Good daylighting intentions can end up increasing glare and solar heat gain.

BuidlingGreen-Approved Lightshelves

We look for lightshelves designed to reflect direct sunlight onto the ceiling, turning what could potentially be glare into diffuse, ambient daylight that penetrates deep into the interior of a building.

Energy... Read more

Hello Green Gurus,

I am starting some research on municipal incentives offered to developers seeking to achieve sustainability targets and am wondering what you may have come across in your work, including but not limited to achieving Passive House. In my limited research, here are few I have come across to get us started:

I'm happy to let you know that Barbra Batshalom has joined the Green Gurus forum!

Many of you already know her from her Sustainable Performance Institute work, and from the great workshop she and her husband Moshe Cohen led before our Boston Summit, but she is also serving a consulting SD Leader for several firms. I'll let her say more... Read more

Happy 2021 Green Gurus,

BuildingGreen has some New Years news to share with you all!

Announcing an addition to the Peer Networks family, we are excited to be launching the Sustainable Community Design Leaders (SCDL) Peer Network!

The SCLD peers are planners, architects, landscape architects, and other professionals at... Read more

Hi all,

My office is looking at some certification options for our upcoming renovation. One thing the management team asked me that I don't have a solid answer for is, do WELL certified spaces typically go through with recertification and everything it entails, or are they doing the upfront work to get certified and then letting it lapse... Read more

At our SAL call today, folks were talking about how there was just too much to read about DEI. This is the best short summary I have read about the problems of incorporating it into the organizations where we work. It's much easier to talk the talk than to walk the walk because it takes time and accountability.

World: There is no way we can shut down in order to lower emissions, slow climate change and protect the environment.

Mother Nature: Here's a virus. Practice.

Who is measuring the positive environmental impact our actions are having on the environment? 

For example, there have been reductions in air pollution. If the... Read more

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

Hi all,

GBD turns 50 this year! I would like to share some examples with leadership of how we can make it more than just an event for clients... something that can give back, engage the public, focus on sustainability, etc. I remember that a Seattle firm had an awesome event that engaged a public plaza, etc. I had read something about it... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Fundamentals of High-Performance Building Assemblies.

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


1. Recall how the acronym ENDURE speaks to the unifying aspect of high-performance buildings.
2. Describe how to apply the principles of high-... Read more

In looking for ways to reduce jobsite waste and lower our carbon emissions, I'm working on a business plan for centralized procurement, in lieu of individual project purchasing their own tools, PPE, & consumables.  I'm curious as to how many other GC's on here use (or have used) a central purchasing process and if you have any pros/cons... Read more

With the current push for improved window performance to meet energy codes and Passive House, room side low-e coatings can significantly improve window U-values. However, back in 2018 Payette did this excellent study that showed that while room side low-e coatings improved window U-value and increased the interior radiant temperature, the... Read more

Can you comment on successful ways you have used eQUEST and pitfalls you have seen? We are considering training our architects to use it for early building analysis on all projects. 

Anyone have experience with electric boilers? I think in cold climates it's perhaps the first thought when trying to reduce scope 1 emissions in an HVAC application that would have historically used gas-fired boilers... but it seems like they're only an incremental improvement compared to heat pumps / geothermal / VRF type solutions. We haven't... Read more