Hi: SD Leaders.  It was so nice to see so many of you at Greenbuild in Chicago. By now I'm sure all have seen the announcement of the release of the Fourth National Climate Assessment Report vol 2. (https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/) It's well worth a deep read - so much important and extremely informative material. I want to draw your... Read more

Here's a file upload.

The Sustainable Community Design Leaders Peer Network brings together planners, architects, landscape architects, and allied leaders who are committed to leveraging the... Read more

Hello all, 

Our firm recently signed onto the Material Pledge and while there is no reporting requirements at this time we are wondering how other architectural firms are, or plan to, report projects. 

Thanks for any insight that can be shared!

-Dave

Typically made from petrochemicals, carpet and its adhesives can offgas. It is also a challenge to recycle them, increasing the chances that it will be incinerated or disposed of in a landfill. Because carpet has a limited lifespan, its life-cycle performance is key.

BuildingGreen recommends modular carpet that demonstrates lower life-... Read more

Are you ready to share the story about your best projects?

AIA COTE Top Ten Awards is a great way to get recognition for your best work and the call for submissions for the 2024 cycle is now open!

The awards cycle has shifted, and the deadline for the 2024 awards is October 26.

So NOW is the time to pull together... Read more

Hi All,

USGBC MA is doing a study on the cost of net zero energy buildings in MA.  I’m wondering if you all have any data to share on plug loads in ZNE projects. I’m looking for single family res, 2-4 unit residential, +/- 60 unit residential, 10-12 story office, and k-12.  The engineers have presented initial results and their... Read more

Hello Everybody,

I would like to invite you all to an event being hosted by the AIA Seattle COTE.  This is the next event in a series entitled Pathways to Decarbonization.  Date and time: May 13, 12:00pm - 1:00pm 

Description:  Universities are learning laboratories to explore and implement solutions to our greatest challenges... Read more

I am dual posting a topic from the SDL forum in the Green Commons. Sorry to those who see this twice but I'm trying to cover more ground.

The first post from Mike Manzi ... 

SDLers,

Great to see many of you at Greenbuild! It was nice to have the opportunity to remind everyone how our collective energy continues to make a... Read more

I am new to the SAL and honored to be included. I'm Summer, managing partner at Ecoimpact Consulting. I manage a small staff of sustainability consultants who focus primarily on LEED project administration and documentation services. Day to day, I am working on implementation of the technical requirements of various LEED rating systems (in the... Read more

I'm teaching a LEED GA study group and was rambling on the differences between CIR and precident-setting LEED Interpretation (that gets posted in the addenda library and all). Then I went onto LEED Online and was showing how those are submitted... but can't actually figure out how a LEED Interpretation would be submitted. Has anyone done this... Read more

We are putting together a free guide for firms who have not yet started to figure out what their internal standards are for healthy, low carbon materials/products. 

As part of this effort, we are looking to gather from all of you who already have standards - examples and precedent.

Also we are collecting standards from clients/... Read more

I'm looking for products that have cradle to cradle documentation, as well as EPD's & HPD's and are red list free.  What are your go to websites when you're researching products?

Hi Sustainable MEP Leaders!

As we discussed at the Summit, we are going to have monthly calls to check in and advance our various initiatives. Let's go with the 2nd Tuesday of the Month.

Please join if you can--we have a lot to follow up on! (See the report I posted earlier this week for details.)

Thanks, and have a great... Read more

I am now embarking on the home page design, but before I get started I need input on what you'd like to have there. The style tiles/tidbits provided by Southface includes a home page mockup that's very similar to LEEDuser, which is fine with me, but I don't want to implement it and then find out you want something radically different.

I... Read more

Hi folks,

We're kicking off a new way for us to collaborate as a network: monthly web-based conference calls. The first one will be on Friday, Nov 15 at 1:00 eastern time. The topic will be "Sustainability and the Small Firm: Practices in Transition" -- which is the name of the proposal James has submitted (and gotten first-round... Read more