For those who work for companies that track and offset their carbon each year, how do you do it? Looking for best practices and how you vetted where to send your money. Don't need insight on quantifying carbon footprint, just offsetting.  Thanks!

I've written waste and recycling policies many a time before for both construciton and operations... but in a volunteer committee application this morning, the maintenance team got bogged down on "how do we collect recycling without plastic bags" question. I told them there's not any kind of plastic bag that I'm aware of which can be thrown... Read more

Hey, everyone! Reaching out to share about the currently-under-development IEA Annex 89: Ways to Implement Net-zero Whole Life Carbon Buildings. The current committee is really the who's who of building LCA in Europe, but it does seem like it suffers from a lack of North American representation. The one North American on the committee, in fact... Read more

Greenbuild bound colleagues-

I unfortunately cannot join for the summit Tuesday but should be flying in early enough to potentially join the group for dinner. Are there any plans brewing that I might join?!

Let me know? Thanks.

Katie Rothenberg

Vice President, Sustainability & Innovatio 

HITT Contracting... Read more

Hi Everyone -

I just received this note from Don Horn at the GSA (Deputy Director, Office of Federal High-Performance Buildings):

"Here's another installment of our work to reduce emissions through GSA's actions. GSA issued a press release this morning announcing our new standards for low carbon concrete and environmentally... Read more

Dear Sustainability Leaders,

During this time of shifting our lives and work to online, BuildingGreen is working quickly to assess the challenges and opportunities regarding the remaining Peer Network Summits for 2020. As timelines continue to be extended for social distancing (and virtually connecting!), we are mapping out the... Read more

Our high performance consulting team is frustrated by project teams that regularly fall back on outdated rules of thumb in their system and equipment sizing. 

What challenges do you face in your work flow to limit oversizing and promote right-sizing?

By the way, Roger Chang, our literature search on the subject turned up an eleven... Read more

Happy Monday all!

i am looking for ROM on cost premium for LEEDv4 to go from Gold to Platinum and from Gold to Net Zero, anyone have any stats?  just looking for % premium.  Our projects show around 1% to get to Gold but not sure what it looks like above that.  Thank you!

Andrea first became familiar with BuildingGreen in 2010 when she and her husband moved to Vermont and built their own passive house from the ground up. BuildingGreen’s president Nadav Malin heard about the project and asked if the staff could take a tour, and the rest is history. She joined the BuildingGreen team part-time in 2011 to work on... Read more

Hi SAL friends,

As some of you have heard by now, we've decided to shut down this Peer Network.

After several years of trying, we have not managed to activate it as we had hoped. Given the urgency of the collective action we need to transform the building industry into a force for good in the world, we all need to focus our... Read more

Hello All,

ASHRAE and ICC released a draft standard for operational and embodied GHG evaluation.  It's on a fast track to be completed in time for the next code cycle.  This 30 day advisory draft includes dozens of questions looking for feedback from experts like all of you.  Please take a look and provide comments.  I've uploaded the... Read more

Hi Everyone!

I am now in my last week in the Bay Area, and in my last three weeks at (my first 15 years at) SERA, as I will be leaving on my extended sabbatical at the end of April!

I will miss following this group's dialogue, and will especially miss attending the summits for the next couple of years! 

My colleagues Mark... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Cladding: More Than Just a Pretty Façade

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


1. Explain how different commercial wall assemblies handle moisture.
2. Know what questions to ask to determine a cladding system's environmental impact.... Read more

Hello fellow SD leaders,

This is a quick note to re-introduce myself to this group. I am a lapsed member from the original tribe of 2008 who has found my way back on a trail of bread crumbs left by Nadav (thanks Nadav!). I'm just glad to be back amongst my people, sharing and learning from you all, as we help each other to get where we... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Lighting Design for Health and Sustainability: A Guide for Architects​!

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


Describe how high-quality lighting design dovetails with sustainability by improving energy efficiency and supporting occupant health and... Read more

Hello everyone,

So sorry that some of you couldn't get onto the call on Tuesday! There was a bit of a problem with our Zoom links. I think we've figured it out, so we should be all set next time.

Here are the notes from the call. If you have any questions about something on there, please feel free to post them here and we'll try... Read more