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
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
We are excited to open registration for the Sustainable Construction Leaders Summit 2019! This year’s Summit will take place Tuesday, Nov. 19 in Atlanta in conjunction with Greenbuild. The Summit agenda will be shaped by the steering committee and collective feedback from the group. The day will culminate in a networking event with members of... Read more
Forum topic
In an effort to share expert knowledge on the topic of whole building LCA, we are continuing our expert guest webinar series, addressing the topic of steel on March 19th at 1PM EDT. Michael Gryniuk PE, with LeMessurier and SE 2050, will be joining us to share his strategies for reducing the embodied carbon of steel. This webinar is particularly... Read more
Forum topic
Greetings SDLs - I am looking for recommendations for VLT meters that folks have had sucess with (reliability, accuracy, etc.). Are there any that art partiularly useful when in the field for existing buildings?
Many thanks,
JD
Product Guide
CEUs are available for reading all the building-envelope product guides and primer. Click here to learn more and take the quiz.
Water and air that penetrate building assemblies can damage materials, cause energy loss, and lead to mold, mildew, or other problems. The products used to address these may contain materials that are... Read more
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I posted this on the SCL as well, but am looking for anyone's experience and/or suggestions.
For any of you who are already tracking your Scope 1, 2 & 3 emissions: Do you do so through a program (like the Carbon Disclosure Project) or do you have an in house excel file or ???? I'm looking for a good template and am open to... Read more
Quiz
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
Forum topic
Hi everyone,
Thanks so much to all who filled out the Doodle poll for the Sages monthly call meeting time, and to those who have introduced themselves on the forum.
We’ll be going with Monday, March 11th at 4 pm ET for this next meeting, and I’ll be sending out a calendar invitation shortly. It’s been a tough call to make — we... Read more
Forum topic
Anyone else having this experience? We've got a LEED 2009 Core/Shell project that we've now been contracted to do a fitout within for one of the first tenants. If anyone else has had this experience and is willing to talk with me about how your process for it has gone, I'd be fantastically grateful.
Find me directly at awilson@asg-... Read more
Forum topic
Hi folks, we have a client who is interested in good precedents for measuring wellness. A little background: the project is a student health and wellness building, and what we'd typically measure (healthcare visits, staff absenteeism, etc) are pretty disease focused. We'd like to put in place systems for measuring positive things, like how many... Read more
Quiz
Welcome to the quiz portion of Fundamentals of High-Performance Building Assemblies.
Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:
1. Recall how the acronym ENDURE speaks to the unifying aspect of high-performance buildings.
2. Describe how to apply the principles of high-... Read more
Forum topic
We have a project that is looking for plaster/stucco/textured wall products that are sustainable, or “more sustainable.”
I know these products exist, but I haven’t had to spec or work with any, so I’m reaching out.
The project is in MA, so I'm also soliciting recommendations for products and/or companies who are experienced using... Read more
Forum topic
SDLers,
Great to see many of you at Greenbuild! It was nice to have the opportunity to remind everyone how our collective energy continues to make a real difference with the HPD, born at a summit 13 years ago after being nurtured through a BuildingGreen-HBN collaboration (see my HPD is a Teenager presentation).
To be able to... Read more
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Hello everyone,
I wanted to let you all know that I'm no longer at Bergmeyer and have moved on to a new position at Sustainable Brands as of this week. As a non-architect/non-designer, it's always meant so much to me how readily I was accepted into this group and how much of your knowledge and expertise you willingly shared. As is the... Read more
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Does anyone have install experience with Duracryl yet? I'm looking at it for a large project in place of Marmoleum. We've had multiple instances of install failures with Marmoleum, which leads to lots of finger pointing.
