Championing the
Changemakers

Hello Colleagues,

You all know our industry’s progress over the past decade related to the impact of materials. We have come a long way. Today we have over 110 firms that have signed onto the A&D Materials Pledge, pledging to a holistic approach to materials considering: Human Health, Climate Health, Ecosystem Health, Social Health... 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

Hello SDLs!

Many of you have internal research groups or internal grants to foster thought leadership in your firms.  We have run an annual research-innovation grant program for about the last 5-6 years.  Anyone in our firm is allowed to apply, submit their idea, the time/budget they need, define a deliverable and then a small group... 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

Durability is the first priority for roofing membranes since interior repairs and replacement waste material, time, and money.

BuildingGreen-Approved Roofing Membranes

BuildingGreen approves:

High-performance buildings integrate site-responsive orientation, climate-responsive form, hefty R-values, efficient mechanical systems, healthy... Read more

Hello all, 

Our firm recently signed onto the Material Pledge and while there is no reporting requirements at this time we are wondering how other architectural firms are, or plan to, report projects. 

Thanks for any insight that can be shared!

-Dave

Building Green is the longest continuous running green building publication in the world. Its originator, West River Communications, was founded in 1985 as “a company that would translate technical information on energy efficiency and other environmental topics for the public and building... Read more

Hi - We have some projects within reasonable reach of ILFI's Zero Carbon Certification, which will require purchasing some off-site renewable energy. As a State Building Code Council member, I'm also eyeing the Zero Code which we will seriously consider in the next 12 months; this also requires a purchase of off-site renewable energy. 

I... Read more

Hi Gang, 

We are looking to implement the contractor commitment and are running into COVID-19 protocol barriers when looking at the Jobsite Wellness category specific to the soap as well as the food storage/eating areas on site. Anyone else run into this issue? 

-Kena 

Hi! We're putting together a pre-summit survey to collect input from everyone who's signed up for the Summit; we'll use that to prep the agenda for our get-together July 9-10.

Based on our last few phone calls, here's a list of topics on our radar. If there are others you'd like to see added to the survey, or if you have more thoughts... Read more

Hi All,

I just tried to post a minute ago but it said my connection was lost, so I'm starting over again. You may see two similar posts from me.

Alejandra and I started a document (attached) with ideas on how we can tackle some of the issues we are currently facing with zero waste, as a follow up to our conversation last Friday... Read more

I'm teaching a LEED GA study group and was rambling on the differences between CIR and precident-setting LEED Interpretation (that gets posted in the addenda library and all). Then I went onto LEED Online and was showing how those are submitted... but can't actually figure out how a LEED Interpretation would be submitted. Has anyone done this... Read more

I am dual posting a topic from the SDL forum in the Green Commons. Sorry to those who see this twice but I'm trying to cover more ground.

The first post from Mike Manzi ... 

SDLers,

Great to see many of you at Greenbuild! It was nice to have the opportunity to remind everyone how our collective energy continues to make a... Read more

I'm exploring the use of phase change material for a project. Specifically, looking at the BioPCM/ENRG Blanket product. I see on their website that ZGF used it at University of Washington. I'd love to hear any feedback from folks who have used it, and more specifically how your energy model and MEP engineer accounted for it. Thanks!! https://... Read more

In an effort to share expert knowledge on the topic of whole building LCA, we are continuing our expert guest webinar series, addressing the topic of steel on March 19th at 1PM EDT. Michael Gryniuk PE, with LeMessurier and SE 2050, will be joining us to share his strategies for reducing the embodied carbon of steel. This webinar is particularly... Read more

Hi folks, 

A few of us at SERA recently connected with a couple of women in the tech industry who are looking to solve sustainability issues with new software. They're in the "problem definition" phase and are eager to hear from SDL members about the big issues around operational and embodied carbon that we're tackling. See below and... Read more