Championing the
Changemakers

Hi everyone,

As part of our monthly SDLS call yesterday, we looked through the 2020 SD Leaders Winter Summit Report. To help paint an even fuller picture of what was covered at that summit, here are slides from many of the 5-minute presentations.

As a note: we have permission from these presenters to share their slides within the... Read more

Following up on the Decarbonizing Existing Building: Envelope + MEP Solutions Integrative Design Jam, a cohort of us determined a "Decision Making Tree Toolkit" that begins to classify decisions into and "if/then" framework using region, market, climate, scale of intervention, and other factors would be useful in helping us collectively move... Read more

The COTE Toolkit just launched on AIA.org's site, please go and check it out and share with your networks. The project spanned over the last year+ with over 40 authors, subject matter experts, and reviewers contributing to the process, (including many Green Gurus!)

With the goal of closing the information gap to designing high... Read more

We should probably agree on the correct spelling for what we at BuildingGreen are calling "BITuser." I noticed that on the Salesforce portfolio screenshot provided by Dennis, it's spelled "BIT User."

BITuser has the advantage of more closely resembling LEEDuser, but it has the disadvantage of looking a little weird in all-caps, as in... Read more

Hi all,

I'm curious if anyone has insight as to the "New Federal Building Performance Standards" that were announced in May of 2021 and then referenced again when E.O. 14057 came out. The memorandum for heads of agencies that was sent out with E.O. 14057 said that the CEQ would issue these standards, but I can't find a commitment to when... Read more

Here is a fundamental question regarding measuring operational carbon emissions that I'm sure many of you can clarify for me:  Let's say you are considering design options and you want to know the relative contribution of GWP of adding an additional inch of continuous insulation to the building envelope.  The GWP from embodied carbon will... Read more

Hi all,

Thanks again to those who presented at the AIA Show & Tell! Here are the slides for some of the fascinating presentations we saw. Please do not share the slides outside of the networks unless they are marked “PUBLIC.”

There may be more to come; if you presented but did not yet provide permission for your slides to be... Read more

Is LEED Online mind-numbingly slow today for anyone else? Or is it just me? I may give up and try again tomorrow. Frustrating as I was hoping to submit a final review today. :(

Hi all,

We are looking to study Passive House on a couple small multifamily projects. Our understanding is that WUFI Passive only integrates with SketchUp at this time. Our BIM manager has been trying to find an example of a firm that works in Revit and uses WUFI Passive, to point him in the right direction on workflow. I offered to ask... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of The PVC Debate: A Fresh Look.

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


1. Examine the actual cost-effectiveness of PVC in terms of quality.
2. Explain what makes PVC a health hazard.
3. Recognize market effects of PVC's durability and... Read more

Conventional roofs contribute to heat loss, heat islands, and excessive stormwater runoff.

BuildingGreen-Approved Green Roofs

BuildingGreen approves systems with appropriate planting media that can be created from regional materials and may be blended for specific characteristics, such as:

Anne Hicks Harney, FAIA, has more than 30 years of experience, focusing on high-quality design imbued with a solid technical and sustainable foundation. At Long Green Specs, she provides sustainability-focused construction specifications and building material expertise to architectural firms across the country. She was chair of the AIA... Read more

Under a high carbon scenario, most of North America will be 2 degrees C hotter by 2050. Meantime, we're designing buildings that will still be around in 2050, to codes that don't yet factor in chronic risks associated with climate change. I want to explain these risks to my colleagues; I'm hoping some of our green gurus can help answer the... Read more

General FAQs

Orders, Memberships and Billing

Technical... Read more

Hi everyone,

We're pitching a green wall to a client for a project in NYC and are looking for recommendations on systems/companies.  We've done them locally, but the company we've worked with only services the Boston area.  There are so many companies out there now that we'd rather go with one that's recommended.  Thanks in advance for... Read more

Hello all, 

Wondering if anyone has experience with lead limits in electrical cable and wiring? 

LEED for Healthcare allows a limit of 300 ppm of lead in electrical wire and cabling - my search for compliant products has been all dead ends. (MRc PBT Source Reduction - lead, cadmium, and copper)

Acceptable regulations for... Read more

My name is Douglas Flandro. I am the sustainable design leader at CambridgeSeven in Cambridge, MA. I started my career in film and theater design. I moved into museum exhibit design with a graduate degree in interior architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2003. I still design museum exhibits for science museums, nature visitor... Read more