Concrete and other cementitious materials have both environmental advantages and disadvantages. As builders and designers, should we be looking for alternatives or embracing concrete over competing materials?

This special report takes a look at how these materials are made, presents the key environmental considerations relating to their... Read more

Hi All - 

Has anyone explored hydronic system analysis software (1D CFD)? 

Some options are PipeFlo, AFT Fathom, PipeFlow (eerily similar name to first option), COMSOL Pipe Flow Module. 

Applications could range from general system troubleshooting, pump sizing, to district hydronic system network analysis. 

Best,... Read more

Welcome! We are updating our popular WELL Study Guide and Practice Exams to reflect IWBI's new WELL v2 exam, and expect the new materials to be available for you by mid JUNE 2022. Please watch your email for the announcement and check back!

The v2 version is a substantial change from... Read more

My firm is mobilizing for a year of carbon awareness and reduction that goes beyond the energy consumption of our designs. We are looking to hire a full time person to take on LCA tracking for our current projects. Ideally it is a climate crisis super-hero of sorts who could also look at our design process and help develop multi-faceted... Read more

Hi all,

I just joined the SDL group and am grateful to have the opportunity to be a part of this awesome community! 

I have an exciting residential embodied carbon research opportunity to share…

Lake|Flato Architects is collaborating as an industry partner with the RE2 Lab and the Hamer Center for Community Design at Penn... Read more

Notes and Guiding questions here--please add your own!

2030 Commitment Check-In: Is it leading to more awareness and better outcomes on projects?

Is energy modeling and tracking going to get us to zero by 2030?

Is it effective at driving all projects across a portfolio?

What are firms getting out of reporting... Read more

The ASHRAE Conference staff is looking for more architecture sustainability leadership for planning their Integrated Design & Construction Conference (i'm sure they'd take contractors too!). The staff do almost all of the logistics themselves but they want thought leadership from across the industry to guide the focus, content.

See... Read more

At the start of 2021 there was one signatory to the contractors commitment (thanks Leopardo!).  Today, there are 12 companies participating, representing over $24 Billion in total revenue.

We don’t always give ourselves enough credit or take enough time to savor our accomplishments because there is always more to do.  But, this is a big... Read more

We had a small group tour the Dell Seton Medical Center campus today, and a much larger group tour the new Austin Public Library. 

My favorite quote from the Medical Center tour, was about this project being the first private development on U of Texas property. "It took 58 separate legal agreements. We won a ULI award for making the... Read more

Greetings!

Back again re: the work we're doing with City of Cambridge, in their great leadership efforts to develop EC policy/regs/incentives and reporting requirements.

Thanks to those who responded earlier about the effort it takes you to conduct WBLCA - now we're diving into it in more depth and wanting to get together a focus... Read more

Nancy Eve Cohen is the managing editor at BuildingGreen. She brings the highest standards to her work, with the goal of providing trusted and accurate information and analysis for BuildingGreen’s readers.

Previously she worked in public radio as a reporter and editor for more than two decades, where she specialized in environmental... Read more

Hello everyone!  There hasn’t been much activity on this forum in recent months, so we wanted to give an update about what’s been happening and things coming up. 

Firstly, we are very excited for the upcoming inaugural SCL Summit the day before Greenbuild.  We currently have about 20 people signed up for the Summit and we are expecting a... Read more

Team SCL,

This was a tough week. My husband coined a phrase "20% laid off."

Unfortunately, 50% of our business is currently impacted by governmental orders stating that our work is non-essential. This is bitter-sweet. I certainly want people to be safe, but we've had to make some tough decisions and in the geographies that were... Read more

Electrochromic glazing holds the promise of less glare and better energy efficiency with fewer moving parts. The reality is much more complicated and includes information you won’t... Read more

Hi Green Friends - I hesitated to post on April Fools, but wanted to get the link out for folks to share with their netowrks    I'll be teaching a workshop at the Pacific Energy Center on May 11 on Electrification Retrofits of Exisitng Non-Residential Buildings.  I'll be bulidng on the great work our sub-committee led by Allison has been... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Climate Analysis for Architects (recorded webcast).

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


1. Access climate data.
2. Choose appropriate design energy simulation tools.
3. Know when and how to run analyses with projected weather data... Read more

Welcome to 2030 reporting season!

I brought up on the Fika today that there is a webinar December 5th to show updates to the DDx including the calculation of operational carbon from your energy data.  Below is a link to register.

https://aia.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUocOutrTItHtWiySNMIqfGYv4ZbAhtjSg...