Product Review
To the best of our knowledge, this product is now being marketed under the name Rauhsaser by Better Wall System of Kenora, ON.
CoverAge is a tacky name for a great product that all remodelers should know about. It is a paintable, textured wallpaper that’s made entirely of recycled paper (at... Read moreNews Brief
Energy Source™ Directory
Life has been a whole lot easier around the office since theEnergy Source Directory arrived. Assembled and published by Iris Communications, this is the most complete and most useful guide to specialized products and materials used in energy-efficient construction that we've seen. The 500-page directory is... Read more
Explainer
Feature
Carefully stake the building site and driveway, remove trees that are within the excavation area or too close, then erect a fence to keep heavy equipment off fragile soils and away from nearby trees.
Protecting trees and the local ecosystem when building on previously unbuilt land is a vitally important—yet often overlooked—part of environmentally responsible construction. Healthy trees and shrubs can reduce a home’s environmental impact and directly benefit homeowners in a number of ways:
•Enhancing comfort by shielding the house... Read more
News Brief
The American Institute of Architects convention in Boston this past June was the setting for a changing of the guard in the American architectural establishment. The Institute’s first woman president took the reins, the Committee on the Environment became its largest and fastest growing committee, and the first installments of the Environmental... Read more
Op-Ed
Introducing the first issue of our newsletter.
Buildings have a tremendous impact on the environment. In North America, buildings and the building industry account for about 30% of carbon dioxide emissions, 35-40% of ozone depletion, 20-30% of municipal solid waste, vast quantities of natural resource consumption, and dramatic loss of open space each... Read more
Feature
Ozone depletion and global warming are two of our most serious environmental problems—and foam insulation materials containing CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) contribute significantly to both of these problems. The environmentally concerned builder or designer should make it a highest priority to avoid them. Even many of the non-CFC alternatives... Read more
Feature
Susan Maxman is the first AIA president to make sustainable design a priority.
Q.Where would you say architects as a group stand on environmental issues?
A.Architects tend to be reactive rather than proactive. It is important that we take the lead on these environmental issues. The architecture schools in particular tend to be conservative. They just aren’t... Read more
Forum topic
Welcome to the Sages forum! Some of us have been hanging out together for ages, but others might be new to this group (if not to sustainable design/construction). So let’s start by introducing ourselves, with some highlights from our career and history with the Peer Networks, and why we’ve now joined this one.
My career history is pretty... Read more
Forum topic
I am diving back into Sefaira for the first time in a while, and the program still seems to be missing the ability to account for automatic daylight dimming in energy savings. Previously I had used an LPD reduction equivalent to emulate the savings automatic dimming would provide. Has anyone done a similar work-around?
Forum topic
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
Forum topic
Hello all, there has been a fair amount of discussion about the emerging Cove Tool for early stage energy modelling and parametric optimization at our firm. I am very curious if any of you are using this software, and if so, what are your thoughts about it?
https://www.covetool.com/
Thanks,
Esteban Matheus
Forum topic
Hey y'all,
Since it's now past September 8 when reporting was due, I'm thinking all those that were going to report as part of this round have now done so. I know AIA will assemble an industry-wide report, but I'm also very interested in the less polished conversation that allows all of us to trade experiences and just see how this went... Read more
Product Guide
Depending on seating type, these products can contain PVC, toxic flame retardants, hazardous adhesives and finishes, and other unsustainable materials.
BuildingGreen-Approved Seating
BuildingGreen’s seating meets ONE of the following sets of criteria:
is certified to BIFMA’s level 3 standard and, where applicable, contains... Read moreQuiz
Welcome to the quiz portion of New Concepts in LEED v4.
Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:
1. Recognize the ways in which the Integrative Process credit requires teams to analyze opportunities early in design.
2. Describe how the new Location and Transportation... Read more
Forum topic
Dear Colleagues: A climate scientist family member who I respect deeply shared this youtube with me. I thought it was worth sharing with all of my GreenGuru friends. Let's keep on keeping on!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxgMdjyw8uw
cheers
Mary Ann
Forum topic
As you might well remember, one of the Working Groups that came out of the SummitPalooza earlier this year was for MEP Embodied Carbon & Refrigerants. That Working Group began working with the Carbon Leadership Forum and is now excited to announce the rollout of the MEP 2040 Challenge: “All systems engineers shall advocate for and achieve... Read more
Forum topic
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



