Championing the
Changemakers

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting is an increasingly common expectation throughout financial sectors, and the real estate industry is no exception. 

This live webinar with our friend Chris Pyke, Ph.D., a senior vice president... Read more

Hi,

Are any of you attending this conference? Michelle and I are doing this low-carbon concrete/EC policy work and can't attend this conference on short notice - but if YOU are attending - we might ask a couple of small favors (collecting specific info from trade show etc)

AND/OR: if any of you have attended in the past - was it... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Whole-Building LCA Tools for LEED v4 and v4.1.

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


1.  Understand the basic goals of whole-building life-cycle assessment, including how it can improve environmental performance and contribute to credit achievement in... Read more

Hi all,

For your planning purposes for next year, here’s info on an in-person event coming up in 2024:

We are excited to announce that we will be hosting an all-peer-networks workshop for SMEPL, SDL, and SCL members at Miller Hull’s office in Seattle on July 15, 2024. We’re still working out the details, but given the recent... Read more

All - 

We have corporate clients that are starting to request antimicrobials in response to Covid-19. I assume we are not the only ones seeing an increase in these requests. Knowing that the evidence supporting antimicrobials has limited to no efficacy, how are you approaching these conversations? We want to continue to advise based on... Read more

I'm wondering if people are seeing any increase in WELL or Fitwel certification interest? Or any other 3rd party systems aimed at health and wellness? WELL seems like a higher bar and now WELL v2 offers more flexibility. Is interest and adoption of 3rd party health and wellness certs growing? 

I see Kjell Anderson, Mary Ann Lazarus and Daniel Overbey as the Green Gurus on this list - if i missed anybody apologies.

Congrats all around folks!

https://www.usgbc.org/articles/gbci-announces-2018-leed-fellows 

In trying to help a client write a case study on avoided carbon by using slag and flyash, I am having trouble finding a one for one equivalency that can be verified.

I have found for one pound of flyash, one pound of carbon is saved - but I can't verify that.

Appreciate the feedback!

Hi folks,

Here's the next Peer Networks private webinar. As usual, it will be recorded and shared in the network if you can't make it in person:

Thursday, July 18, 2pm EDT (11am PDT)

The Center for Active Design (CfAD), operator of the Fitwel Certification System, recently launched Fitwel v2.1, which advances a vision where... Read more

Hi all,

I see that this was a hot topic for the Winter Retreat this past year, but I am wondering how your firms manage standard materials across your practice. two aspects - standard specification items, and also designer choice materials. 

1. Do you have a spec baseline with high performance materials that you start with for all... Read more

Virgin materials can come with major environmental impacts from mining, petroleum extraction, or irresponsible logging practices.

BuildingGreen-Approved Site Furnishings

All approved products contain some post-consumer recycled content, with several boasting 90%–100% overall recycled material. Wood products are responsibly sourced... Read more

Hi Green Commons,

It’s been eerily quiet here since Tuesday night. I’ve been quiet mostly because I just didn’t know what to say. The election results are certainly a blow to pretty much everything we’ve been working for. There is so much we don’t know about things might play out, but I’m feeling a range of emotions ranging from... Read more

Check out this new executive order. It is broad and includes a lot of items, but of interest to this group, there are some things in here that we pointed towards in our letter back from the beginning of the year, including 24/7 carbon-free electrical energy, a net-zero emissions portfolio by 2045 and net zero emissions from procurement... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Pest Prevention: Steps Designers Can Take!

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


Some of you saw my 5-minute presentation about the Rich Earth Institute in Brattleboro, Vermont and how it is inventing new ways to keep excess nutrients from urine out of surface waters and use them instead as fertilizer. Now you can also hear about it on Planet Money: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/01/26/581156723/episode-820-p-is... Read more

Has anyone seen a comparison between IECC 2021 and previous versions of the energy code, including ASHRAE 2010? I'm curious how far ahead code buildings are relative to LEED v4.0, and how much the latest IECC raises the bar relative to the previous. I did a quick search for the LBNL and other studies that look at this, but didn't see anything... Read more