Hi folks,

I’m sure most of you know Gail Brager, or at least know of her. For those who don’t, she helps run UC Berkeley’s Center for the Built Environment and is a long-time champion of all the things that make buildings work for their occupants. Perhaps most notably, she was a co-author of the Adaptive Thermal Comfort option in ASHRAE... Read more

Hello, folks! We recently had contact with Northeastern University about sand. I know it sounds ... dry. But sand shortages are a serious issue globally and are leading to criminal activity everywhere and even "sand mafias" in poorer nations without resources to enforce mining laws.

The ask from Northeastern is that BuildingGreen amplify... Read more

The Winter Summit participants have had this for a few weeks now, and no one has screamed about anything being inaccurate, misleading, or too revealing, so it's time to share the latest Summit report more widely. 

Per our long-standing policy, this report can be shared outside our "safe space"--it's a great way to share the wealth of... Read more

Hi folks,

Here's a neat resource that just showed up. Pages 5-7 list exactly what kinds of activities could be covered by new federal funds, and what part of the legislation relates to each activity...

From USGBC:

With the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act, the Federal government has now approved $176 billion for K-12... Read more

Greetings Sustainable Design Leaders,

As we begin closing out 2021, we wanted to give you a quick update that the next SDL Salary Survey will be coming to you in early January! The BuildingGreen team and SDL Steering Group have been busy this past month polishing up the questions for this anonymous survey.

A reminder of the... Read more

Hello, Sustainability Leaders! 

I’m excited to be sharing a virtual hello to this network more formally (waving, big yellow energy, sparkle emoji - all of the above). If we’ve yet to meet, I’m so looking forward to chatting down the road. I’m Jill Maltby-Abbott, BuildingGreen’s newest team member. I'm working most closely with Brent,... Read more

As the managing editor at BuildingGreen, Elizabeth oversees the day-to-day operations of the editorial department and writes and edits content for publications. As sustainability consultant, she leads components of consulting work related to sustainable strategy, organizational change, socially responsible practices, and stakeholder engagement... Read more

Great career opportunity to make an impact on existing buildings and emissions reductions. City of Seattle will be hiring a full time Building Emissions Reduction Technical Advisor. Closing date to apply is August 6. Please share if you know someone who may be a candidate.

Description from city of Seattle:
Want to influence large... Read more

Hi Green Gurus,

We are convening our first Regional Coordinators quarterly call Thursday, July 21 2-3pm ET (11am-12pm PT). Anyone who might be interested in this role is welcome to join. We’ll give you more specifics, answer any questions, and create our list of representatives for each region. We’ll finish by looking ahead at what to... Read more

Hey SDL,

I'm curious if anybody out there has developed specification language requiring a certain level of airtightness (as assessed via one or a series of blower door tests) for a commercial project when it is not going for a Passive House certification and a blower door test is not required by code--basically, something in the... Read more

The ReUse Map created through the Material Flows Working Group is live and got some great traction at Greenbuild (Thank you Nadav and Barbara!).

To keep the map relevant and updated, we'll be looking at how to fund the maintenance of the map, the best ways to get the word out and looking at writing a white paper. If you want to be part... 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

Does anyone have a spreadsheet or chart that compares the new Fitwel v2.1 with Fitwel v2.0 ?

I can't seem to find such a thing on the Fitwel website.

I am trying to determine which version-route to take on our "Workplace" project.

Or do you have experience in this that you can relay?

Thanks.

I have reached out to the AIA staff members that I work with on the Energy Leadership Group (AIA ELG) to see about getting into the cycle of updating these standard documents.  Another member of the ELG, architect Kjell Anderson of LMN in Seattle, is interested in working with us on this effort, as he has started including Standard 209 language... Read more

Hi there colleagues!

Out of curiosity, do you plan on attending Greenbuild in person in San Diego in September? My staff asked me if we were going and my answer is partially contingent on the extent to which attending would mean getting to see some of our favorite people (read: all of you). Looking forward to taking the temperature of... Read more

Conventional asphalt and concrete contribute to excessive stormwater runoff and pollution.

BuildingGreen-Approved Pavements and Pavers

We look for products that improve on the environmental characteristics of asphalt as well as permeable alternatives to concrete. These include:

A brief non-technical rant about OneClick LCA - from someone who is not actually USING the tool, but lobbying for its access.  Wondering if you all have better intel, or if it is just me.

We are working on a number of projects for which te teams are using OneClick LCA - for some cases it has a better international data set than others. ... Read more