Wood decking requires potentially hazardous preservatives and stains, and plastic waste is a significant environmental problem.

BuildingGreen-Approved Decking

Composite decking approved by BuildingGreen has at least 50% total recycled content. For plastic decking, post-consumer content has to be greater than 50%.

Health and... Read more

Hey team,

We're working with some institutions in the midwest that are trying to understand what kind of partnerships they could build with architectural salvage enterprises as they demolish many buildings to elevate land uses. I'm not overly familiar with the midwest market. Does anyone have any good circular economy / architectural... Read more

As we begin to look into Scope 3 emissions reduction strategies, it's important to understand ways to reduce tranportation emissions to project sites. Is anyone aware of best practices or programs for contractor carpooling to jobsites? I know many of my colleagues travel to work together in one vehicle because of parking limitations, however,... Read more

Axel Slowin

I took a first pass at content for the Energy Audit best practice, see the uploaded file. 

Is anyone else working on a project doing Living Building Challenge v4.0 Energy Petal? We're working through the Imperative 08 Net Positive Carbon Resiliency Strategy requirements that ask for the project to be habitable for a week in the event of an emergency. We're curious how others are defining "habitable" and what systems assumptions... Read more

Hi everyone,

Happy new year!

The FIRST First Friday Fika* of 2024 is happening this Friday, January 5th from 11am to 12pm ET, hosted by Candace Pearson.

Here is the registration link for the Fikas, or if you've registered previously, you can use the same link for this week.

We look forward to seeing you Friday!

I am looking for case studies/trying to identify buildings using concrete mixes with upwards of 30% replacement of cement by SCMs.  I've been in conversations with some structural engineers who are interested in lowering embodied carbon in upcoming projects, but would like to see examples of where this level of replacement has been successfully... Read more

Happy Friday, SDL!

We're running a Tally WBLCA for an environmental education center, which has a very small floor area but a fairly robust concrete/steel structure. Still, I was surprised to find an intensity of over 1,000 kgCO2/m2 for the building.

This is way higher than the general benchmarks I've found in the CLF's database,... Read more

I just saw this post from Conor on LinkedIn.

Starting in January 2019, all new Columbia Construction Company projects require LED temp lighting.

Are others doing this too? Frankly, given all the benefits and how quickly the industry is matured, it's hard for me to understand why anyone would use anything other than LEDs on a job.... Read more

Apologize in advance if this has been posted before but we are trying to get manufacturers of stage curtains to give documentation that proves that the product does not have halogenated fire retardants. Manufacturers say they don't have them or concentrations are limited to 100ppm but they don't seem to have documentation to provide for it.... Read more

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

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. 

Welcome to the quiz portion of Fundamentals of High-Performance Building Assemblies.

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


1. Recall how the acronym ENDURE speaks to the unifying aspect of high-performance buildings.
2. Describe how to apply the principles of high-... Read more

Hi Green Gurus (esp. Sustainable MEP leaders...)

I'm looking for suggestions of contacts for MEP consultants, especially in the Chicagoland region, ideally with sustainability highly integrated into the work, specialization in geothermal systems, and indoor agriculture. (doesn't necessarily have to be all-in-one)

For context, we... Read more