Championing the
Changemakers

Hi folks,

For those in the SD Leaders network, here's a reminder about the webinar this Friday at 2:00 eastern time. I hope you can join us!

For other Green Gurus, you're welcome to join in, get a preview of the report, and learn about what happened at the SDL Summit at Gulf State Park, in Alabama (fortunately, NOT near where the... Read more

Hello, All,

Does anyone have experience with cove.tool (https://covetool.com/)?  Perhaps for those projects that may not get fully modeled, or as a tool to help set baselines?  It came across our radar recently, and I'm wondering if the subscription might be worth a try.

Thanks! 

Maria

Hi everyone,

Just a reminder to please fill out the SCL 2024 Events Attendance Poll by the end of next Monday, December 18th. Thank you so much to those who have filled it out already! :) 

-Amanda

Sasaki seeks a Sustainability Coordinator for Planning & Urban Design Sustainability Coordinator with experience in planning or urban design for our Boston office, to work on a variety of college and university campuses, urban mixed-use districts, corporate campuses and resilience planning. You'll work me and with Alison Nash, our... Read more

Team,

https://www.buildingservicesengineersdeclare.com/

See link above, a group of UK building services (MEP) engineers (like us) signed on above, committed to do life cycle carbon (including embodied MEP) in their work.

Are we behind?  Should we match them?  leap frog ahead of them?

Best,

Luke Leung

Our firm has had some clients that object to the term "Master Plan." We have removed "Master Planning" from our letterhead, where we list our capabilities and have replaced it with "Planning." Although we still find ourselves using it, old habits die hard, especially when we receive an RFP from a client asking for "Master Planning." Once we get... Read more

Hi All, this is primarily directed at our Sustainable MEP folks, but please anyone with insight feel free to weigh in.

I am increasingly seeing designs and specifications asking for Passive House levels of airtightness as verified by blower door testing, but with traditional ventilation system designs. 

To me, Passive House US has... Read more

Hello Green Gurus,

Here is the information for February's Peer Networks Webinar, A Tale of Two Working Groups: Decarbonizing Existing Buildings & Defining and Measuring Resilient Outcomes. We hope you will join us!

Register HERE

A Tale of Two Working Groups: Decarbonizing Existing Buildings & Defining and Measuring... Read more

Has anyone developed a disclaimer to be issued with LCA models and reports? I have been asked to look into developing a disclaimer to be used with LCAs, and unfortuantely I have not been able to find past precedence on this. 

Thank you,

Stephanie Fargas

I am wondering how architectural firms plan to close the gap to zero in the next few years. 

Owner's dictate outcomes and the typical owner is not committed to zero - even when sustainability is a focus of the project. 

We can present solar-ready designs, all electric buildings, geothermal, etc. but there is still quite a gap to... Read more

Since attending the SDL Summer Summit this year, I've continued soul-searching for more actionable firm-wide, walk-the-talk Climate Initiatives to push forward and sheepishly realized that our office operational emission accounting (and potential offsets) has literally fell off the radar. Since 2008.
:(

So my query:
1. Are... Read more

Engineered wood efficiently utilizes fast-growing, small-diameter trees.

When sourced from responsibly managed forests, engineered wood can store carbon that would otherwise enter the atmosphere, and can replace high-embodied-carbon concrete and steel in some structural applications.

Engineered wood products can also provide a... Read more

Hi all-

We are dabbling in developing an official research component of our firm. We have collaborated with a class at a local university and are looking for ways to take our research to a higher level. I'm curious how some of the other firms doing design or building technology research approach the process. For instance, do you have a... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Certified Wood: How SFI Compares to FSC.

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


1. Describe how forestry standards engage with pesticide use, protection of old growth forests and forest biota, and prevention of deforestation.
2. Discuss... Read more

All,

I think there may be more than a few people interested in an article I co-authored titled Comparative whole building life cycle assessment of renovation and new construction. It is now available in the journal Building and Environment. Fortunately we have a link that gets you past the paywall that is good for 50 days. If you have... Read more