Championing the
Changemakers

The BuildingGreen Guide to Thermal Insulation provides detailed guidance on insulation products and practices, including recommendations on what insulation to use and what to avoid. It's a treasure trove of information for architects and designers, builders, and anyone who is actively considering the impact of insulation on the quality of your... Read more

EDITED LINK

Hello, below is a link to our newly uploaded research report, Embodied Carbon in Commercial Furniture. This new research report introduces a case study and some new baselines for measuring the carbon footprint of commercial furniture, to add to a growing body of work on this topic among our peers:
Embodied Carbon in... Read more

Curious if folks know of any resources on hempcrete, specific to durability.  We have a one-story carbon-neutral operational energy project where the design team and client have bought into the aesthetics and carbon-sequestering potential of hempcrete, and amazingly it is looking to be no more expensive than a more typical concrete wall... Read more

Hi all,

As discussed in our monthly meetings, we are assembling an industry push to expand the availability of embodied carbon data for MEP equipment. Our first steps are to send a letter to industry announcing a call to action and future educational webinars on the topic. In a similar manner as the electrification letter by the SMEP... 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

For those of you working in jurisdictions with both prescriptive and performance-based commercial energy code pathways, roughly what percentage of your projects are using the performance pathway? How do your project teams decide which pathway to follow?

In Minnesota we are seeing very few projects pursuing the performance pathway,... 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

Hi all - Can you help me with a list of states with pending electrification/fossil fuel free ordinances? I am providing some technical aasistance for an article that is going to press soon. The author has listed WA, CO, and MA but I'm unsure how far each of these go and if it's technically correct to call them electrification ordinances.

Welcome to the quiz portion of Existing Buildings Are Architecture’s Future!

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


With an urgent climate justice mission, AIA has the call open for volunteers to help shape our industry's action. COTE, the Codes + Standard Committee (one of the most important committees anywhere!), Board Committees (including the Committee on CLimate Action and Design Excellence - CCADE)  and the Strategic Council have openings. Consider how... Read more

As with most office furniture, systems furniture can be made from unsustainable materials and use adhesives and finishes that emit formaldehyde or other hazardous compounds.

BuildingGreen-Approved Furniture

BuildingGreen approves furnishings that:

Has anyone pursued the schools Mold Prevention IEQc10 successfully and have format for the documentation created they would be comfortable sharing? Our contractor is excited about pursuing this credit but no on our team has pursued it before.

thanks in advance!

I was wondering if any design or contractor friend here can kindly share the carbon emission factor of excavation during construction. 

I found a paper that provides energy use rate per cubic meter and associated carbon emission in kgCO2 for different phase of construction such as excavation earth work, pouring and lifting concrete,... Read more

Hey there, SMEPLs:

Just a reminder that we are on the menu for the next in the Green Gurus Coffee Talk series. 

Please use this link to register

All the SMEPLs are invited to join in the conversation where we talk about things that rumble, squeal, gurgle and spark to our peers in the Design, Construction and Advisory peer... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Getting Flame Retardants Out of Foam Insulation.

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


1. Summarize why and how flame retardants are used in foam insulation.
2. Elucidate the case for taking the chemicals out of foam insulation.
3.... Read more

Hello Sustainability Leaders,

Great to see some of you at Greenbuild last week.  Thanks to all who responded to Nadav’s post-election blues post.  Lots of helpful insights and sentiments that left me very grateful to be part of this community.  On a related note, since the election I’ve been asked by people in our office and in life if... Read more