from wastewater. That team is now developing a building-scale urine treatment technology with support from the National Science Foundation's Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) award. 

In order to learn more about the sustainable... Read more

This would be a great place to share insights and reflections from the opening session. 

Hi Gurus,

We are having a hard time sourcing a baby changing table that is free of anticmicrobial coatings. KoalaKare, the predominate manufacturer, includes Microban in both their plastic and stainless steel product options.  Does anyone have any experience with a durable, ADA compliant and readily available baby changing table free of... Read more

Hello, 

I am struggling with understanding if I should be using Annual Marginal Emission Factors (MEF) or Annual Average Emission Factors (AEF) for evaluating different building design decisions.

Everything I know is from this document. So as I understand it ... an individual building or retrofit is going to change the marginal... Read more

Hello friends,

Anyone who will be attending NESEA's BuildingEnergy Boston conference next week is invited to an informal Green Gurus meetup! Stop by the Built Environment Plus booth (#4 on the map) at 6pm Monday (during the second half of the trade show reception) to say hi to some fellow Sustainability Leaders. SDL member Keihly Moore... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of What You Need to Know About Concrete and Green Building.

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


1. Recognize concrete's environmental footprint and how to reduce the quantity of concrete used in buildings.
2. List the advantages and... Read more

I see that the Architect 50 questions this year are organized around AIA 2030 Commitment reporting. I have a question about how people are answering them. The DDX reports have percentages that are by GSF. Are people using this percentage to answer the questions? Or are you calculating the percentage based on number of projects out of total... Read more

Office furniture’s materials and components can come from unsustainable sources, and use adhesives that emit formaldehyde or other volatile compounds.

BuildingGreen-Approved Furniture

BuildingGreen approves tables, desks, and other office furnishings certified to BIFMA’s multi-attribute level 3 standard, which requires low... Read more

Hi all,

For your planning purposes for next year, here’s info on an in-person event coming up in 2024:

We are excited to announce that we will be hosting an all-peer-networks workshop for SMEPL, SDL, and SCL members at Miller Hull’s office in Seattle on July 15, 2024. We’re still working out the details, but given the recent... Read more

Just highlighting a tool from Circular Ecology (the group that brings you the Inventory of Carbon and Energy data) for measuring Scope 1 and 2

https://circularecology.com/organisational-carbon-footprint-tool.html

Welcome to the quiz portion of The Value of Variability.

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


1.  Understand why variability is important to the comfort and well-being of building occupants.

2.  Define “alliesthesia” and explain how it relates to the well-being of occupants... Read more

Was anyone else surprised to see ASHRAE 228-2023 using eGRID Subregions for both the Regional Electricity Source Energy Conversion Factor and Regional Electricity Greenhouse Gas Emission Factors? In the past I have used eGRID sub-regions but also State and local utility conversion factors depending on what energy or operational carbon story I... Read more

The Sustainable Design Leaders peer group brings together the most committed sustainable design directors from leading architecture firms throughout the U.S. and Canada. We invite you to apply for membership.
We look for the... Read more

Is EV100 on your radars? We're reviewing our company leases and aleady have employee free access to EV charging at our office and jobsites by request (if technically feasible).

"With businesses owning over half of all new registered vehicles on the road, it is crucial that companies lead the shift to electric vehicles." Does your role in... Read more

We are working on a large healthcare project in Minnesota.  We're setting sustainability goals a bit late - no certification, but targets with accountability.  I'm working to determine recycled steel content (for structural steel and rebar), and I've gotten a bit of push-back on recycled content based on being in the region of the Iron Range... Read more