Avoiding Toxic Chemicals in Commercial Building Projects

We’re excited to issue our special report, Spec This, Not That.

In updating the report in 2020, we engaged a respected toxicology and regulatory-compliance firm to review and assist in our revision of the entire publication. This edition reflects the latest science in... Read more

SDLers – For one of our projects we are working with local tribes to procure timber. We would also like to get FSC certification, but haven’t found significant overlap between these two criteria in the Pacific Northwest. There appear to be two certification entities in our area: Northwest Natural Resource Group and Trout Mountain Forestry.  I’m... Read more

Hello SDLs,

I'm fairly new to the group, joined in November and I must confess to being a total wallflower here, having gone almost 6 months now without introducing myself. I am an Architect with Dyer Brown Associates in Boston, MA where I head up our firm's sustainability efforts, as well as devote a fair amount of time to '... Read more

Hey everyone, 

With the coming In-Use Off-Road Diesel-Fueled Fleets Regulation | California Air Resources Board we have been doing some research on availability of R-99 fuel prior to the January 1 start date. One thing we aren't finding in the research is an estimate of cost impacts. Has anyone started rolling out R-99 on their sites yet... Read more

Calling all Sustainable Design Leaders - Coming up on March 1st, we’re hosting a virtual SDL check-in. We’ll have a round of five-minute presentations as well as a refresh of the SDL Steering Group.

Quick point of clarification: For those who’ve been around for a while, you may remember this group as the “SDL Regional Leaders”. As we’ve... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Dream Materials: What Do You Really Want to Build With?

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


1. Differentiate the tools that encourage accountable design.
2. Identify materials that are hazardous and list certifications that optimize for... Read more

Dear SDL community,

I am supporting one of our health authorities in developing a business case for regenerating healthcare infrastructure as part of the indicative design for a new hospital and cancer centre. While I will be deepening this inquiry through the lens of a PhD over the next few (hopefully 4 or less!) years, I - and we - are... Read more

Hello all, there has been a fair amount of discussion about the emerging Cove Tool for early stage energy modelling and parametric optimization at our firm. I am very curious if any of you are using this software, and if so, what are your thoughts about it? 

https://www.covetool.com/

Thanks,

Esteban Matheus

Valentina works on the UX/UI design and front-end of the BuildingGreen and LEEDuser websites. With over 10 years’ experience focused on websites usability, she develops prototypes and cross-browser web interfaces as part of the WebDev team. She also collaborates closely with marketing and editorial to create any other visual design project for... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Re-forming the Building Industry: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion!

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


1. Define equity, diversity, and inclusion, and explain their relevance to the building industry as well as how they contribute to occupant and... Read more

Hi all,

BG WebDev needs to clarify the Forum comment moderation rules you would like us to put in place.  We do not require moderation for premium users in our LEEDuser forum unless they include a link in their submitted topic or comment. In this case, we hold the publication of the comment in moderation until we can make sure the link... Read more

Greetings Gurus!! I'm super excited to invite you all to help each other :)

As many of you know, BuildingEase (a completely free tool!) has been born this year, the newest function we just launched is the Crowdsourcing function.

Crowdsourcing lets anyone contribute products to a public Material List (similar to an Outline Spec)... Read more

Hi everyone! Our sister company, Flatiron, is a heavy civil/infrastructure contractor based out of Broomfield, CO. Their sustainability team is on the hunt for a Circular Economy Manager. Our companies recently announced exciting public ESG and climate commitments, including several related to waste reduction, life cycle assessments, and more... Read more

Alerting building occupants about indoor air pollutants is important in many situations.

BuildingGreen-Approved IAQ Equipment

Products approved by BuildingGreen range from single-use test kits to monitoring systems installed throughout a building. Some test for gases such as radon, VOCs, or carbon monoxide, and some for mold and... Read more

Hey SDL,

I'm curious if anybody out there has developed specification language requiring a certain level of airtightness (as assessed via one or a series of blower door tests) for a commercial project when it is not going for a Passive House certification and a blower door test is not required by code--basically, something in the... Read more