Championing the
Changemakers

THIS WEBINAR PURCHASE AND REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.

Why is ESG relevant to building industry professionals? Many of us are accustomed to sustainability programs and reporting. In this one-hour deep dive, we tap leading ESG experts for answers to burning questions many of us in the industry have about the intersection between ESG goals and... Read more

We just heard from one of our more progressive clients that they are pulling Mohawk from their shelves and are no longer allowing it on their projects. Apparently there are some chemical ingredients they objected to, but more importantly the manufacturer "lied" to the client about the content. Does anyone have an idea what this might be about?... Read more

Hi all, 

Thank you again to those of you who attended the Spring 2024 SCL Summit! We had an amazing day of learning from one another, including from our presenters.

The slides for the 5-minute presentations are below, as well as the BuildingGreen slides from the Summit. Please be aware that we have permission from all of the... Read more

Hi All,

USGBC MA is doing a study on the cost of net zero energy buildings in MA.  I’m wondering if you all have any data to share on plug loads in ZNE projects. I’m looking for single family res, 2-4 unit residential, +/- 60 unit residential, 10-12 story office, and k-12.  The engineers have presented initial results and their... Read more

Hi! Over the last 10 years, the firm where I work in Boston has predominately designed housing & senior living projects in the the Boston Metro region, with the occassional project in NH, CT, RI, and NY. We have built projects as far south at DC, but never designed anything to my knowledge in California in our 55 years of operation. A... 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

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

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:

Hi all - 

I have heard a good deal about SBTI in the last while and am wondering about this group’s firms’ engagement with them. We reported one year through CDP, and it was not very useful. It focused entirely on Scope 1 and 2 emissions, which are over 1000x times less than our semi-controllable Scope 3 (buildings’ embodied carbon and... Read more

Evaporative coolers use far less electricity than conventional refrigerant-cycle air conditioners and they operate without the use of refrigerants, both features that make them attractive for green buildings. However, their suitability is limited to drier climates, and most products use significant quantities of water.

BuildingGreen... Read more

We recently received an email from two high school students in Indianapolis with some great questions about construction waste management. If you're interested in helping these budding SCLers with their research, let me know and I'll send you Gabriela's email address:

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... Read more

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

Register now for the next two quarterly SCL calls, brought to you by members of the Steering Committee! These calls are just for SCL members, topical for construction leaders, and hold space for us to learn directly from each other. See you there!

Everything You Wanted to Know About EVs, but Were Afraid to Ask

Monday, March 7th at... Read more

Hi folks,

We're kicking off a new way for us to collaborate as a network: monthly web-based conference calls. The first one will be on Friday, Nov 15 at 1:00 eastern time. The topic will be "Sustainability and the Small Firm: Practices in Transition" -- which is the name of the proposal James has submitted (and gotten first-round... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Choosing Insulation: High-Performance Wall Assemblies – Unit 3.

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


1. Describe key environmental and performance factors for insulation materials.
2. Recount bottom-line insulation material... Read more

I am now embarking on the home page design, but before I get started I need input on what you'd like to have there. The style tiles/tidbits provided by Southface includes a home page mockup that's very similar to LEEDuser, which is fine with me, but I don't want to implement it and then find out you want something radically different.

I... Read more