Championing the
Changemakers

Hi! Quinn Evans is looking for a great candidate for a new position that focuses on design performance analysis. We're looking for someone with 5+ years experience in the AE industry and knowledge of performance tools and software that inform design decisions related to energy, carbon, and daylight. The position can be based in any of our... Read more

Hi - we're working with the University of California Office of the President to put together low-carbon case studies. The two types we are looking for now include 1) a low-carbon TI (not a full building gut/renovation), and 2) any that involve the circular economy (in this case not just building reuse but product reuse) which could include... Read more

This is something I have been tracking since last year. The same or similar bill was introduced in 2022 but failed by one vote. This would mandate carbon reporting for any company with revenue of $1B or more AND which does business in California. Unlike the upcoming SEC reporting requirements, this would apply to both private and public... Read more

Does anyone have any research studies they could share on the effect of construction/renovation noise and activity on employee productivity?  I'm trying to make a case for the measurable negative impacts of having ongoing renovation construction activity in an office environment.  Thanks!

SmithGroup is hosting Metropolis Magazine for a “Think Tank Event on Waterfront Redevelopment and Urban Resilience”.   While the event is in our office, if you're not in DC, it will also be broadcast live on Facebook Live (https://www.facebook.com/events/1299577320146259/) Feel free to share this invitation with others.  Information about the... Read more

Hello Sustainable Construction Leaders!

I have an exciting announcement today, fall Peer Network events are now open for registration! You can see all the event details and register here!

Based on feedback we received from past events and the most recent surveys, we decided against doing one long week of events for this fall and... Read more

Hi all,

Due to the eclipse, Nadav and I will be out on our usual call day, April 9th, and we anticipate others may as well. We will be moving the call to Tuesday April 16th at the usual time (2-3pm ET). For this meeting, we'll be holding a whiteboard session about MEP2040, the development of plans to achieve it, and tactics to getting... Read more

I am new to the SAL and honored to be included. I'm Summer, managing partner at Ecoimpact Consulting. I manage a small staff of sustainability consultants who focus primarily on LEED project administration and documentation services. Day to day, I am working on implementation of the technical requirements of various LEED rating systems (in the... Read more

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

Welcome to the quiz portion of Raze or Retrofit? Six Extraordinary Answers to an Everyday Question.

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


1. Understand how the embodied impacts of renovation compare to those for new construction.
2. Provide three reasons why building... Read more

We have started a folder on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in this forum. When you upload a file to share (which you can ONLY do in the web browser, not directly through email), you get an option to choose a folder. If you have an EDI-related document to share, choose "Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion" as your folder. I'm saving the first... Read more

Hello friends. On a current school project, an abuse resistant wall covering has been proposed as an alternative to our typical MDF wainscot. The proposed product has been used successfully in healthcare, and switching to it will save the project almost $1million, which is no small amount when the project is over budget and 7-figure cost... Read more

Hello Green Gurus!

Thank you to all who joined the cross-networks adventure that was the Sustainability Leaders Week: 2021 Summit-Palooza, all of us at BuildingGreen were so glad to share that time and space with you all.

We have been receiving a few questions about next steps, here are a couple details we wanted to share with you... Read more

I have been asked to recommend folks to join the AIA’s Framework for Design Excellence.  The AIA Framework for Design Excellence is basically the top ten toolkit, that has been rebranded by the AIA and is forming the backbone of much of the policy that the AIA is currently setting.

From the AIA's website:

EDITED LINK

Hello, below is a link to our newly uploaded research report, Embodied Carbon in Commercial Furniture. This new research report introduces a case study and some new baselines for measuring the carbon footprint of commercial furniture, to add to a growing body of work on this topic among our peers:
Embodied Carbon in... Read more

Hi All,

Attached are the meeting notes from the Carbon Group's 2/26/20 -- also in the PDF are the slides presented in the 2/26 meeting.

Before our next meeting in late March/early April, we are looking for input on the following topic related to tracking and reporting carbon: