News Analysis
EBN Advisory Board member Mike Nicklas led an international delegation of renewable energy experts in promoting sustainable energy at the Earth Summit last month. He and others were negotiating for inclusion of renewable energy and energy conservation measures into agreements being worked out for the United Nations... Read more
News Brief
Energy Source™ Directory
Life has been a whole lot easier around the office since theEnergy Source Directory arrived. Assembled and published by Iris Communications, this is the most complete and most useful guide to specialized products and materials used in energy-efficient construction that we've seen. The 500-page directory is... Read more
News Analysis
The City of Austin’s Green Builder Program was one of 12 award recipients in the United National Local Government Honours Programme at the Earth Summit in Rio, and the only winner from the United States. “The purpose of the Honours Programme is to recognize innovative local approaches to... Read more
Feature
Carefully stake the building site and driveway, remove trees that are within the excavation area or too close, then erect a fence to keep heavy equipment off fragile soils and away from nearby trees.
Protecting trees and the local ecosystem when building on previously unbuilt land is a vitally important—yet often overlooked—part of environmentally responsible construction. Healthy trees and shrubs can reduce a home’s environmental impact and directly benefit homeowners in a number of ways:
•Enhancing comfort by shielding the house... Read more
News Brief
The American Institute of Architects convention in Boston this past June was the setting for a changing of the guard in the American architectural establishment. The Institute’s first woman president took the reins, the Committee on the Environment became its largest and fastest growing committee, and the first installments of the Environmental... Read more
Op-Ed
Introducing the first issue of our newsletter.
Buildings have a tremendous impact on the environment. In North America, buildings and the building industry account for about 30% of carbon dioxide emissions, 35-40% of ozone depletion, 20-30% of municipal solid waste, vast quantities of natural resource consumption, and dramatic loss of open space each... Read more
Feature
Ozone depletion and global warming are two of our most serious environmental problems—and foam insulation materials containing CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) contribute significantly to both of these problems. The environmentally concerned builder or designer should make it a highest priority to avoid them. Even many of the non-CFC alternatives... Read more
Feature
Susan Maxman is the first AIA president to make sustainable design a priority.
Q.Where would you say architects as a group stand on environmental issues?
A.Architects tend to be reactive rather than proactive. It is important that we take the lead on these environmental issues. The architecture schools in particular tend to be conservative. They just aren’t... Read more
Forum topic
Nice brief article on how to talk to clients about materials transparency. It was the right level of information to send out to the office at large. Kudos to Lona and Ralph for your contribution.
https://www.aia.org/articles/210821-how-to-talk-to-clients-about-materials-tran
Forum topic
We are working on a large, commercial, LEED project in the Wash DC area, and the Construction Management firm needs LEED administrative/documentation assistance on their end of the process. The construction is underway but the CM lacks the staff.
Can anyone suggest a LEED consultant in the DC area that can work for the CM -- managing... Read more
Forum topic
Hope I'm posting this in the right place. I have a client who's interested in estimating the embodied carbon of multiple buildings (primarily apartment buildings) they own and operate. Not sure if I'll have access to drawings or area takeoffs of materials for their buildings. How would you approach this? Would appreciate input on resources... Read more
Forum topic
SERA Architects is pleased to invite you to join a discussion with Paul Hawken about his new book, "Regeneration".
Kira Gould and I will be the hosts on September 28, at 3:00 PM Pacific Time.
Please register in advance for this free event with this link:
https://lnkd.in/gCMY4TTn
Forum topic
Financial literacy and speaking with clients on their terms. Guiding Questions:
Anyone have success stories? How do the financial considerations differ for developer work vs. institutional work vs. non-profit work vs. publicly funded work? What resources are available to assist? How have others talked to clients about costs? What has... Read moreForum topic
Hello SCL,
We've heard you ask for more ways to connect with your SCL peers. So, we are happy to announce that we will now be holding bi-monthly calls where the entire SCL network is invited. These calls will be limted to SCL members (with the exception of guest speakers) so please don't share the information with colleagues.
The... Read more
Forum topic
Hello everyone! I’m happy to be re-joining the group after a two year hiatus.
Pre-pandemic I got to participate in a few winter summits when I was Sustainability Director at Overland Partners in San Antonio. I’ve recently joined Mahlum Architects in Portland and I’m excited to re-engage in the conversation, this time from the West Coast... Read more
Quiz
Welcome to the quiz portion of Avoiding the Global Warming Impact of Insulation.
Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:
1. Define “embodied global warming potential” and “lifetime global warming potential” as they relate to insulation materials.
2. Describe why some... Read more
Forum topic
A new article addressing whether PFAS finishes on upholstery fabric actually work (Spoiler alert - they don't) has been published and can be found here:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/24723444231159856
This is authored by the fine folks at Green Science Policy, Arlene Blum's group that is the source of the Six Classes of... Read more

