Championing the
Changemakers

I am working on a new community development in St. Paul that is striving to achieve net-zero energy. We are able to get there mathematically by using the extra generation on light industrial rooftops to offset medium-density housing energy use (all buildings are anticipated to have different, private owners). However, this puts us over... 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

Hello!

As perhaps one of the newest members, I wanted to take a moment to say hi.

I have recently joined Lois Vitt Sale at Wight & Company and look forward to engaging with the group.

Like many of you, my interests and work tend to span a wide range of topics – a necessity as we approach the complexity of today’s... Read more

The deadline for submitting presentations is coming up. This year ASHRAE is hosting a joint conference with Simbuild. We are just about to send out an extension announcement (It is now Feb 9th) , so there is still time to get an abstract for a presentation. 

Possible ideas for topics: 

Daylight - new metrics and... Read more

Hi All,

We’re planning a conference here in Boston, October 23rd & 24th, focused on Designing for People.  We’re rounding out our speaker lineup and I thought I’d reach out to you all for ideas.  If you had an all-star list of people speaking on Health and Wellness in the Built Environment who would be on that list?  Send me 3 names... Read more

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ASHRAE posted this year's list of honors and right there at the top of the list is our SMEPL colleague, Cindy Cogil - now able to add FASHRAE to her signature block!  Well done, Cindy and congratulations to ASHRAE for recognizing your accomplishments.

Hi Everyone, just as governors are regionally deciding how to reopen their economies, it's probably time we started thinking about what getting back to work looks like for us.  And, just as governors are leaning on each other for ideas and coordination, we can benefit from discussing strategies as a group.  To that end, I wanted to get your... Read more

Hello Green Gurus,

Here’s one more exclusive webinar for you! Coming up next week:

Behind the Scenes: COTE Top Ten 2021
Tuesday, May 4th, 2021
2pm - 3pm ET (11am - 12pm PT)

Register here.

Description:
Eight of this year’s Top Ten winners are from firms in this network. We also have a member on the... Read more

Hi everyone,

Happy new year!

The FIRST First Friday Fika* of 2024 is happening this Friday, January 5th from 11am to 12pm ET, hosted by Candace Pearson.

Here is the registration link for the Fikas, or if you've registered previously, you can use the same link for this week.

We look forward to seeing you Friday!

Welcome to the quiz portion of What’s New in Multi-Attribute Environmental Certifications.

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


1. Describe several styles of multi-attribute certification.
2. List a benefit and a downside to both point-based certification programs and... Read more

Dear SD Leaders,

A friend is looking for a High Performance and Sustainability Leader to join their mid-size architecture company in New York.

If you know anyone that could be interested in this position could you please kindly send them my way?

Thank you

Marzia

Is anyone else working on a project doing Living Building Challenge v4.0 Energy Petal? We're working through the Imperative 08 Net Positive Carbon Resiliency Strategy requirements that ask for the project to be habitable for a week in the event of an emergency. We're curious how others are defining "habitable" and what systems assumptions... Read more

Preservative treatments extend the service life of wood, but many such treatments are highly toxic, especially to aquatic life.

BuildingGreen-Approved Preserved Wood

Products approved by BuildingGreen use chemicals (commonly borates) that are relatively low in toxicity and have low VOC emissions.

Health and Environmental... Read more

Huge shout out to Patty Lloyd, Luke Leung, Janet Olsen, and Sarah Gudeman for their webinar on the Power of Peer Networks. They share lots of insights into the value of participating in BG Peer Networks and many others. Ten bucks to Illinois Green gets you access to the recording--I loved it. What would you have said that they didn't?