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

Hello SCL! We are excitedly planning for a return to in-person SCL Summits. In the past we've scheduled our Summit for the day before Greenbuild, but that day is Halloween and we understand the importance of spending that time with family. We are exploring a January 2023 option for this Summit instead, and are hoping to return to our usual... Read more

Passing on the request from USGBC Regional director:

" Ben Evans who leads our federal advocacy efforts is submitting a Greenbuild Session focused on the opportunities and challenges of the IRA. He is looking for practitioners who can speak to working to utilize IRA/IIJA programs and incentives. He seeks a real estate company/developer,... Read more

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

Congratulations to Mara Baum (HOK) and Alison Kwok (U of Oregon), FAIA! 

AIA announcement

I understand the AIA 2030 team is hoping for as many firms (and projects) to submit some form of LCA data in the new DDx website this week, in order to learn how the industry is tracking embodied carbon.  We have four projects that dabbled with Tally last year, which we'd like to report this week.

Has anyone run into a hurdle where you... Read more

Huge congratulations to everyone involved with a Top Ten winner this year! 

In a rare feat--Leddy Maytum Stacy got two!

Also P+W, Lake|Flato with Cooper Cary, WRNS, SOM, Olsen Kundig, KieranTimberlake, DLR--nice work! (And who is Studio27?)

Here's James Wilson's take on what's special about each winning project.

... Read more

How much will it cost to achieve LEED v4 certification?

“We’d love a green building, but can we afford it?”

“We’re required to be LEED Silver, but we’re not sure how to get there under the new rating system.”

“Sure, we’re interested in LEED, as long as it doesn’t cost extra.”

LEED v4 and cost uncertainty

With... Read more

Pipe that delivers domestic water in North America is typically made from copper, chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC), cross-linked polyethylene (PEX), all of which present environmental challenges. Bimodal polyethylene  (PE-RT) and polypropylene (PP) are potential alternatives with lower climate and health impacts.
... Read more

Hey gang,

We're working on a project that's currently designed as mass timber. We're up against some cost control efforts (of course) and the CM/Client is asking about changing some of the building to steel or green steel. We set out with a goal on the project that within the core and shell, Module A GWP emissions will be net zero.... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Five Reasons to Be Optimistic About Solar Energy!

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


Describe three ways how PV decreases environmental impact while increasing sustainability and health measures for communities.

Discuss PV life-cycle... Read more

Hi folks,

We often hear from you with a suggestion of someone who would be great for the network, and a question about how to refer them. We've now made that easy, with three steps laid out in an Outreach Toolkit that's posted in the left margin of the Member Directory.

So, if you're thinking of someone to invite or come across... Read more

Green gurus!

We're getting some interest from clients abroad on two specific materials which we don't have experience with here in the U.S.:

1) Cross Laminated Timber (CLT)

and/or 

2) CarbonCure concrete

Anyone willing to share lessons learned on these material either here in the forum or offline? Or point me... Read more

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? 

Friends,

Do you know someone early in their career who would love to work with me at BE+?  We are looking for someone with great graphic skills to take on our communications role.  Unfortunately Atelier Ten swooped my latest hire from me before she started. Clearly I'm a bit biased and think it's a great opportunity for someone with a... Read more

Friends, I'm helping with the 2023 COTE Top Ten Award and would love some input from this group on 2 things: 

1) Now that the AIA Design Excellence awards use the Framework for Design Excellence as their entry criteria, what do you see as the next gen for the Top Ten? If you could change 1-3 things, what would they be? If you submitted... Read more

Hi everyone!
I've seen a lot of claims over the years of living walls or planted buffers that can mitigate *outdoor* air pollution and have always assumed there's no real scientific basis for that idea, unless we're talking an actual forest that's 10s of feet thick. Am I wrong? Are there examples of living walls that actually have been... Read more