The Minnesota CLF chapter’s Specification Subgroup (myself, Andy Marolt/Ryan Companies, Laura Eder/ESG, Java Nyamjav/MSR Design, with input from Annie Perkins/SFI) recently collaborated on a draft set of specification templates incorporating embodied carbon requirements into product performance and action submittals. This work builds on sample... Read more

A couple Minnesota cities are considering adding electrification to their sustainable building policy (required for new construction receiving City financial assistance). Concerned that the market isn't ready for a full-on mandate, they are considering a more moderate approach of requiring developers/design teams to conduct an electrification... Read more

We should probably agree on the correct spelling for what we at BuildingGreen are calling "BITuser." I noticed that on the Salesforce portfolio screenshot provided by Dennis, it's spelled "BIT User."

BITuser has the advantage of more closely resembling LEEDuser, but it has the disadvantage of looking a little weird in all-caps, as in... Read more

First, there was Energy Use reductions

Then there was embodied carbon

Soon it will be refrigerant use/leakage calculations

…and much more

As coordinators and leaders of project teams, what does this look like for the practicing architect and our collaborators?

I have no idea. BUT I’m guessing someone is... Read more

Has anyone documented the Food Alternatives credit as part of WELL or as an innovation credit in LEED?

Auto-quiz used for CEUs for attendees of the 2023 SCL Fall Summit.

Products & Materials Specialist and LEED AP BD+C 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

... Read more

Hi Gurus,

It seems odd to think about leases now, during a time when most business are giving up leases or reducing their footprints, but there are still leases going on! Please share this link to any clients of yours who might be interested and sign up yourself if you want to advocate to your clients to consider these leases!

... 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

Replacing windows is expensive and comes with high impacts, but simple films can improve performance.

BuildingGreen-Approved Films

BuildingGreen approves three types of window films:

Energy... Read more

Hi All,

How are folks funding training for your employees? Would it help to have free training opportunities besides lunch and learns or ones you do yourself?

For those of you outside of Massachusetts you may have employees or friends in MA that this could be relevant to.  I'm hoping my friends in MA have already heard this.

Hi friends,

We recently tracked our water consumption on site during the structural demolition of some existing reinforced concrete buildings.  The new OSHA silica regulations required us to keep dust to virtually zero, so we had a bunch of mist cannons and water hoses pumping water around the clock.  We consumed ~855,000 gallons in a... Read more

We have a client who is asking us to design a roughly 10 ksf Wellness Center for PHIUS 2021 certification.  The program includes several high density assembly type spaces - roughly 300 person peak occupant load for the building.  The Criteria Calculator that the architect showed us puts the building peak cooling load at 4 BTUH/sf (3000 sf/ton... Read more

Hello fellow sustainable design leaders! I am about to kick off an intensive effort here at EHDD to refine our internal standards for materials. We will be considering both GWP as well as the health of materials (avoiding harmful chemicals). In addition to setting the standards, I will be working to develop a process to vet materials before... Read more

I'm so excited to share that the call for submissions is now open for 16cubits, a design festival and competition for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, to take place at Berkeley’s Urban Adamah in October 2024.

Please share with anyone you think might be interested! Our hope is to create a forum for builders, designers, and architects to... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of 20 Ways to Advance Sustainability in the Next Four Years!

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


Identify the challenges to green building during a time of environmental urgency and political unrest, and find opportunity in these challenges.

... Read more