Championing the
Changemakers

A couple Minnesota cities are considering adding electrification to their sustainable building policy (required for new construction receiving City financial assistance). Concerned that the market isn't ready for a full-on mandate, they are considering a more moderate approach of requiring developers/design teams to conduct an electrification... Read more

Hello all, 

Wondering if anyone has experience with lead limits in electrical cable and wiring? 

LEED for Healthcare allows a limit of 300 ppm of lead in electrical wire and cabling - my search for compliant products has been all dead ends. (MRc PBT Source Reduction - lead, cadmium, and copper)

Acceptable regulations for... Read more

My name is Douglas Flandro. I am the sustainable design leader at CambridgeSeven in Cambridge, MA. I started my career in film and theater design. I moved into museum exhibit design with a graduate degree in interior architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2003. I still design museum exhibits for science museums, nature visitor... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Why Schools Are Embracing Net-Zero Energy!

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


Recount why schools are at the forefront of the net-zero energy building trend.

Describe the financial arguments that have led school boards to accept net-zero... Read more

Hi,

I selected a new background photo for the home page (the previous one was the same as on LEEDuser.com). I found the photo here:

https://www.pexels.com/photo/low-angle-shot-of-building-1029618/

I needed to find something low-contrast that wouldn't compete with the text. I initially tried some of the stock photos... Read more

Hey group,

I'm part of the contractor team on a large commercial project pursuing LBC v3.1 Petal Certification, with one of those petals being materials. This requires the team to meet Imperative 10 Red List.

The ownership group has taken the responsibility of red list vetting as a task of their own. The construction team is to... Read more

Hi All,

How are folks funding training for your employees? Would it help to have free training opportunities besides lunch and learns or ones you do yourself?

For those of you outside of Massachusetts you may have employees or friends in MA that this could be relevant to.  I'm hoping my friends in MA have already heard this.

The Path to Zero Carbon is a series of rigorous, deeply researched white papers produced by Kjell Anderson and others at LMN Architects in collaboration with subject matter experts from across the industry--including some of you! Architecture 2030 is exploring capacity and funding needs to host and convene experts to regularly update the series... Read more

Hi there, 

We know some of you have been vetting the Contractor's Commitment within your company and are eager to sign up. Good news--enrollment is now live on the website! Download the form by clicking 'Sign the Commitment' on the right sidebar and return it to me with your logo. Any bets on who will sign up first?

https://www.... Read more

Resilience Resource Database

The Defining and Measuring Resilient Outcomes Working Group has been developing a Resilience Resource Database as a repository for resources related to the topic of resilience in our built environment. 

This database and map are endeavoring to show resources for resilient design across the country to... Read more

Hello there, 

I am working on a project with indoor plants and active green walls. I would like to design lights for growing plants and people at the same time (which seems to be a non-obvious problem). 
 

I was thinking of Philips, GE, Shneider Lighting, etc. Would you recommend someone I could talk to and eventually engage... Read more

Hey, everyone! Many of you on this forum have probably already RSVP'ed but I wanted to put a plug out there for the happy hour event on the evening of November 2nd at our office in San Francisco.

The event is co-hosted by Architecture 2030 and national and local AIA COTE. There will be food, drinks, great people, and a chance to preview... Read more

We are excited to share the REPORT from the 2019 Small Firm SDL Summit held in Las Vegas on June 5th. Take a look and use this forum to post questions and comments that will allow us to engage our new members as we continue the valuable conversations begun at the Summit. As you will read in the introduction, we know that collectively small... Read more

HGA is seeking a Sustainable Materials Specialist to join our team! 

The role involves working with project teams to educate, research, and support decision-making related to sustainable materials and, in connection with sustainability experts across the firm, developing resources and tools to elevate HGA’s materials baseline.

The... Read more

Hey there SDLs!

We're having a debate in our firm about whether we're at a tipping point to hire an in-house energy modeler - someone capable of doing an MEP-caliber energy model inside a design firm. I know some you have in-house energy modelers on staff and I'd love to hear your experiences:

- How did you know your firm was at a... Read more