Product Guide
Conventional heating systems burn fossil fuels on the building site or use outrageous amounts of electricity.
BuildingGreen-Approved Heat Pumps
The best heat pumps solve both these problems and provide efficient cooling. BuildingGreen approves air-source heat pumps with minimum HSPF and SEER levels of 10 and 20, respectively.... Read more
Quiz
Welcome to the quiz portion of Work Globally, Design Locally!
Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:
Understand how sustainability and regionally sensitive design mesh in various projects.
Identify what metrics or indicators keep track of success in... Read more
Forum topic
Hi Sustainable MEP Leaders!
As we discussed at the Summit, we are going to have monthly calls to check in and advance our various initiatives. Let's go with the 2nd Tuesday of the Month.
Please join if you can--we have a lot to follow up on! (See the report I posted earlier this week for details.)
Thanks, and have a great... Read more
Forum topic
Following my retirement from BuildingGreen, I’m also looking to retire from the nonprofit Resilient Design Institute, which I’ve been leading since 2012. My default plan is to sunset the organization in the fall of 2024, but I wanted to offer the idea of someone (or multiple people) taking over the organization.
RDI is incorporated as a... Read more
Forum topic
Team,
What are the M vs. E vs. P(FP) ratios of fee distribution you use in your company for a commercial office building? How about a residential/hotel?
Best,
Luke Leung
Forum topic
SmithGroup is hosting Metropolis Magazine for a “Think Tank Event on Waterfront Redevelopment and Urban Resilience”. While the event is in our office, if you're not in DC, it will also be broadcast live on Facebook Live (https://www.facebook.com/events/1299577320146259/) Feel free to share this invitation with others. Information about the... Read more
Forum topic
We're wrapping up a multi year project that went through multiple design changes, leaving us with a ton of material samples. Does anyone know of a good place we could donate these samples to, to keep them out of the landfill. I'm in the greater Seattle area. Thank you for any suggestions.
Forum topic
...for all the folks on the west coast.
It’s smokey out there. For anyone looking for a cheap and relatively effective way to clean your indoor air, here is an article on a DIY box fan filters.
https://www.texairfilters.com/a-variation-on-the-box-fan-with-merv-13-filter-air-cleaner/
This PSA is from our friends at NEEA (... Read more
Forum topic
Does anyone have an opinion of Autocase? https://autocase.com/
I had not heard of this platform before. Their website says that some firms in the group are customers / users. Website does not do a great job of describing exactly what they do. Is there value?
Thanks,
Allen
Forum topic
Hi Gurus,
LMN is embarking on a 17-part series to explore a more comprehensive carbon metric via summaries of various topics with lots of link. This dovetails with many other efforts in the industry and will reference all the best stuff that we are aware of...such as MEP 2040, SE 2050, CLF stuff, Epic tool, CARE tool, Arch 2030... Read more
Forum topic
Currently, the BIT User site is fully accessible without having to log in (unless you want to edit or add content, of course). The time has come, however, to start restricting access only to logged-in users.
Which sections will be freely visible, and which will be visible only to registered users? Here's what I recall from our earlier... Read more
Forum topic
Since starting at LPA last fall, the number one question I get from people outside the firm is how we are hitting (2018-2019) or getting so close to hitting the 2030 Commitment goals.
Here is a chance to see for yourself! LPA is seeking a Sustainable Design Specialist to join our RED team (Research Education Design) - location open to... Read more
Reports, Courses, Study Guides, Live Webinars
You’ve probably heard that wood products are carbon neutral. You might also have heard that timber harvesting causes immense carbon emissions.
Which is it?
Could it be both?
... Read moreForum topic
Hello friends,
Anyone who will be attending NESEA's BuildingEnergy Boston conference next week is invited to an informal Green Gurus meetup! Stop by the Built Environment Plus booth (#4 on the map) at 6pm Monday (during the second half of the trade show reception) to say hi to some fellow Sustainability Leaders. SDL member Keihly Moore... Read more
Forum topic
Hi all,
The Sustainable MEP Leaders are assembling an industry push to expand the availability of embodied carbon data for MEP equipment. Our first steps are to send a letter to industry announcing a call to action and future educational webinars on the topic, the current draft letter is attached. In a similar manner as the... Read more
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Fellow SCLers,
This is a small ball item, but I recently had a conversation with a safety glove manufacturer called Traffi. They make PPE, but in particular they have a line of gloves that they promote as carbon neutral. Their organization's operations are offset with retired RECs, but one line of their gloves, LXT, is offset by a... Read more