Championing the
Changemakers

Anyone has experience with WELL pilot for restaurant? I have new client, restaurateur who's running farm to table concept restaurants in DC, VA, MD area, looking to fit out one of our core & shell.. Also, any other recognized programs or certifications specific to restaurants, I would appreciate any information and resources. Their spaces... Read more

In the Passive House session at the Winter Summit, I spoke about a Massachusetts DOER report that found that meeting the new energy code in MA (passive house or better in most cases) is cheaper for some building types than traditional construction. Some of you asked to see the report. It was a power point show. On page 34 of this slide deck... Read more

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

As Editorial Director for BuildingGreen, Tristan Roberts brings a deep commitment to environmental stewardship, a broad knowledge about sustainable design, deep understanding of green building products, and a mastery of all things LEED. A longtime contributor of in-depth feature articles in Environmental Building News and regular reporting on... Read more

We're thrilled to announce that, for the first time, the 2025 Summits for each Peer Network will be hosted within one week and in a single location. You’ll get the deep peer-to-peer time you love from a Summit AND some glorious cross-disciplinary time to experience the power of the Green Commons. It’s all happening at the Kimpton Cottonwood, a... Read more

Sujatha Das of Haskell has put together a survey to help define the role of a Construction Company Sustainability Manager--I thought this is something many here might be willing to help with, and benefit from! 

Sujatha will share the results of the survey with those that participate assuming they provide the optional contact information... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of No More Red Lines: Undoing Our Legacy of Urban Segregation.

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

Hi everyone,

I am writing to let you know about a change we are making here at BuildingGreen. We will be changing the name of this all-Peer Networks forum “Green Gurus” to “Green Commons.” 

We’ve made this decision after learning that using the term “guru” outside of its cultural context is appropriative. In an effort to center... Read more

Has anyone found/used a non-PVC peel-and-stick countertop film?  Working with a client on a corporate renovation, and while we've been able to find a non-PVC product for the kitchen cabinets, I can't seem to find one that works for horizontal surfaces.  And they're looking for a cost-effective and quick-turnaround solution so don't want to... Read more

At Living Future last week a woman from Google asked about cost comparisons and I shared that the City of Santa Monica conducted a study analyzing the costs of a prototypical mixed-use project for a Living Building vs. LEED v4 Platinum vs. code compliant (Title 24, part 6). I thought this group might be interested as well so here is the link... Read more

As we begin to look into Scope 3 emissions reduction strategies, it's important to understand ways to reduce tranportation emissions to project sites. Is anyone aware of best practices or programs for contractor carpooling to jobsites? I know many of my colleagues travel to work together in one vehicle because of parking limitations, however,... Read more

For those at Islandwood for the Summer Summit this week, we have this post-Summit meeting opportunity with James Connelly and Kathleen Smith from ILFI. This is one in a series of "Living Building Leaders" meetings, at which architects who support LBC get to collaborate with ILFI on how scale up LBC adoption.

Here's the agenda for this... Read more

Hey all,

Thanks to everyone who joined today's peer network webinar - it was great to share what our working group has been developing in the last year. This group gathered to work through a series of decision-making trees to publish some kind of relatively repeatable guidance for how to advance this conversation with a variety of owners... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of The PVC Debate: A Fresh Look.

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


1. Examine the actual cost-effectiveness of PVC in terms of quality.
2. Explain what makes PVC a health hazard.
3. Recognize market effects of PVC's durability and... Read more

Hi all,

We know preparations for Greenbuild are well underway for many of you. We also know that there will be many things competing for your time while you're there. Here's one more to consider! We don't have all the details solidified yet, but wanted you to know sooner rather than later for planning purposes.

We hope you’ll... Read more

Hi Small Firm Sustainable Design Leaders!

Our call today at 1pm Eastern will focus on the ways in which your firm is impacted differently than larger firms on the variety of topics and issues that are reflected in the 2020 SD Leaders Winter Summit REPORT. Take a look at this report and especially at slides 14-33. Bring your observations... Read more