Hi folks, I was asking around during Greenbuild and getting a variety of answers on this, and since our Contractor Commitments make a distinction between "GC's" mobile equipment as scope 1 and "Sub's" mobile equipment as scope 3. I know that many of us acting as "CM" claim full "operational control" of a jobsite and consider all fuel using on... Read more

Hi All,

We are trying to make a case for hiring a full time sustainability specialist in our firm, and one of the arguments we want to use is that the ratio of sustainability specialists vs the ratio of full time employees in our company is quite low. That being said, I want to have an understanding of where other firms stand with this... Read more

Hi All,

USGBC MA is doing a study on the cost of net zero energy buildings in MA.  I’m wondering if you all have any data to share on plug loads in ZNE projects. I’m looking for single family res, 2-4 unit residential, +/- 60 unit residential, 10-12 story office, and k-12.  The engineers have presented initial results and their... Read more

Hi folks,

Some of you have seen me do a 5-minute presentation on an initiative to divert urine from wastewater. That team is now developing a building-scale urine treatment technology with support from the National Science Foundation's Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) award. 

In order to learn more about the sustainable... Read more

Hello all, 

Our firm recently signed onto the Material Pledge and while there is no reporting requirements at this time we are wondering how other architectural firms are, or plan to, report projects. 

Thanks for any insight that can be shared!

-Dave

I was talking to Nadav recently about job posting opportunities through Building Green and/or through the Peer network.  He shared this topic has been discussed in the past, and thought I should send a question out to the network.  I am guessing many of you are looking for talent right now too?  Wouldn't it be cool to know people of have been... Read more

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

Hello SDL Network,

I am working with members of the Seattle AIA COTE in planning an event that we are tentatively calling "Pathways to Decarbonization" or maybe "Decarbonization Success Stories".  The idea is for the COTE to identify entitities (school districts, local governments, higher-ed institutions, corporations, etc.) that have... Read more

Team,

Many of you saw the BlackRock letter.

https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/investor-relations/larry-fink-ceo-letter

Should we hold our consultants and suppliers accountable for climate change?

Best,
LL

I looked through the forums and was surprised to see that from what I can tell this 2018 article from Yale I'm going to share here has not been discussed previously.  It basically says that FSC is not trustworthy, ineffective, and greenwashed, as critiqued by the likes of Greenpeace and others.

I would like to hear from someone in the... Read more

Great career opportunity to make an impact on existing buildings and emissions reductions. City of Seattle will be hiring a full time Building Emissions Reduction Technical Advisor. Closing date to apply is August 6. Please share if you know someone who may be a candidate.

Description from city of Seattle:
Want to influence large... Read more

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

Welcome to the quiz portion of Go with the Flows: The Promise and Peril of Hygrothermal Modeling

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


1. Describe the true role of hygrothermal modeling in design.
2. Name four instances in which to consider using hygrothermal modeling... Read more

Hello Green Gurus! We are diving deep into our carbon metrics this year and are finalizing some of our emissions factors for our Scope 1 and 2 emissions and in a few more months Scope 3. I'm hoping this brain trust has some recent knowledge to share on this topic. What we've found is there's a fairly big variance in what we've seen in published... Read more

Has anyone done a LEED Homes and a NGBS certification and have insight into the differences, challenges, etc between the two?

Welcome to the quiz portion of Reexamining Priorities in Green Building.

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


1. Define green building priorities from a few different angles (separating process priorities from outcome priorities).
2. Differentiate those priorities... Read more

Our specification team is currently piloting and testing new software to replace E-specs without an easy favorite, and would really love to know what other firms are using.

First question - what software does your firm use for specifications and why?

Second question - would you/your specifier be willing to chat with ours about it... Read more