So every year about this time I get to spend many lovely moments with our AIA 2030 Reporting data. In order to make the data useful the CBECS baselines/National baselines aren't great in telling us how we did.

For about half our 15 projects that we report in the average year - performing arts, convention, data science schools, etc - a... Read more

Hi Green Gurus,

We're off to a great start with First Friday Fikas* this year. We've had good turnout and lots of fun. This new tradition continues this Friday at 11:00 am Eastern Time (8:00 am Pacific). We have more fun planned, with prompts to help us get to know each other.

If you registered previously you can use that same... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Designing Natural Ventilation.

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


1. Explain how natural venting and cooling potentials are realized in buildings.
2. Show how natural ventilation and passive cooling strategies can amount to increased... Read more

Hi all,

We are hiring for a Sustainability manager position in Northern California. Webcor is a GC firm, headquartered in SF with offices in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose.

This is a flagship opportunity to align with a large tech clients innovative sustainability goal in downtown San Jose, and act as the sustainability... Read more

Sheathing should be designed for durability, but some sheathing materials can be toxic or may contribute to moisture issues inside the building envelope.

BuildingGreen-Approved Sheathing

Sheathing approved by BuildingGreen contains recycled content, rapidly renewable materials, or otherwise provides exceptional performance, such... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Boost Happiness and Save Energy with Adaptive Thermal Comfort!

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


Define “adaptive thermal comfort” and explain how it can contribute to occupant health and satisfaction.

Compare the adaptive comfort model... Read more

Hello all,

We are looking at ways we can use our specs to reduce toxicity in projects and one step towards that goal may be to require RoHS compliant lighting, switches, alarms, meters, etc., as required by the Small Electrical Components exception in the Living Building Challenge. Based on LBC projects I have been involved with, it... Read more

I have a colleague researching existing, proposed, or anticipated changes to urban planning and building codes that encourage lower carbon footprints.

Can anyone comment on or point me to resources on how cities are using carbon footprint analysis and carbon reduction in permitting, now or in the future?

Some specific topics that... Read more

Hi Folks - 

The "request for participation" email below is from Brendan Owens, who most of you know was at the USGBC for over 18 years, and is now the Chief Sustainability Officer for the US Dept of Defense. As I read the text, I couldn't help but think of this group as a deep well of expertise and experience that could undoubtedly help... Read more

For those folks who are on our retrofit electrfication roadmap post-palooza-sub-sub-working group ;-) , I thought you might be interested in these three guides just released from BEI in collaboration with S. Winter Associates.

Here are the three Playbooks:

THIS WEBINAR PURCHASE AND REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.

Live webinar approved for 1 AIA LU and 1 GBCI CE hour. Each person intending to earn CEU credits must purchase their own seat.

Why high-performance assemblies? And why now? Today we demand better thermal performance from our building assemblies than... Read more

For those of you that don't know me, I'm the Director of Sustainability at the Structure Tone organization. Betting that you can guess what my role entails since you're all in similar roles and we've done the introductions a couple of times in different forums...given that I'd like to introduce myself personally.

I live in a suburb of... Read more

Our firm held off from signing the AIA Materials Pledge because it was perceived as a feel-good commitment to promise to have good intentions, with no tracking.  I was pleased to learn yesterday that reporting for signatories of the AIA Materials Pledge would "open" today (July 18) and close August 31, and would include mandatory reporting on... Read more

Dear SD Leaders: I'm writing to let you know about a great opportunity in campus-wide sustainability and design leadership. Washington University in St. Louis (my alma mater) is seeking a new University Architect and Assistant Vice Chancellor. WashU has a very strong legacy of sustainability leadership which has recently been reinforced with... Read more

Hello SCL, 

I have a slightly different ask than my usual Contractor's Commitment announcements.

Our newest writer, Elizabeth Waters, and I are researching for a BG article about construction emissions and jobsite carbon for BuildingGreen.com

In particular, we are trying to research how much of a building’s lifetime carbon... Read more

Hello everyone, Happy New Year! 

I wanted to send a quick note that we have an awesome group registered for the Sustainable Design Leaders Winter Summit 2020 and we still have a few open seats! This is taking place Jan. 29th - 31st, 2020 at The Lodge, Gulf Shores, AL with an exciting Pre-Summit Workshop happening that Wednesday. If you... Read more