BuildingGreen Report

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Hello Green Gurus,

Here are all the details about our two Peer Network events in Chicago on Tuesday, June 21st. If you'll be in town, we hope to see you!

From 1-5pm we'll have the Chicago/Midwest Region Mini-Summit, open to members of any of the five Peer Networks (Sustainability Consultants, Community Design Leaders, Contractors... Read more

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(posting here for Kira)

Sustainable Design Leaders:

Is your firm using the AIA COTE Top Ten Toolkit in some fashion? COTE would like to hear from you, especially if you are willing to share your story. 

Specifically, we'd like to share best practices and lessons about how it is working (with certain types of projects, at... Read more

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EDITED LINK

Hello, below is a link to our newly uploaded research report, Embodied Carbon in Commercial Furniture. This new research report introduces a case study and some new baselines for measuring the carbon footprint of commercial furniture, to add to a growing body of work on this topic among our peers:
Embodied Carbon in... Read more

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Our Green Team is holding a Biophilic Design workshop on Earth Day with our own staff for biophilic interventions within our office space. We are referencing the Biophilic Design Guidebook from LBC but it will be a shorter time frame, about 1.5 hours total. Last summer we introduced biophilia to the office through the exercise where each person... Read more

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Hi folks,

I’m sorry to be so last minute with this. LEED v5’s second public comment period ends TOMORROW (Monday, Oct 28). As it currently stands, LEED has eliminated its preferential support for FSC over other forest certification programs and is silent on climate-smart forestry.

I’m hoping that the Climate Smart folks in this... Read more

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It was great to see everyone who was able to join in the peer networks webinar and to be able to share a brief update on what the Defining and Measuring Resilient Outcomes working group has accomplished over the last year... and what we are looking forward to tackling in the coming year. 

I've both attached a copy of the deck here and... Read more

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Anyone know what stages does CARE include? Does it include B1-5, C1-4 or D?

Thank you!

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I'm looking to draft some one-page briefs for my consulting engineers to outline what we would like to see in their specs regarding certain materials and systems. For example, letting the plumbing and civil engineers know that we prefer to eliminate PVC pipe and want them to specify alternatives like Polypropylene, cast iron, ABS, etc. The idea... Read more

Quiz

Welcome to the quiz portion of What Makes a Product Green Today?

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


Identify and explain 30 green attributes of building products that can be used to make selections in order to increase environmental sustainability and protect the health of occupants... Read more

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Greetings Gurus, following the AIA COTE Design for Economy concept, does anyone have a resource for a list of building efficiency ratio "targets" by space type? I've always struggled with this initiative. 

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I read a very misleading article on the AIA's website today regarding antimicrobials and the benefit of microbicidals in paint. It was written by a manufacturer, not a healthcare professional, and was not obviously labeled as sponsored content on the website. (I received the link in an email, which did label it as such).

https://www.aia.... Read more

Product Guide

Though BuildingGreen has long supported the use of electric hand dryers as a more environmentally friendly hand drying option, the majority of evidence appears to support paper towels as a preferred method of controlling the spread of potential pathogens. 

And even the most efficient hand dryers contribute significant CO2 to the... Read more

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I know there are a few of us WELL Performamce Testing Agents / Organizations represented in this group. In the wake of technology talks on this weeks update calls from IWBI, I'm wondering if anyone would be interested in a best practices and equipment small group discussion within the safe space of Green Gurus? Let me know! 

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Embodied carbon in products and existing buildings. What does LCA tell us about renovation vs. new construction and material choices?

Guiding Questions: 

What easy ways are there to communicate about embodied carbon? Are there easy ways to calculate it?  What do I need to know about LCA? Are there any found patterns of when it... Read more

Reports, Courses, Study Guides, Live Webinars

THIS WEBINAR PURCHASE AND REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.

The live webinar occurred on Tuesday, June 20th 2:00pm Eastern (11am Pacific)

Practitioners interested in reducing the embodied carbon of buildings are likely now used to considering the impact of different materials, like mass timber or low-carbon concrete. Low-carbon... Read more

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With an urgent climate justice mission, AIA has the call open for volunteers to help shape our industry's action. COTE, the Codes + Standard Committee (one of the most important committees anywhere!), Board Committees (including the Committee on CLimate Action and Design Excellence - CCADE)  and the Strategic Council have openings. Consider how... Read more

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Hello,

We're trying to budget Fitwel Certification consulting fees for a non-profit client for whom we're designing an early childcare center in Louisville, KY. It would be for a single tenant new building Fitwel certification and include a Fitwel introduction workshop, working with design team, and coordinating/submitting documentation... Read more