Have any of you heard of anyone ever using phase change material (PCM) "movable partitions" as a resiliency strategy to mitigate indoor overheating during a heat wave in passive buildings? You'd keep them stored in a basement or cool room, and deploy them into habitable spaces during the heat wave to keep the space cooler than the exterior... Read more

Hi folks,

If you're registered for the Summit, you should have gotten this message from me separately, but I wanted to post it here too to be sure. It would be great if everyone coming from out of town could stay together! We've achieved critical mass in terms of Summit participants--this is going to be a great and impactful gathering!... Read more

Section 901.5.1.3 of the 2018 IgCC includes a requirement that "A critical review shall be performed by an external expert independent of those performing the LCA."  I'm curious as to what other's experiences are with having an external expert review an LCA - how does one find such an expert?  Do you have any favorites that you'd recommend? ... Read more

CEUs are available for reading all the building-envelope product guides and primer. Click here to learn more and take the quiz.

Standard spray polyurethane foam (SPF) insulation is made using blowing agents with extremely high global warming potential (GWP), which can cancel out much of the potential energy savings from use over its life... Read more

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/06/04/new-china-policies-spark-di...

New China policies spark disarray in region’s recycling industry
Buried in the mountains of refuse at Casella’s recycling plant in Charlestown are tons of material that should have gone straight to the landfill — from tires and pots to lobster buoys and... Read more

We are pursuing sustainability goals (and documentation of those goals) outside of any certification/rating system for a current project.  However, we have set up a criteria list of goals by following strategies/credits from many of those systems (LEED v4 EPDs, SITES v2 threatened tree species, WELL v2 mindful eating, etc.).  This approach is... Read more

Greetings Heat Pump Water Heater (HPWH) advocates!

We have an opportunity to advocate to the US DOE on behalf of HPWHs!

Geoff Wickes is an emerging technology product manager for NEEA (Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance) currently focused entirely on HPWH technology, policy, and market adoption (and in full disclosure: also a... Read more

Good evening,

I am looking for suggestions to replace"wood" siding at the 25-year-old Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies and as always there is no solution that does it all. There seem to be three main options: wood, composition siding, or fiber cement siding. I am looking for something with low embodied carbon, little maintenance,... Read more

As I prepare to search for summer interns, I'm wondering what colleges and universities have programs for sustainability in the built environment. Are there any that you all know of? I am trying to find alternatives to the traditional architecture programs that we track. Thanks

Hi everyone - 

The State of Oregon just posted this Policy Analyst Job Posting. The position is specifically looking for someone to assist in embodied carbon and other sustainable code items. I have heard directly from Oregon's Building Code Division that even though the position is looking for public policy, an architect or engineer (or... Read more

We are working on a tenant improvement and want to determine the embodied carbon on bookshelves, product display cases, and desks. Initially finding that Tally is not reading furniture, casework, or fixture families. Are there any tips and tricks you have found to be successful for modeling or defining FFE items in Revit and quantifying... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of the Wood, Forests, and Embodied Carbon Webinar!

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

1. Explain the complex relationship between forests and carbon, with an emphasis on how carbon releases from forestry affect the sustainability of buildings that... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of A Guide to Selecting Sustainable Textiles.

Learning Objectives

Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:


Greetings, all:

AIA COTE Advocacy is working with AIA Gov't Affairs to assemble a directory of COTE-friendly AIA Members who are passionate about environmental advocacy and VOTERS in targeted congressional districts. We are organizing in-district meetings after the mid-term elections focused on the members of the Senate Energy &... Read more

I've got exciting news to share! Ayers Saint Gross' JUST disclosure went live on Monday. See our blog post about it here: https://asg-architects.com/ideas/blog/. That has a link out to our actual disclosure as well. It's been a bananas week with our internal communications campaign on it in full swing. I know a number of your firms, based on... Read more