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

Dear All,

Greetings. On this Earth Day, I hope you're enjoying our planet's gifts and also giving your gift with reckless abandon.

As I take a short break to plan what I want to do next, this coming Friday, April 26, will be my last day at HKS. Maybe I will get a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy tattoo like Paula. 

I... Read more

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How much does every designer need to know? How to support that basic literacy?

Guiding Questions:

Hi All,

If you have 5 minutes, we would appreciate your input in the Google Spreadsheet (linked below).  If you only have 1 minute, feel free to reply to this forum post and list your the typical equipment vendors you spec on projects.  :)

We're asking each of you to enter your "Top 3" specified vendors for each of the products... Read more

Hello Peer Network members,

I have some bittersweet news: I’ve accepted another job and will be leaving BuildingGreen. I’m excited to be the new Community Outreach Manager at Brattleboro VT’s Retreat Farm and to support their mission of connecting people to the land and to each other. I’ve learned so much from being part of this... Read more

Hi, a local sustainability not for profit whose board I'm on is considering a vinyl siding collaboration with the Vinyl Sustainability Council, started in 2016 by the Vinyl Institute. There would be some funding to create a program to help recycle siding and a chance to win a full new vinyl cladding. I don't think we should collaborate with... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of The Urgency of Embodied Carbon and What You Can Do About It​​!

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


Define “embodied carbon” and explain why embodied carbon is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, which threaten health and safety... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Re-Framing Sustainability: Green Structural Engineering.

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


1. List at least three design approaches to green structural engineering.
2. Recognize two issues that would encourage owners to invest in... Read more

CEUs are available for reading our entire plumbing guide. Click here to learn more and take the quiz.

Excess heat generated by air conditioners, refrigerators, boilers, and water flowing through pipes typically goes unused.

BuildingGreen-Approved Water Heat Exchangers

BuildingGreen lists desuperheating technologies and... Read more

The construction sector’s take-make-waste approach to materials needs an overhaul. Materials and construction account for an estimated 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions annually. At the other end of the life cycle, demolition in the United States annually generates 90% of some 600 million tons of construction-sector debris. Getting trashed... Read more

Dear Gurus,

At Greenbuild this year I'll be discussing how statistics can lie (in the context of green building claims).  I'm collecting examples of this to prepare.  If any of you know of examples, please send them to me! 

Here are a few of the fun ways statistics might lie that I would be looking for: biased or too-small sample... Read more

Hello Green Gurus,

Here is the information for this month's Peer Networks Webinar, Making the Case for Equity with Data: a Free Tool for Project Teams. We hope you will join us!

Register HERE.

Making the Case for Equity with Data: a Free Tool for Project Teams
Tuesday, July 27th, 2021
1pm - 2pm ET (10am - 11am... Read more

Well done and rivhly deserved, brother.  That makes you a Fellow Squared.

I am looking at having staff members take a materials course and deciding between Parsons Healthier Materials and AIA Materials Matter certificate programs. Does anyone have feedback on either? Bonus points if you know about both and can provide a direct comparison. Thanks!

Pumpy Nullifidian

Hi All, 

Not sure if this is the right location for this (as I'm a new member) but we're Planning the upcoming Water Conservation Showcase in Northern CA. Some details below

The Water Conservation Showcase brings together water, energy, and green building professionals to amplify and discuss innovative water management solutions... Read more

Hello - Other than hiring an acoustic consultant, I am wondering what in-house tools you are using internally at the design stage for modelling acoustic performance? 

Thanks, Mona