Championing the
Changemakers

For a number of years a colleague and I have been teaching a course about sustainability and water in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania's architectural school (PennDesign).  This year we're hoping to bring a few new opinions to the table for at the same time as we broaden the discussion.  Because the class will be virtual again... Read more

Most products sold as “ceramic tile” are fired at lower temperatures and are less durable.

For porcelain tile, BuildingGreen starts with the Green2 standard for sustainable tiling—ANSI A138.1 American National Standard Specifications for Sustainable Ceramic Tiles, Glass Tiles, and Tile Installation Materials. This is a multi-attribute... Read more

Some of you saw my 5-minute presentation about the Rich Earth Institute in Brattleboro, Vermont and how it is inventing new ways to keep excess nutrients from urine out of surface waters and use them instead as fertilizer. Now you can also hear about it on Planet Money: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/01/26/581156723/episode-820-p-is... Read more

Mark your calendars! Wednesday March 9th, 3-4pm ET (12-1pm PT) - Sustainability Leaders State of the Regions.

We’ve seen a lot of momentum building around the potential for regional Sustainability Leaders groups, and we want to learn how best to support this activity. On this call, we’ll have a few currently active regional groups share... Read more

I am wanting to take the pulse of this group on behalf of a manufacturer who has asked us a similar question.

The company in question makes wood products and has had FSC CoC for over a decade. Recently, they are encountering issues with sourcing FSC for about 50% of the wood species they offer. There just aren't FSC sources available.... Read more

Zero Tool has an expired certificate and isn't functioning. https://zerotool.org/zerotool/

I've emailed info@architecture2030.org but nothing yet. Anyone have any suggestions for contacting the administrators?

Thanks,

Tiffany Broyles Yost

GBBN

HI All,

I am curious if others are using THERM in-house for your envelope design?

We usually use our building envelope/curtain wall consultants (Boston - so mostly RWDI and Heintjes) but our teams are finding that they need the information faster than our consultants can provide, they are backlogged, or we have some curtain wall... Read more

Hello Sustainable Community Design Leaders,

The SDL Winter Summit (Jan 23-25, Tempe AZ) has a few spots still open, so we are excited to invite SCDL members to join! This is an opportunity to plug into the conversations happening in the Sustainable Design Leaders group, plus a possible chance to carve out some in-person SCDL time.

Note: This webinar is complete and registration is closed.

Join us for a live sneak preview of our Top 10 Green Building Products for 2021. Our team has selected them from thousands on the market—this year with a focus on carbon and global warming. Products & Materials Specialist Brent Ehrlich will walk you through why we chose... Read more

There are a number of SDL and other peer network folks talking about a potential casual meet up in association with Living Future 24 (next week in ATL).

In the interest of Julie McCoy-ing this thing into being ... 

Who: All y'all ... any Peer Network folks who are in town for LF24 (or local to ATL). 

Why: Connecting is... Read more

Is your team working on a LEED v4 or WELL project? 

Finding products for these projects is daunting, and even when you find products you believe will meet the requirements, you have to know exactly... Read more

I am thrilled to announce that our own supreme Green Guru has been elevated to the College of Fellows!  Congratulations Pauline!

Announcements are being made today so don't be shy folks - please share the good news here.

Hi folks,

The team at Open Architecture Collaborative Canada (website under construction) are developing a remote learning experience to address the lack of meaningful practice of design for social impact in the built environment-related design and planning fields. They’ve together a pretty detailed survey to help guide the development... Read more

This is sort of dragging up an ancient topic, but curious how your firms are currently addressing accreditation (LEED AP, WELL AP, LFA, etc.). There was a time when we were all talking about this, and a number of firms instituted requirements, but it has been a long time, and I'm curious how it's looking now in 2024. Thanks! 

I am forwarding this request from Kate Simonen from the Carbon Leadership Forum to support a grant application for this research. I don't know if the link will work in this format but if you have questions or want to sign you can contact me or Kate and I can send you the mail with the link my email is:  lstrain@siegelstrain.com     Thanks... Read more