Dear Green Gurus,

I both regret and am excited to tell you that I am leaving this group to pursue my next adventure.  I'm stepping down as Kirksey's Director of Sustainability, moving to Tucson, and starting my own business.  My business plan is to buy existing buildings, renovate them to net zero, and then sell or rent them.

I... Read more

SDLers – For one of our projects we are working with local tribes to procure timber. We would also like to get FSC certification, but haven’t found significant overlap between these two criteria in the Pacific Northwest. There appear to be two certification entities in our area: Northwest Natural Resource Group and Trout Mountain Forestry.  I’m... Read more

To piggyback off Nathan's introduction where he mentions construction waste management, who is doing anything innovative or different in managing construction waste?  Construction waste has not historically been a passion of mine, but now working in sustainability and construction, I feel like it has to be by default.  

We have a... Read more

THIS WEBINAR PURCHASE AND REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.

Most—but not all.

Four experts... Read more

Hi folks,

The team at DPR Construction has kindly agreed to host a reception and evening of presentations during the AIA Conference in San Francisco. If you'll be in the area, come join us Wednesday, June 7 from 6:00–8:30 for networking and fast-paced sharing of ideas.

The plan is to have a networking reception from 6:00-7:00,... Read more

Based on current projects, pursuits, and ongoing thought leadership, the following are hot topics across the Stantec Buildings group.

Read on to stay up to date with evolving skills and expertise not only in your own BC but also... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Choosing Insulation: High-Performance Roof Assemblies and Retrofits – Unit 4.

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


1. Explain the industry trajectory of healthier alternatives to foam insulation.
2. Describe the nuances of insulation... Read more

I am wondering how architectural firms plan to close the gap to zero in the next few years. 

Owner's dictate outcomes and the typical owner is not committed to zero - even when sustainability is a focus of the project. 

We can present solar-ready designs, all electric buildings, geothermal, etc. but there is still quite a gap to... Read more

Hello SCL, I was asked by a friend at ILFI to share this invite specifically to the SCL group to join their Living Future 20 conference which is in a couple weeks and will be all online.  There is also an invite for a construction-only focused ILFI discussion May 14th in the message as well.  Hope everyone is doing alright out there.  Talk soon... Read more

For those who are visiting Chicago, Kira Gould has asked me to spread the word about a casual AIA COTE meet-up. Stop by, meet friends and have a beer.

If you will be in Chicago on November 15, please consider joining a casual meet-up of COTE leaders/members/friends (no fee to join; it's pay-your-own-way at the pub):  

AIA COTE... Read more

I'm looking for successful examples of net-zero, Living Building, or similar office buildings that are NOT owned by highly-motivated organizations like RMI or the Bullitt Foundation (or one of your firms).

We are looking to team with a developer on a small-mid-size office building that will house our new office with us as a tenant (no... Read more

Hello Green Gurus,

Here is the information for February's Peer Networks Webinar, A Tale of Two Working Groups: Decarbonizing Existing Buildings & Defining and Measuring Resilient Outcomes. We hope you will join us!

Register HERE

A Tale of Two Working Groups: Decarbonizing Existing Buildings & Defining and Measuring... Read more

Happy New Year! 

I haven't seen this topic come up in the forum, but might have just missed it. 

I'm sure many of you have seen the recent article in Dezeen of Australia banning engineered stone due to links silicosis. Australia bans engineered stone due to silicosis risk (dezeen.com)

We are looking for appropriate... Read more

The Planning for Resilient Outcomes Working Group has had a few preliminary meetings and we would like to invite interested Green Gurus to join our group.  To give you an idea of what we are about, we have developed a purpose statement to guide our future work: 

The Planning for Resilient Outcomes working group will elevate the industry'... Read more

For anyone attending this year's APA conference in person in San Diego, please consider joining us for our divison's annual reception and Awards for Excellence in Sustainability. We will be joined by members of the City Management & Planning, New Urbanism divisions, and the National Capital Area Chapter. Here's a link to register for the... Read more

I think it now qualifies as a tradition! We've arranged a room where we can gather for an hour and check in during the Thursday afternoon reception time at Living Future. If you'll be there, come join us!

Thursday, May 2 at 5:30, Skykomish Room (#604, 6th floor)

We'll be mostly Sustainable Design Leaders, as that's by far our... Read more

How much will it cost to achieve LEED v4 certification?

“We’d love a green building, but can we afford it?”

“We’re required to be LEED Silver, but we’re not sure how to get there under the new rating system.”

“Sure, we’re interested in LEED, as long as it doesn’t cost extra.”

LEED v4 and cost uncertainty

With... Read more