Plans are coming together for this Summit! Here's what we know (at least tentatively) so far:

Location:
Chicago, SmithGroup office

Timing: 
July 9-10, 2019

1:00 p.m. start time on 9th, 3:00 p.m. end on 10th

My firm didn't have representation at the winter summit, but I've just read the report (thank you, RoseAnn!), and was really glad to see there was conversation around mass timber. I'd love to talk with anyone who was involved in that roundtable to get a deeper download about the discussion. We've been doing a lot of mass timber buildings and... Read more

Hi Everyone!

Does anyone have a good resource for whole-building embodied carbon benchmarks broken down by building use and building category (structure, foundation, envelope, interior)?

I know of CLF’s 2017 Benchmark Study (great resource!) and the One-Click LCA study on European Buildings but are there any others?  I know many... Read more

Green Gurus -

I’m honored to be co-chairing, along with Caryn Brause FAIA, the ACSA/AIA Intersections Research conference at UMass Amherst October 2023.   The theme, "Material Economies," was developed with an eye for inclusivity for academics and practitioners alike, addressing critical emerging issues around architectural material... Read more

THIS WEBINAR PURCHASE AND REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.

The webinar occurred on Wednesday, February 23rd at 2:00 eastern.

USGBC and IWBI are beginning to see eye to eye across a range of focus areas. Knowing how to leverage each in a mutually beneficial way is the key to driving... Read more

Hello Green Gurus!

Here is a [LINK] to an updated version of the letter, including all the signatories we had as of last Friday - thank you all!

This message is really geared for your firm's social media/communications team, so if you aren’t that person, please share this message with them! With that said, all of you (whether your... Read more

Everyone agreed during last Friday's meeting that we want to call the site BITuser. The question, however, is what domain name should be used.

Whatever domain name is chosen, it will redirect to the actual site URL -- https://bituser.buildinggreen.com (similar to how LEEDuser.com redirects to https://leeduser.buildinggreen.com).

... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Toxic Chemicals in Buildings: How to Find and Avoid the Worst Offenders (recorded webcast).

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


1. Explain how key health hazards and opportunities for healthier choices vary by product category.
2. List... Read more

Green Gurus –

Clark Brockman brought to our attention an important and impactful opportunity to advance building decarbonization through the US Department of Energy’s proposed rulemaking around water heater efficiency, advancing adoption of heat pumps, while still providing exceptions (and efficiency targets) for electric or natural gas... Read more

Hi MEP Leaders,

We had a great conversation in our last monthly call about the function and purpose of this group, and what we can best do together. You can see detailed notes from that call here. And we'll soon be sending out a reminder about the October call (Tuesday, Oct 8, 2pm eastern).

One of the ideas from that conversation... Read more

Hi SD Leaders: I'm hoping that you guys can be a great resource for a family member who teaches at Carnegie Mellon University, Professor Marvin Sirbu. Marvin teaches and does research in the Energy and Public Policy department and each year leads a class that takes on a challenging real-world problem to arrive at innovative solutions. This time... Read more

I am excited to announce that BuildingTransparency.org just launched downloadable specs and associated guidance that a couple of us have been working on for a few months.  Here is the EC3 announement:

Sujatha Das of Haskell has put together a survey to help define the role of a Construction Company Sustainability Manager--I thought this is something many here might be willing to help with, and benefit from! 

Sujatha will share the results of the survey with those that participate assuming they provide the optional contact information... Read more

We are working on a multi-family project in Hartford that is townhouse style so each unit has an exterior door. The client has requested electronic key fob hardware. Has anyone had experience with retrofitting a passive house door with electronic hardware or have they used a door that is already fitted with electronic hardware? 

Ventilation fans, kitchen range hoods, and laboratory fume hoods can use significant amounts of energy from both the fan motor and from venting heated/cooled air out of the building—air that then has to be replaced and conditioned by energy-intensive HVAC systems.

BuildingGreen-Approved Ventilation Fans

BuildingGreen ventilation... Read more

For those at Islandwood for the Summer Summit this week, we have this post-Summit meeting opportunity with James Connelly and Kathleen Smith from ILFI. This is one in a series of "Living Building Leaders" meetings, at which architects who support LBC get to collaborate with ILFI on how scale up LBC adoption.

Here's the agenda for this... Read more