Author
Products & Materials Specialist Brent Ehrlich excels at deep, unbiased, and nuanced technical research on the health and environmental impacts of green building products and materials. Some areas of focus include:
product and material constituents, including their risks
product certifications
third-party product... Read more
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Anyone know of tools/methodologies for estimating embodied carbon and carbon sequestration potential of individual green infrastructure projects (e.g. bioswale along bikeway)? I've seen tools for the larger scale (e.g. land use change) as well as specific to trees (e.g. i-Tree), but these don't fully meet my needs.
Thanks!
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Hi SDL,
I'm heading to Greenbuild next week and one of my teammates who's not attending has asked me to look for expo hall vendors who are involved in Design for Freedom. He's starting up a new project that he thinks could be a good DFF pilot and wants to get some manufacturer contacts. Is there any kind of informal DFF meetup happening... Read more
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I am the Sustainability Program Manager for Sellen Construction in Seattle, WA where we build healthcare, education, office buildings, museums, historical renovations, and unique structures like sculpture parks and the “spheres” that have been in the news lately. My role blends environmental regulatory compliance, sustainability in field... Read more
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Last summer I shared a request here for folks to take a survey we had open that aimed to understand how architects and engineers are (or aren't) using climate projections to inform design. This white paper, written in collaboration with HGA and the University of Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership, reports on the results of that research. ... Read more
Reports, Courses, Study Guides, Live Webinars
Looking for the Top 10 on the 10th! webinar? Click here.
IRA NUTS & BOLTS WEBINAR PURCHASE AND REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.
Live webinar occurred on November 29, 2023.The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) offers us a once-in-a-generation chance to equitably decarbonize the built... Read more
Quiz
Welcome to the quiz portion of The Sound of Sustainability: Acoustics in High-Performance Design!
Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:
Describe how increased acoustic performance benefits indoor environmental quality (IEQ).
Recount the negative impacts of poor acoustic... Read more
Product Guide
Split systems are multi-component units that use an outdoor condenser along with separate indoor fan coils to move refrigerant—and provide heating and cooling—in buildings without the need for ducts.
BuildingGreen-Approved Systems
BuildingGreen approves mini-splits that are tested to AHRI standards and have minimum SEER and an... Read more
Basic page
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After reviewing BP language today with internal staff, we realized we'll need to add a glossary to explain industry jargon and technical terms that might not be widely used. I'd like to consolidate those terms onto one web page, a glossary. This probably should be on the list with the best practices, and it will need its own page. Thanks!
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Hi Folks -
The "request for participation" email below is from Brendan Owens, who most of you know was at the USGBC for over 18 years, and is now the Chief Sustainability Officer for the US Dept of Defense. As I read the text, I couldn't help but think of this group as a deep well of expertise and experience that could undoubtedly help... Read more
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Please mark your calendars to join BuildingGreen and HKS for the 2018 Pre-Greenbuild SDL Show & Tell on Tuesday, Nov. 13th, 2018 from 7pm - 9:30pm at HKS, 125 S Clark Street, Chicago, IL
We will be sending out a registration link next week. Space is limited.
Thanks to Rand Ekman and all those at HKS for opening their doors... Read more
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I have a colleague researching existing, proposed, or anticipated changes to urban planning and building codes that encourage lower carbon footprints.
Can anyone comment on or point me to resources on how cities are using carbon footprint analysis and carbon reduction in permitting, now or in the future?
Some specific topics that... Read more
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So every year about this time I get to spend many lovely moments with our AIA 2030 Reporting data. In order to make the data useful the CBECS baselines/National baselines aren't great in telling us how we did.
For about half our 15 projects that we report in the average year - performing arts, convention, data science schools, etc - a... Read more
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For those folks who are on our retrofit electrfication roadmap post-palooza-sub-sub-working group ;-) , I thought you might be interested in these three guides just released from BEI in collaboration with S. Winter Associates.
Here are the three Playbooks:
Playbook 1 includes an overview of multifamily electrification and... Read moreForum topic
Hello Everyone,
Happy Monday, here is the link to the 2019 SDL Summer Summit Report!
Enjoy,
RoseAnn
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Has anyone found an interior synthetic turf flooring with an emissions test?
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Hey Everyone! My firm is a part of the local Passive House group helping organize the local Humid Climate Conference on May 2nd - 3rd. I wanted to make a post in the chat for those interested to sign up.
The theme is "Barriers To Better Buildings" and it's going to be a really strong, humid climate focused conference. We've nearly got... Read more