Hi all,

I'm wondering if you all have had a meetup at NESEA's Building Energy Boston conference before? Is anyone interested in meeting up this year? I'm open to ideas! If you give me your email address I can attempt to organize an informal meet up on one of the conference days.

For those of you not in the NE part of the country,... Read more

Hi Folks - sorry for the late notice, but I just heard about this two days ago and needed to get confirmation that I could share the request with htis group.

The opportunity is for business leaders in energy, efficiency, construction and design (i.e. all of us!) -

As you know, the flow of the historic federal infrastructure and... Read more

Michael led Opsis through several workshops as we began our journey to create a more equitable and socially just workplace. Michael had a great sense of humor and a really kind manner. I feel deep gratitude for having known him and for the lasting impact he has had on our lives. I know others in this group also worked with Michael and would... Read more

Hi all, 

I'm posting this on behalf of Wyck Knox of our office. He can be reached at knox@vmdo.com: 

"I’m on the editorial board of the Green Schools Catalyst Quarterly, the only peer reviewed journal dedicated to sustainable K-12 schools. (http://catalyst.greenschoolsnationalnetwork.org/gscatalyst)

One of my tasks in that... Read more

Hi All,

Elkus Manfredi Architects in Boston is looking to fill a few positions -if you know of anyone looking in the Boston area, plesae let me know or send them my way. Kfritsch@elkus-manfredi.com

Specifically looking for an entry-level person with specialized expertise in parametric modeling, conceptual energy modeling and... Read more

Hi,

I believe a while back there was communication about a hard hat recycling program. Does anyone have any information about a hard hat recycling program? The contractors in the midwest have finally switched to the new style of hard hats with the chin strap and are requiring all subcontactors to comply by July 1, 2024. I'd like to... Read more

Hello All,

Through a regional School of Architecture, our firm has been connected with a very intriguing startup that has been engineering a new rooftop wind energy technology. They are developing a system to economically capture the increased wind flows at the edges of commercial building rooftops. They have engineered this system,... Read more

At Living Future last week a woman from Google asked about cost comparisons and I shared that the City of Santa Monica conducted a study analyzing the costs of a prototypical mixed-use project for a Living Building vs. LEED v4 Platinum vs. code compliant (Title 24, part 6). I thought this group might be interested as well so here is the link... Read more

Received answers from below questions from NIST Andy Persily

1. Is there a preferred bookends range of CO2 for both “optimal” energy and human performances?

Andy: No

2.Is the ASHRAE ventilation of 1000-1200 ppm average, probably not based on performance, suggesting current ventilation rate is sub-optimal with cognitive... Read more

Facilitating Engagement and Collaboration in Virtual Meetings (or, Avoiding a Goat Rodeo with Many Awkward Silences*)

If you weren't already sitting in virtual meetings every day... We all are now. So how do we facilitate an online meeting in which everyone is focused, engaged, heard, collaborating and problem-solving in an efficient,... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Know Thy Client: 9 Un-Green Strategies for Delivering Better Buildings

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


1. Focus on a client’s values to drive sustainability solutions.
2. Define the quality of the work being delivered to underscore... Read more

Hi all, we're looking for a West Coast Regional Sustainability Specialist if you know of anyone who might be interested! They would be part of our amazing firmwide Sustainability team, and could potentially be based out of LA, Costa Mesa, San Francisco, Oakland, or Seattle. Please reach out if you know of anyone who might be a good fit, I'm... Read more

Cher Hiblthren

In the Passive House session at the Winter Summit, I spoke about a Massachusetts DOER report that found that meeting the new energy code in MA (passive house or better in most cases) is cheaper for some building types than traditional construction. Some of you asked to see the report. It was a power point show. On page 34 of this slide deck... Read more

Hello everyone,

We are far too often asked to include parking in our buildings (because why shouldn't the average family have 2.1 kids, .8 pets, and 3 cars) and it always grates on me that we are putting so many resources (natural and monetary) into something that is almost certainly single use and will need to be demolished in 30 years... 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

Join us for the Peer Networks-exclusive version of this Greenbuild presentation!

Register HERE.

A New Standard in Facade Design
November 30th, 2020
1pm - 2pm ET (10am - 11am PT)

Description and Presenters: Current façade design focuses more on operating carbon (or energy), even when embodied carbon is accounted... Read more