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Changemakers
BuildingGreen champions the changemakers in sustainable design and building, with trusted insight, unparalleled education, and communities that are transforming the industry.
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News Brief
The American Institute of Architects convention in Boston this past June was the setting for a changing of the guard in the American architectural establishment. The Institute’s first woman president took the reins, the Committee on the Environment became its largest and fastest growing committee, and the first installments of the Environmental... Read more
Feature
Carefully stake the building site and driveway, remove trees that are within the excavation area or too close, then erect a fence to keep heavy equipment off fragile soils and away from nearby trees.
Protecting trees and the local ecosystem when building on previously unbuilt land is a vitally important—yet often overlooked—part of environmentally responsible construction. Healthy trees and shrubs can reduce a home’s environmental impact and directly benefit homeowners in a number of ways:
•Enhancing comfort by shielding the house... Read more
Op-Ed
Introducing the first issue of our newsletter.
Buildings have a tremendous impact on the environment. In North America, buildings and the building industry account for about 30% of carbon dioxide emissions, 35-40% of ozone depletion, 20-30% of municipal solid waste, vast quantities of natural resource consumption, and dramatic loss of open space each... Read more
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Huge congratulations to everyone involved with a Top Ten winner this year!
In a rare feat--Leddy Maytum Stacy got two!
Also P+W, Lake|Flato with Cooper Cary, WRNS, SOM, Olsen Kundig, KieranTimberlake, DLR--nice work! (And who is Studio27?)
Here's James Wilson's take on what's special about each winning project.
... Read more
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from the Tortured by Randomness Department:
Y'all ... I was recently reminded (by Bill Reed) about a lovely quote ... and I'm keen to use it in a talk upcoming ...
Here it is:
Place is a doorway into caring. Love of place unleashes the personal and political will needed to make profound change. It can also unite people... Read more
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Dear all,
Greetings. I'm presenting virtually to an audience of architecture and engineering faculty in India on the topic 'Introduction to Climate Change and Adaptive Architecture.' What is expected of the presentation is a broad overview of how climate change affects the built environment, challenges faced and some coping mechanisms. I... Read more
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Hello lovely Green Gurus!
Just wanted to take a quick second to let you all know how much I've appreciated this amazing network over the last few years. I have taken a position at Amazon Worldwide Sustainability in their Sustainable Buildings group, and while I will be leveraging all of my skills and experience doing much the same thing... Read more
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Hi folks,
For those in the SD Leaders network, here's a reminder about the webinar this Friday at 2:00 eastern time. I hope you can join us!
For other Green Gurus, you're welcome to join in, get a preview of the report, and learn about what happened at the SDL Summit at Gulf State Park, in Alabama (fortunately, NOT near where the... Read more
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Green gurus!
We're getting some interest from clients abroad on two specific materials which we don't have experience with here in the U.S.:
1) Cross Laminated Timber (CLT)
and/or
2) CarbonCure concrete
Anyone willing to share lessons learned on these material either here in the forum or offline? Or point me... Read more
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Asking for a colleague:
"Have you ever had a large number of fire retardant tarps used to temporarily enclose a building during construction? Do you know of any solutions for recycling/reusing them or another product that doesn't use toxic fire-retardants that meets the performance criteria?"
I think we've all seen poly or fabric... Read more
Quiz
Welcome to the quiz portion of Boost Happiness and Save Energy with Adaptive Thermal Comfort!
Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:
Define “adaptive thermal comfort” and explain how it can contribute to occupant health and satisfaction.
Compare the adaptive comfort model... Read more
Forum topic
Has anyone developed a disclaimer to be issued with LCA models and reports? I have been asked to look into developing a disclaimer to be used with LCAs, and unfortuantely I have not been able to find past precedence on this.
Thank you,
Stephanie Fargas
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Good Afternoon!
has anyone heard of this? the program focuses on healthcare construction but i think it would be good for all construction sites to have a certified individual. And for those of us that report to CDP, this would be a good risk management strategy to include.
https://greenadvantage.org/pcra-certificate-program... Read more
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
Quiz
Welcome to the quiz portion of The Chemicals on Our Carpets and Textiles.
Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:
1. Understand when and where certain treatments may be superfluous or even pose unnecessary risks.
2. Recognize which applications might necessitate certain... Read more
Forum topic
I am diving back into Sefaira for the first time in a while, and the program still seems to be missing the ability to account for automatic daylight dimming in energy savings. Previously I had used an LPD reduction equivalent to emulate the savings automatic dimming would provide. Has anyone done a similar work-around?
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Hi folks!
Do you have examples or case studies of projects with compelling examples of circularity/salvaged material reuse? We’re looking to go beyond the examples we've seen of furniture reuse or creating art from salvaged material, and we’d like to collect some examples to get our client excited about the possibilities in a deep... Read more
