Product Guide
Cabinets are often made from unsustainable wood bound with adhesives that offgas formaldehyde and finishes that have high emissions or contain PVC.
BuildingGreen-Approved Cabinetry
Approved residential cabinetry has:
Sustainably sourced wood or fiber—either salvaged or FSC certified and verification of low... Read moreForum topic
Does anyone know of studies that measure for any correlation between the prevalence of collaborative people in leadership positions with financial (or other) success for firms/organizations?
There have been well-publicized studies on how companies with women in leadership positions, and companies with more diversity, do better. (... Read more
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Hey All,
Those of us in the electrification working group have been talking about the impending release of this new NREL tool, which provides hourly (TOU) GHG emissions forecasts for grid regions around the country. This will be a useful tool in evaluating the impacts of HVAC electrifcation, EV integration, load shifting, storage, etc. I... Read more
Quiz
Welcome to the quiz portion of Why Post-Occupancy Review Is the Future of Design (And How It Can Serve You Now).
Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:
1. Explain the importance of post-occupancy evaluation (POE) for occupants and the opportunities in POE for architects.... Read more
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Hi all, has anyone come across a comprehensive (and recent) study looking at how long buildings actually last (beyond Stewart Brand)? I know of plenty that look at the benefits of reuse, but none that look at existing building stock and how much has been reused vs. demolished.
As we start looking at embodied carbon metrics, I can't help... Read more
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Hi everyone!
I've seen a lot of claims over the years of living walls or planted buffers that can mitigate *outdoor* air pollution and have always assumed there's no real scientific basis for that idea, unless we're talking an actual forest that's 10s of feet thick. Am I wrong? Are there examples of living walls that actually have been... Read more
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Hi SDL: today is the last day to cast your vote in the voting for Greenbuild by 5PM ET.
please vote for the terrific program put together on PV23 "The Tools You Need to Design for Climate Emergency Action" with me, Betsy and Beth Heider that will bring together a collection of tools, including brand new ones from Saskia, using the Top... Read more
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Hi all,
We are taking a deep look at green accreditations within our firm. Gone are the days when we could say: "our staff is XX% LEED APs!" as a metric of firm progress. Here are a few questions we are asking ourselves, and I'm wondering how you approach this in your firms:
How does your firm "recognize" accreditations: are they... Read moreForum topic
As if you weren't worrying enough already, here's a little something that I ran across through monitoring activity on the American Society of Healthcare Engineers discussion boards: https://www.id-hub.com/2018/10/17/hospital-plumbing-reservoir-resistance-interview-amy-mathers/, "Hospital Plumbing as a Reservoir for Resistance". This is both a... Read more
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Hi SD Leaders,
As you may be aware, this past April a group of manufacturers calling themselves the Living Product 50 responded to the letters that many of us sent about five years ago advocating for transparency in their product ingredients. A copy of that letter can be reviewed about midway through the page at this link: https://... Read more
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Dear Esteemed colleagues: I was recently asked a good question in light of the impending (fingers crossed) passage of the reconciliation bill that will bring alot of funding to energy efficiency/decarbonization upgrades at the residential scale. The question is: What are the arguments/ scenarios about the importance for homeowners to contract... Read more
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Hi everyone,
The city of Portland recently expanded acceptable certifications for affordable housing projects they provide funding for to include Enterprise Green Communities Certification. Other options are LEED (flavor depends on project size) and Earth Advantage Multifamily, which is a regionally owned and operated certification. This... Read more
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Hi SDLers: ESG Investing is mushrooming which is a very good thing. AIA National, for example, just switched over to 100% ESG investments. With it, there seems to be a growing number of "ESG-lite" options. I'm wondering if anyone among this informed group has recommendations on how to determine a quality investment approach. I'd appreciate any... Read more
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Hi All,
The rural concrete supplier that is used for most of our projects sources their fly ash from a nearby coal burning plant that is scheduled to be closed in the next two years. In anticipation of this, they are looking into alternative fly ash sources and SCM options and we'd like to provide suggestions.
Does anyone have... Read more
Product Guide
Producing a ton of cement releases approximately a ton of CO2 into the atmosphere, but accessories like finishes and additives can also be major sources of VOCs, soil contamination, and human health risks.
BuildingGreen-Approved Concrete Accessories
BuildingGreen approves the following concrete accessories:
structural... Read moreForum topic
Hello SCL,
Quick reminder to sign up for our SCL Summit in May! True to usual form, we ask what’s important to YOU before we finalize an agenda. In the next couple of weeks, we will be sending out a draft agenda and asking for your feedback. Sign up now so your voice will be heard. Initial ideas so far have included:
Refining our... Read moreForum topic
Hi all,
I'm excited to announce that LHB (my 250-person multidisciplinary firm located in Minnesota and Wisconsin) is hiring a full-time Regenerative Design Leader. I thought this might be helpful for those of you looking for example job descriptions for your own postings, or if you are looking to make a move (we do have an office in... Read more