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Product Guide
Pipe that delivers domestic water in North America is typically made from copper, chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC), cross-linked polyethylene (PEX), all of which present environmental challenges. Bimodal polyethylene (PE-RT) and polypropylene (PP) are potential alternatives with lower climate and health impacts.
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Reports, Courses, Study Guides, Live Webinars
High-performance buildings integrate site-responsive orientation, climate-responsive form, hefty R-values, efficient mechanical systems, healthy... Read more
Forum topic
Friends,
Do you know someone early in their career who would love to work with me at BE+? We are looking for someone with great graphic skills to take on our communications role. Unfortunately Atelier Ten swooped my latest hire from me before she started. Clearly I'm a bit biased and think it's a great opportunity for someone with a... Read more
Forum topic
In a recent e-mail to BuildingGreen subscribers, Paula Melton pointed out that USGBC has opened the call for suggestions for LEED v5.
Every day, I encounter dripping skepticism from building owners about LEED for New Construction, because of the many many times that the fanciful outcomes of energy, water, and daylight models bear little ... Read more
Forum topic
I hope this post finds you all well. Some news to share. I have recently made a decision to leave Thornton Tomasetti with an eye toward finding another opportunity to use my 30+ years of green building experience, education, and advocacy to have an even larger impact on climate change. I am going to move slowly to ensure my next chapter is the... Read more
Forum topic
"The man with one watch knows what time it is; the man with two is never sure." --Segal's Law
We recently purchased two indoor air quality meters in the $200-$300 range and find that they never agree, not even close. I would like to find out what other people's experiences have been, and if they have tested affordable models that... Read more
Forum topic
Hi everyone!
I've seen a lot of claims over the years of living walls or planted buffers that can mitigate *outdoor* air pollution and have always assumed there's no real scientific basis for that idea, unless we're talking an actual forest that's 10s of feet thick. Am I wrong? Are there examples of living walls that actually have been... Read more
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Seeking a dashboard system that will take energy use data from individual (college student) apartments to display in the lobby. Something where the display is both educational, easy to understand, and that could inspire a little friendly competition. Welcome any recommendations you have installed on projects or have seen that would be cool to... Read more
Forum topic
Friends, I'm helping with the 2023 COTE Top Ten Award and would love some input from this group on 2 things:
1) Now that the AIA Design Excellence awards use the Framework for Design Excellence as their entry criteria, what do you see as the next gen for the Top Ten? If you could change 1-3 things, what would they be? If you submitted... Read more
Peer Network Event
Forum topic
Hi all,
We are taking a deep look at green accreditations within our firm. Gone are the days when we could say: "our staff is XX% LEED APs!" as a metric of firm progress. Here are a few questions we are asking ourselves, and I'm wondering how you approach this in your firms:
How does your firm "recognize" accreditations: are they... Read moreForum topic
Following up on the Decarbonizing Existing Building: Envelope + MEP Solutions Integrative Design Jam, a cohort of us determined a "Decision Making Tree Toolkit" that begins to classify decisions into and "if/then" framework using region, market, climate, scale of intervention, and other factors would be useful in helping us collectively move... Read more
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This just in from Berkeley Earth. The definitive report on 2023 global temperatures. Lots of incredible graphs to peruse but the news is pretty incredible. Actual temperatures far surpassed predictions. "At the start of 2023, we foresaw only a 14% chance that 2023 would become a record warm year, and only a ~1% chance that 2023 would reach 1.5... Read more
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Hi folks,
No details have been sorted out yet, but I wanted everyone to have a heads-up that the SCL Steering Group is proposing that we graduate to a full, stand-alone SCL Summit in 2020. (Until now we’ve been squeezing our Summit into the day before Greenbuild, which is good in some ways, but problematic in others—and limits our time... Read more
Quiz
Welcome to the quiz portion of Know Thy Client: 9 Un-Green Strategies for Delivering Better Buildings
Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:
1. Focus on a client’s values to drive sustainability solutions.
2. Define the quality of the work being delivered to underscore... Read more
Forum topic
I have a client that is very interested in automated shades for a mid-rise multi-family housing project. Do you have any examples of projects that have attempted this? I assume it would involve occupancy sensors and/or an over-rideable default setting dependant on sun position and temperature. I also have an MEP Engineer team that is having a... Read more
Quiz
The construction sector’s take-make-waste approach to materials needs an overhaul. Materials and construction account for an estimated 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions annually. At the other end of the life cycle, demolition in the United States annually generates 90% of some 600 million tons of construction-sector debris. Getting trashed... Read more
Forum topic
This is a bit off the thread of sustainable design leadership, but how much design and/or leadership can you get done without an adequate amount of caffeination?
We are looking for recommendations and advice on improving the sustainability of our breakrooms, particularly on the subject of beverage (mostly coffee, but also a fair amount... Read more