Championing the
Changemakers

This article just came up in my news feed. I thought you’d all like to read it. I will point out that C&D-specific MRFs have told me that they are really good at single-stream C & D waste, as long as the drywall is pulled out.  Any drywall in a single-stream C & D dumpster ends up in the landfill. Drywall just breaks apart and gets... Read more

Hi Everyone, 

As some of you know, I’ve been working on a new book, People, Planet, Design: A Practical Guide to Realizing Architecture's Potential and I’m happy to announce that it is finally available! 

This book grew out of a decade of thinking about how sustainability fits within architectural practice. It explores the reasons... Read more

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

Sharing the below message from Mike McMeekin, who some of you know, regarding his current initiative, the Engineering Change Lab USA Climate Change Noble Purpose Statement. (Also, here is a Link to today's LinkedIn Updates on this topic.)

Greetings, I am re-sending my email from last week primarily as a reminder regarding the sign-up... Read more

Hey All,

I just received this from AIA MA. How fantastic would it to have a bunch of Green Gurus on the ICC Development Team! Is anyone on here already on it?

From AIA MA:
The International Code Council (ICC) is now accepting applications to serve on the Code Development Committees to develop the 2024 editions of the... 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

Hi SDLers: ESG Investing is mushrooming which is a very good thing. AIA National, for example, just switched over to 100% ESG investments. With it, there seems to be a growing number of "ESG-lite" options. I'm wondering if anyone among this informed group has recommendations on how to determine a quality investment approach. I'd appreciate any... Read more

Dear Green Gurus: I'm so sorry to have missed seeing many of you at AIA last week. I heard the BG and COTE events were the highlights of the week! Congrats.

I'm sure by now you've heard of the dreadful Supreme Court decision about the EPA. I thought I'd share a helpful, if not sobering, perspective in an Op-Ed today in the Washington... Read more

Join your peers and BuildingGreen February 22–26, 2021 for an all you can eat buffet week of networking, problem solving, and connecting with sustainability leaders within your industry and across the Peer Networks! During this week we will create a space for you to offer and receive support, exchange ideas and resources, and become stronger,... Read more

Prefabricated, or modular, buildings can provide environmental advantages over conventionally constructed buildings. They are built in factories where manufacturing and cost can be tightly controlled, so materials are kept out of the elements, there is less waste, and thermal properties and air sealing can be enhanced. There are also fewer... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Innovative Products and Technology from the Greenbuild Expo

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


1. Direct attention to green building products and technologies that show exceptional potential, from a whole-systems perspective, to bring the... Read more

Hey SDL,

I'm curious if anybody out there has developed specification language requiring a certain level of airtightness (as assessed via one or a series of blower door tests) for a commercial project when it is not going for a Passive House certification and a blower door test is not required by code--basically, something in the... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of The Building Envelope: Primers from Environmental Building News.

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


1. Explain how thermal mass helps maintain indoor thermal comfort in buildings.
2. Describe the differences between closed-cell and... Read more

Hi all,

HOK has ~75 WELL APs whose credentials will expire in 6-12 months, so we're starting to look into a more robust CMP program.  Do you have great sources of health + wellbeing education, particularly WELL-specific CEUs, that you would recommend (emphasis on free or very low cost)?  We are currently using GBES, BuildingGreen, and... Read more

Hi folks,

I'm looking into lower-carbon pipe options for HVAC and plumbing. The MEP 2040 has slides from a Buro Happold study in 2020 showing PEX to be much lower in embodied carbon than copper, which is unsurprising. CPVC is also a lower-carbon option.

But PVC has its issues and neither PVC nor PEX are recyclable (especially if... Read more

I have reached out to the AIA staff members that I work with on the Energy Leadership Group (AIA ELG) to see about getting into the cycle of updating these standard documents.  Another member of the ELG, architect Kjell Anderson of LMN in Seattle, is interested in working with us on this effort, as he has started including Standard 209 language... Read more

A brief non-technical rant about OneClick LCA - from someone who is not actually USING the tool, but lobbying for its access.  Wondering if you all have better intel, or if it is just me.

We are working on a number of projects for which te teams are using OneClick LCA - for some cases it has a better international data set than others. ... Read more