Championing the
Changemakers

The Getting to Zero Forum is happening next week in Minneapolis, Minnesota (my home state!). Anyone else from this group planning to attend in person? I'm especially curious as the Forum comes so quickly on the heals of the Living Future Conference.

As a proud Minnesotan, I have a hard time imagining how anyone could ignore an... Read more

Metal roofs can also provide high solar reflectance, minimizing a building’s contribution to the urban heat island effect. 

BuildingGreen-approved

Materials and finishes recognized by Energy Star maintain solar reflectance levels after three years of use of 50% for low-slope and 15% for steep-slope. Some unpainted metals and many... Read more

Happy 2021 Green Gurus,

BuildingGreen has some New Years news to share with you all!

Announcing an addition to the Peer Networks family, we are excited to be launching the Sustainable Community Design Leaders (SCDL) Peer Network!

The SCLD peers are planners, architects, landscape architects, and other professionals at... Read more

I just saw this post from Conor on LinkedIn.

Starting in January 2019, all new Columbia Construction Company projects require LED temp lighting.

Are others doing this too? Frankly, given all the benefits and how quickly the industry is matured, it's hard for me to understand why anyone would use anything other than LEDs on a job.... Read more

I am putting together a presentation for our local AIA conference specifically about shading devices / dynamic glazing / dynamic shading and wonder whether any of you have experience / feedback from projects that used a dynamic system - exterior operable shading or dynamic glazing (like View, Sage).  Any post-construction / post occupancy... Read more

Hello, All!

Looking for some quick insight from the braintrust into how to best approach project goal-setting.

We’ve been taking a critical look at goal-setting practices to better understand what drives the gap between projects that meet ambitious high-performance targets and those that don’t. Recognizing that goal setting is a... Read more

As Building Green’s Finance Manager, Ashleigh is responsible for the development and analysis of financial strategic plans, operational budgets, and the development and analysis of associated performance indicators.  Additionally, in her day-to-day she oversees all areas of finance including: payroll, accounts payable and receivables, project... Read more

Hey all,

Question for those of you who do in-house daylight analysis about modeling translucent glazing.

We use ClimateStudio for our modeling. It has plenty of material options for clear glazing but nothing for translucent glazing, and we are trying to understand the impacts of a translucent interlayer at some skylights. We can... Read more

Is your team working on a LEED v4 or WELL project? 

Finding products for these projects is daunting, and even when you find products you believe will meet the requirements, you have to know exactly... Read more

Ali Flynn and Alejandra Arce Gomez are planning a breakout meeting for the Waste Managment Group for all interested. 

Please fill out the doodle poll below so that we can find a good time:

https://doodle.com/poll/qxd4zxrw9xzrxwc6

Ali and Alejandra have drafted an updated version of the Commitment for Waste (attached) after... Read more

Hello, what acceptable levels of air quality are you using to evaluate natural ventilation strategies for your projects?  In our Living Building we only open windows when PM10, PM2.5, etc. are within LBC and WELL limits.  In a seasonally smoggy urban environment, this limits how often we can utilize natural ventilation even if the outside... Read more

At the start of 2021 there was one signatory to the contractors commitment (thanks Leopardo!).  Today, there are 12 companies participating, representing over $24 Billion in total revenue.

We don’t always give ourselves enough credit or take enough time to savor our accomplishments because there is always more to do.  But, this is a big... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Energy Reporting: It's the Law.

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


1.List the benefits of energy performance benchmarking and disclosure.
2. Address the concerns associated with public disclosure.
3. Restate at least three U.S.... Read more

Hi everyone,

Since I know we have a lot of talented people in this group, I'd like to reach out to those of you based in Los Angeles and see if anyone is interested in talking at an upcoming Living Building Challenge collaborative event.  The topic of the meeting is "Selecting Healthy Materials 101: From the perspectives of... Read more

Hi there Hive Mind! Hope everyone's doing well and staying cool in the heatwave all over.

An engineer on one of my projects reached out about contact switches for operable windows that are empowered to shut down the associated FCU in dormitory bedrooms when the window is open. This functionality allows the FCU to run at something like... Read more

Office furniture’s materials and components can come from unsustainable sources, and use adhesives that emit formaldehyde or other volatile compounds.

BuildingGreen-Approved Furniture

BuildingGreen approves tables, desks, and other office furnishings certified to BIFMA’s multi-attribute level 3 standard, which requires low... Read more

Hi SDL: sorry to send another missive so soon but I wanted all to be aware of a great new effort just announced today coming from Greg Kats and Vivian Loftness among others - The Smart Surfaces Coalition. This effort brings together resources and research around city-scale resilience. "The Coalition is committed to the rapid, cost-effective... Read more