Championing the
Changemakers

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!

Hi Everyone, just as governors are regionally deciding how to reopen their economies, it's probably time we started thinking about what getting back to work looks like for us.  And, just as governors are leaning on each other for ideas and coordination, we can benefit from discussing strategies as a group.  To that end, I wanted to get your... Read more

Hi all!

I'm working on my first energy positive / passive house multifamily building and trying to figure out the trash/recycling chute. I am curious what solutions you have employed to make the trash chute air tight? We have excluded the whole chute from the envelope. Do you use airtight doors (and which ones?) at each floor trash/... Read more

Hi folks,

We will be having a call for the Sustainable MEP Leaders group on Monday, April 8 at 3pm Eastern time. Hope you can join us! We'll be talking about our first in-person Summit, as well as diving into discussion about some top-of-mind topics related to being a sustainability point person within an MEP commercial practice. Here’s... Read more

What is the lag time for historical embodied carbon data catching up with real-time information as manufacturers source renewable energy? Is our professional time best spent calculating with out-of-date information or more simply calling for manufacturers' elimination of fossil fuel combustion in their production and transportation of materials... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Deep Material Vetting (That Won't Chew Through Your Design Budget).

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


1. Align product vetting with goals that aim to mitigate occupant exposure and environmental toxicity.
2. Foster partnerships with... Read more

If you haven't seen it yet, today's U.N. report "Making Peace With Nature" tackles climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution jointly within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals. 

The analysis is anchored in current economic, social and ecological reality and framed by economics and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable... Read more

Plug loads—the energy consumed by plugged-in devices—can use a substantial amount of the total energy in both residential and commercial buildings.

BuildingGreen-Approved Controls

BuildingGreen approves products that monitor and reduce electricity use for plugged-in electrical devices.

Plug Loads and Energy Conservation... Read more

Wellness is key to sustainable design. As more and more clients understand the value of healthy built environments, designers need to understand the various wellness rating systems available, and which would meet the project's goals and needs.

WELL and Fitwel have emerged as the two leading wellness rating systems,... Read more

Huge shout out to Patty Lloyd, Luke Leung, Janet Olsen, and Sarah Gudeman for their webinar on the Power of Peer Networks. They share lots of insights into the value of participating in BG Peer Networks and many others. Ten bucks to Illinois Green gets you access to the recording--I loved it. What would you have said that they didn't?

Hello fellow Green Gurus! 

I am very thrilled to share this news. "Global architecture, design and planning firm HLW is pleased to announce BEYOND, a cutting-edge sustainability consultancy working across the built environment to drive higher standards for sustainability, resilience, and building performance."

Please click here to... Read more

Is there a list of which number corresponds with each Best Practice? E.g. "03 Energy Audit & Planning."

Hi all, curious if anyone is involved with development / advocacy for the new MA stretch code? https://www.mass.gov/info-details/stretch-energy-code-development-2022 

My firm recently added a Boston location & I'm slowly getting to know the green building world there - would love to know if anyone is organizing public comments on the... Read more

Thanks to everyone who joined us for the Show and Tell at Greenbuild! Here are slides from the presentations:

Hi all,

I had a position listed for a Sustainable Design Coordinator which we have down for the moment as we've taken on a fall intern instead. In the interim, however, I did have a couple of great candidates that I'd like to help find good matches. One of those candidates is Marissa Lantieri, see her resume and portolio attached.

ASHRAE 209 in all its glory has been uploaded. This will impact our architectural process, for better or worse, so we should embrace it and learn from it. The revised AIA Energy Modeling Design Guide (due out next year) has been timed to correspond roughly to 209 coming out and will include references to it. The first few energy modeling '... Read more