Championing the
Changemakers

Greetings from the CARE Tool Team,

We are thrilled to update you on the successful soft launch of the CARE Tool last week at Greenbuild! The online beta was unveiled at a reception hosted by EHDD, AIA COTE, and Architecture 2030 to 300+ people, where attendees got the chance to learn about and explore the tool in a demo room. We... Read more

Happy Thursday, all!

I will be presenting with my colleague, Emily Hoffman, and our counterpart from Seattle, Duane Jonlin, on how firms can contribute more to aggressive energy and carbon targets, from the perspective of three people that see thousands of projects each year.  We see the best and the worst, and we're convinced that our... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of In-House Daylight Modeling.

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


1. Explain general daylighting theory and design.
2. Simulate towards better daylighting design.
3. Demonstrate how daylight modeling is used in practice.
4.... Read more

Hi SDLers! I hope early fall is finding you well.

There is a current opportunity to make a difference in the campaign to reduce use of toxic flame retardants.

Arlene Blum and the Green Science Policy Institute, whom many of you know, are currently organizing a campaign of support for the CA State Fire Marshal's proposal to allow... Read more

Friends,

As some of you know, I joined Perkins Eastman last year and it has been amazing. After years of being the Sustainable Design Leader at my last firm, this move has meant I can concentrate on project work because we have such an AMAZING team, led by Heather Jaurequi and Tanya Eagle. Unfortunately, that also means I'm not in the... Read more

Hey everyone, 

With the coming In-Use Off-Road Diesel-Fueled Fleets Regulation | California Air Resources Board we have been doing some research on availability of R-99 fuel prior to the January 1 start date. One thing we aren't finding in the research is an estimate of cost impacts. Has anyone started rolling out R-99 on their sites yet... Read more

As promised at the SDL Summer Summet: Hennepin County Energy & Environment's new Project Manager’s Guide to Material Reuse in Commercial Buildings, with specification language, guidance for procurement, and case studies of successful reuse projects around the country. This resource is meant to help owners, architects, and contractors... Read more

Hi Everyone - I'm posting this on behalf of Jeff Frost whom many of you know from his days as an SD Leader with SmithGroup and SERA and in his new role as head of Brightworks Sustainability's materials group.  I am excited to be working with Jeff on this concept of multi-attribute product scoring.  Cheers, Lona

Dear SDL’ers,

We’ve... Read more

Hi Carbon Working Group,

It’s been a while since our last online meeting on 3/31 –- admittedly, a bit too long -- so I wanted to share some updates.  You might have seen Candice Pearson’s 5/13 post about the structure of the Contractor’s Commitment and how it’s evolving into a set of guidelines available not only to our SCL Group but to... Read more

Hi all - I’m wondering if any of you have heard of or use the National Green Building Standard, which appears to be primarily for residential and mixed use: https://www.homeinnovation.com/green.

The NGBS Green certification program is based on the ICC-700 National Green Building Standard and supposedly is the program of choice for many... Read more

Hello Folks,
What is your experience with successes and failures in the design process? As a starting point I have listed my Top 5 for success, and my Top 5 for failure. We'd love to see your reactions and look forward to the discussion when we all meet next week at our monthly check-in.

Top 5 reasons for when integrative design... Read more

Hello Sustainable Advising Leaders,

Happy 2022! Here's your reminder that this network's first monthly call of the year is next Tuesday, January 25 at 3pm ET. Zoom call information is below.

All members of the network are welcome! You can see the agenda here. Here's a quick preview:

We have an MEP engineer that is calculating peak loads at about 6 times passive house levels on a large commercial building that is at or near passive house levels of insulation and air infiltration. We suspect one reason is that he is figuring a 50% efficiency level for the ERV. We are showing him ERV systems with 80-90% efficiency, but they... Read more

Greetings to all of the AEC SD Leaders (a.k.a. the Green Gurus)!

Over the last two months, the 32-member Build-Back-Better (BBB) letter working group has developed a robust list of first 100-days, built-environment-focused executive actions for the Biden administration to consider. Kara Kempski, the AIA’s Director of Federal Relations,... Read more

What thoughts do you have? What have others said that you feel we want to capture?

The Vision Vacuum: What’s driving environmental and social progress in architecture today? What should be driving it, and where should we be going?