Championing the
Changemakers

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?

Hi everyone,

Registration for the 2025 Super Summit is live! Register here for the SDL Summit and save your seat to join us in Omaha. 

We’re also excited to announce the Pre-Summit Workshop for this year – “From Transactional to Transformative: Building Relationships for Change.” The workshop will be led by David Jay, author of... Read more

Has anyone found an interior synthetic turf flooring with an emissions test? 

Colleagues:

I "lurk" on the list serve of the American Physical Plant Administrators.  I wanted to share a posting from that forum:

Hi All,

Two questions here: wondering if any Universities in the Pacific Northwest have a thermal comfort standard they adhere to for new building design on campus? UBC is currently undertaking... Read more

THIS WEBINAR PURCHASE AND REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.

Why is ESG relevant to building industry professionals? Many of us are accustomed to sustainability programs and reporting. In this one-hour deep dive, we tap leading ESG experts for answers to burning questions many of us in the industry have about the intersection between ESG goals and... Read more

Are there any metrics for % increase for building PH vs conventional?  These questions are always really hard- especially when there are none to compare to in area.

What is the status of the roof insulation market regarding non-halogen containing polyiso boards? I know GAF and Atlas still have them. I thought JM had them as well, but seems to have taken them off the menu. Are there performance issues?

Please help share the latest COTE news, with reports from the AIA Conference, a letter from chair Lori Ferriss, Michelle Amt's review of the 2023 Top Ten winners, and more.

**Be sure to make a note**
The COTE Top Ten Awards cycle has changed. The adjusted timeline is already upon us: The 2024 awards call opens on August 8, and... Read more

I'm still basking in the glow of yet another great Summit. I hope others who were there are feeling the same.

Here are the flip-chart pages from the many round-table conversations. Five-minute presentations to come shortly, followed by the Summit Report.

Feel free to use this thread to share other resources and thoughts.

... Read more

I'm working with the AIA Minneapolis chapter on guidance for small firms related to how and when to energy model. A lot of small firms would like to sign the AIA 2030 Commitment (we had 100 in a room in 2022 in a session led by Nadav and Gwen Fuertes). But we have learned that a) they don't have a good way to energy model small commercial to... Read more

Looking for 2-more flushometer style dual-flush flush valves to put in a public project spec alongside sloan uppercut and cannot seem to  find any.  Does anyone have any that they have used?

Thanks in advance!

This is deep nerdy stuff, so don't say you haven't been warned.  ASHRAE has opened the first public review to its net zero standard (228).  Here's the blurb:

Standard Method for Evaluating Zero Net Energy and Zero Net Carbon Building Performance ASHRAE Standard 228-202x sets requirements for evaluating whether a building or group of... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Mind the Gaps: Making Existing Buildings More Airtight!

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


Identify key performance problems related to leaky building enclosures.

Examine the benefits of making existing buildings more airtight, such as... Read more

Does anyone have a Passive House detailing resource recommendation? Something that is applicable to wood over podium and/or metal framing construction? I have the book below but looking for something more applicable.

Passive House Details: Solutions for High-Performance Design 1st Edition

by Donald B. Corner (Author), Jan C.... Read more