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Carefully stake the building site and driveway, remove trees that are within the excavation area or too close, then erect a fence to keep heavy equipment off fragile soils and away from nearby trees.
Protecting trees and the local ecosystem when building on previously unbuilt land is a vitally important—yet often overlooked—part of environmentally responsible construction. Healthy trees and shrubs can reduce a home’s environmental impact and directly benefit homeowners in a number of ways:
•Enhancing comfort by shielding the house... Read more
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Ozone depletion and global warming are two of our most serious environmental problems—and foam insulation materials containing CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) contribute significantly to both of these problems. The environmentally concerned builder or designer should make it a highest priority to avoid them. Even many of the non-CFC alternatives... Read more
Op-Ed
Introducing the first issue of our newsletter.
Buildings have a tremendous impact on the environment. In North America, buildings and the building industry account for about 30% of carbon dioxide emissions, 35-40% of ozone depletion, 20-30% of municipal solid waste, vast quantities of natural resource consumption, and dramatic loss of open space each... Read more
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Susan Maxman is the first AIA president to make sustainable design a priority.
Q.Where would you say architects as a group stand on environmental issues?
A.Architects tend to be reactive rather than proactive. It is important that we take the lead on these environmental issues. The architecture schools in particular tend to be conservative. They just aren’t... Read more
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Please share this info with any contacts you have that you think would be a good candidate for our Design Performance Coordinator position -- Thanks!
Design Performance Coordinator in San Antonio
Quiz
Welcome to the quiz portion of LEED vs. Green Globes: A Definitive Analysis
Note: If you are taking this quiz as a member of LEEDuser, please take the quiz here.
Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:
1. Highlight the most significant differences between LEED and Green... Read more
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Hi, we need 3-4 folks to volunteer to join us to work out a draft Materials section for the Contractors Commitment. Meeting set for 6/16 @ 2 PM CST.
Please message me at [email protected] if interested in participating. I will forward out the meeting invite. If the time doesn't work, but you want to participate, I will share info in... Read more
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This may seem a bit in the weeds, but I have typically paid extra at Greenbuild for the access to the materials after the conference - we use that to develop presentations back to the teams who are not able to attend. For many years it was helpful - getting some materials to help folks see what they missed. Last year they went to a new service... Read more
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Hi all,
The AIA is collecting names of sustainability-savvy healthcare architects (and potentially allied professionals) for future national Healthcare Design Awards juries. This has been challenging, because jurors' firms can't submit for awards the year they are on the jury, and many people who otherwise would be excellent jurors work... Read more
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Greetings, Green Gurus! As many of you know, I teach a course at the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Architecture, and one of my former students has just graduated from their and MS in Design - Environmental Building Design program. She is looking for employment at a firm that has a focus on sustainability. Unfortunately we... Read more
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Hi all,
We have an institutional client who has tired of LEED and is instead putting forth EarthCraft Light Commerical as a replacement certification (they like the performance verification & lower cost that ECLC provides). Has anyone used ECLC? It seemed an odd choice but wanted to hear from others on their experiences. The... Read more
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Hi Folks ,
Two fun and useful events to help us all do more in less time!!
1. DeCon Hackathon 4/12
These are sessions where the community comes together to 'crowdsource' standard construction details that are disassembly-friendly for a public detail library so that everyone can use it and start adapting those details in... Read more
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Hello SDL-ers -
The SDL Climate-Smart Wood Group hosts a monthly online forum for builders all over North America who care about wood - and if that sounds like you, you're invited! As builders, we want to advocate for the conscientious use of wood as part of a holistic commitment to climate justice and resilience. We have been meeting... Read more
Author
Boyd is part of the marketing team at BuildingGreen, where he supports analytics and social media engagement.
Boyd’s experience before joining BuildingGreen includes a decade in the paddlesports industry guiding whitewater trips as well as 5 years working in beer and wine manufacturing with a focus on customer interaction as well as... Read more
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Hi All,
As I mentioned at the summit, I'd like to start a discussion thread on knowledge management, company Intranets, and limiting Information overload as it pertains to sustainability. Those who are interested can share thoughts and experiences via this thread and maybe we'll set up an occasional phone call.
Here are the... Read more
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It's time for our next Peer Networks webinar! Ariane wowed us with her five minutes on future climate data at the Show-and-Tell at HKS in Chicago last November. Now we'll get the deep dive.
Wednesday, May 29, 2:00 pm EDT
Register here: https://www.buildinggreen.com/peer-networks/webinars
Remember--this live webinar is for... Read more
Reports, Courses, Study Guides, Live Webinars
THIS WEBINAR PURCHASE AND REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.
WHEN: Monday November 19, 2:00 - 3:00 PM Eastern TimeCOST: $30 for BuildingGreen Premium members, $65 for non-members Thermal Comfort – Connecting physics, people, and performance
Thermal comfort is a science of both physics and people, always a tough... Read more
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Does anyone share the same feeling of stagnation? We are supposed to hit 80% pEUI reduction now and working towards 90% mark, but I don’t see it happening for majority of our projects, even the “right” ones that we implemented integrative design process & iterative energy modeling. I am wondering whether anyone would be willing to share... Read more

