Has anyone heard about batu or cumaru as substitutes for ipe? I am looking for a durable deckling material, and would appreciate your recommendations for sustainable choices!

We've updated the Salesforce BIT Community domain from "https://southfacecommunities.force.com/BITBuilding/s/" to "https://www.bitbuilding.org/s/" and there are a few links on BITuser that point back to the community that need updating.

We are in the process of working with our ops people to figure out billability targets for my team. Something that may be useful is the firm survey that BG conducts before each retreat (See attached image). These are great, but it varies depending on which firms attend the retreat. Its also hard to tell (in some cases) which green dot is... Read more

Hello Everyone,

As the staff here at BuildingGreen prepares for our third peer network summit in two months, we'd like to share out the Summit Report from the first online summit with the Sustainable MEP Leaders. We're a little delayed in sharing this with the wider Green Gurus group, but there is still plenty of time to review before... Read more

Hi everyone! I saw that BuildingGreen won't be faciliating a meet-up in Atlanta but are there any other peers attending Living Future next week and want to self-organize? If we can find a venue - i wonder if there are any locals on this list with a recommendation? Could do Wednesday 7-8:30 between the two scheduled reception and after-hours... Read more

I can see from the threads that there are at least a few Passive House advocates in this group - I'm wondering about the PHIUS training and certification. Can any who have done it offer an opinion? Is it valuable? Residentially focused? Would it apply to someone in a larger commercial practice? It's an investment of time and $, so I really want... Read more

Building materials emit massive amounts of carbon long before the lights go on.

In this course, BuildingGreen takes an analytical look at the greenhouse gases that are emitted in the process of constructing our buildings in the first place—the embodied carbon. The report focuses on how architects and designers, working with other key... Read more

For anyone attending this year's APA conference in person in San Diego, please consider joining us for our divison's annual reception and Awards for Excellence in Sustainability. We will be joined by members of the City Management & Planning, New Urbanism divisions, and the National Capital Area Chapter. Here's a link to register for the... Read more

SDLers – For one of our projects we are working with local tribes to procure timber. We would also like to get FSC certification, but haven’t found significant overlap between these two criteria in the Pacific Northwest. There appear to be two certification entities in our area: Northwest Natural Resource Group and Trout Mountain Forestry.  I’m... Read more

The construction sector’s take-make-waste approach to materials needs an overhaul. Materials and construction account for an estimated 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions annually. At the other end of the life cycle, demolition in the United States annually generates 90% of some 600 million tons of construction-sector debris. Getting trashed... Read more

Blast from the past when 179D first hit the scenes.

Are any of you still using this and if so, has it been easy, successful, worthwhile etc

and Happy New Year !

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

Welcome to the quiz portion of Whole-Building Life Cycle Analysis: Promises and Pitfalls.

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


1. Define whole-building life-cycle assessment.
2. Explain what whole-building life-cycle assessment can and can't do so you can work within... Read more

Since attending the SDL Summer Summit this year, I've continued soul-searching for more actionable firm-wide, walk-the-talk Climate Initiatives to push forward and sheepishly realized that our office operational emission accounting (and potential offsets) has literally fell off the radar. Since 2008.
:(

So my query:
1. Are... Read more

There are a few spots left for the 2018 Summer Architecture + Design Sustainable Design Leaders Summit that is being held August 1-3 at the Garrison Institute in Garrison, NY (Easy train ride from NYC). If you have not already received an invitation, and you play a sustainability leader role - either formal or informal - in a mid-sized (>40... Read more

The Planning for Resilient Outcomes Working Group has had a few preliminary meetings and we would like to invite interested Green Gurus to join our group.  To give you an idea of what we are about, we have developed a purpose statement to guide our future work: 

The Planning for Resilient Outcomes working group will elevate the industry'... Read more

Engineered wood efficiently utilizes fast-growing, small-diameter trees.

When sourced from responsibly managed forests, engineered wood can store carbon that would otherwise enter the atmosphere, and can replace high-embodied-carbon concrete and steel in some structural applications.

Engineered wood products can also provide a... Read more