Championing the
Changemakers

Do you have the authority to start using only EVs in your renderings?  Let’s normalize and accelerate this change!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_production_battery_electric_vehicles

Why are we showing gas cars in renderings of our green buildings?

Friends, I reviewed the firm's 2019 AIA 2030 data with a Principal, having organized the data in such a way that we could manipulate it. I included the average EUI and weighted EUI, since the latter gives a truer picture of where we are as a studio. In the past, the assumption was we would raise all boats with efforts to improve our practice in... Read more

We've been doing some work gathering actual energy data on our recent projects. (In January we actually issued a report on 21 public buildings ). 

One of the biggest issues is getting access to the actual data - many clients don't want to share. 

Has anyone crafted proposal or contract language allowing/requiring design team... Read more

Hello, 

We have recently been introduced to the Innovation Design Consurtium and are considering becoming members. Wondering what others have experienced with this recently created group. Any feedback / experience is most appreciated.

Thanks!

Welcome to the quiz portion of The Sound of Sustainability: Acoustics in High-Performance Design!

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


Describe how increased acoustic performance benefits indoor environmental quality (IEQ).

Recount the negative impacts of poor acoustic... Read more

Hi everyone -
Some of you already have heard some or all of this news, but I thought I'd share today's press release with the whole group.
The headline is: 
SERA is VERY excited to announce that David Johnson, formerly the managing partner of Bill McDonough's San Francisco office, is now heading up SERA's bay area office.... Read more

Hi folks, I'm reading Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet (Xmas gift) and came across this quote over the weekend which resonated for me, and thought might for this group as well:

"We may feel immense pressure to save the planet in this lifetime, and we may be afraid that we can never do enough. The stark truth is that the planet doesn'... Read more

Plans are coming together for this Summit! Here's what we know (at least tentatively) so far:

Location:
Chicago, SmithGroup office

Timing: 
July 9-10, 2019

1:00 p.m. start time on 9th, 3:00 p.m. end on 10th

Greetings Heat Pump Water Heater (HPWH) advocates!

We have an opportunity to advocate to the US DOE on behalf of HPWHs!

Geoff Wickes is an emerging technology product manager for NEEA (Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance) currently focused entirely on HPWH technology, policy, and market adoption (and in full disclosure: also a... Read more

We are working on a tenant improvement and want to determine the embodied carbon on bookshelves, product display cases, and desks. Initially finding that Tally is not reading furniture, casework, or fixture families. Are there any tips and tricks you have found to be successful for modeling or defining FFE items in Revit and quantifying... Read more

Hi all,

I'm wondering if you all have had a meetup at NESEA's Building Energy Boston conference before? Is anyone interested in meeting up this year? I'm open to ideas! If you give me your email address I can attempt to organize an informal meet up on one of the conference days.

For those of you not in the NE part of the country,... Read more

Greetings, all:

AIA COTE Advocacy is working with AIA Gov't Affairs to assemble a directory of COTE-friendly AIA Members who are passionate about environmental advocacy and VOTERS in targeted congressional districts. We are organizing in-district meetings after the mid-term elections focused on the members of the Senate Energy &... Read more

Hello,

This is not my area of expertise but our contactor has suggested central heat pump hot water (CHPHW) is $1m more expensive than gas fired domestic hot water for a 150 unit multi-family residential building in Massachusetts. The Building Decarbonization Practice Guide is extremely helpful but, from their comments, it is all coming... Read more