This article has been prepared for informational purposes only; it is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult your firm’s tax, legal, and accounting advisors before engaging in any transaction.​​

U.S. Department of the Treasury

This is the second article in a five-part series introducing a comprehensive, universal carbon standard for buildings. Part One explains how “net zero” has failed us. Part Two (this one) introduces the six building blocks of a proposed low-carbon standard. And Part Three provides details on each of those six things. 

Part Four explains... Read more

This is the first article in a five-part series introducing a comprehensive, universal carbon standard for buildings. It explains how “net zero” has failed us. Part Two introduces the six building blocks of a proposed low-carbon standard. And Part Three provides details on each of those six things. 

Part Four explains why we need to... Read more

Most of this primer was first published as an explanatory sidebar for our news article SBTi: To Decarbonize, AEC Firms Must “Own” Clients’ Buildings.

The GHG Protocol’s Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard defines three emission “scopes.” The higher the scope number, the less influence the company has over the emissions.

... Read more

What a pleasure it was hosting Sarah Talkington (LEED Steering Committee chair) and Keith Amann (past chair of the LEED Advisory Committee, past member of the LEED Steering Committee) for our recent LEEDuser coffee talk, What’s up with LEED v5?

Even better: Sarah and Keith generously agreed to answer some lingering questions we didn’t... Read more

Sidebar

Understanding the Emission Scopes

But less influence is not the same as no influence.

Read... Read more

It started as a way to strengthen carbon literacy among designers at NBBJ Design. Four years later, ZeroGuide has been released to the public for free with a dual mission: to support early design decisions for projects and to influence future projects.

Several widely respected data sources—including Cambium and PVWatts from the National... Read more

Remember all those times when a sustainability “conversation” felt more like a fight? A fight you were losing?

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is helping project teams replay that old scene with a new character: Uncle Sam, proffering his open wallet.

By incentivizing technologies that slash emissions and processes that include... Read more

“We just started to ask better questions.”

That’s how Megan Feenstra Wall, AIA, credits the Framework for Design Excellence for helping Mathison | Mathison Architects “go farther sooner in a way that’s been great for our clients and our projects.” Because of the framework, she believes, the small Grand Rapids, Michigan, firm where she... Read more

Many building owners are just waking up to the massive carbon footprints of their portfolios. The higher their emissions are, the greater the financial and reputational risks. And owners face increasing pressure to disclose climate-related risks to investors and the public through environmental, social, and governance (ESG)... Read more

This article has been prepared for informational purposes only; it is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult your firm’s tax, legal, and accounting advisors before engaging in any transaction.​

Since the late 1940s, the United... Read more

When we think of the future of all-electric buildings, two technologies tend to rise to the top: heat pumps and batteries. Heat pumps are now ubiquitous for providing heating and cooling, and lithium-ion batteries have become increasingly popular. Alone, the two technologies can work great, but each has limitations. There are... Read more

Common refrigerants used to heat and cool buildings “can drive up to 75% of the embodied carbon emissions related to HVAC systems,” according to MEP 2040, a group of signatories committed to building decarbonization. The group recently issued a call to action to speed progress toward its 2040 net-zero target.

The diversity of the AEC sector hasn’t shown much progress in two years, according to the second Social Equity in the Built Environment Workforce Survey. But the survey, conducted by the nonprofit National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS), had far fewer respondents in 2023 than in 2021, complicating efforts to compare data over time.... Read more

Concrete is one of the construction industry’s largest carbon emitters, responsible for about 5% to 8% of the world’s anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, yet it is also one of the most important building materials. 

There are well-proven ways to reduce concrete’s carbon footprint, such as replacing... Read more

Mindful MATERIALS is partnering with BuildingGreen, a leader in green building knowledge, consulting, and communities, to broaden the building product manufacturing and AEC industries’ understanding of the Common Materials Framework (CMF). The CMF is a common language for sustainability data that will help databases and certification... Read more

Cities are getting dangerously hot. It is fairly obvious that more people will need air conditioning (AC). But there are a couple of reasons adding AC alone won’t keep people safe, says recent research.

There are equity concerns with AC units. They come with ongoing maintenance expenses, can spike... Read more

Human-made “forever chemicals”—known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—have a wide range of negative health impacts and have been found in most consumer and building products. Even with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and states like Maine trying to regulate them, there are more than 10,000 PFAS... Read more

Our homes, offices, and cars are electrifying—but they are only as green as the grid. Fossil fuels still supply 61% of electric power in the U.S. and account for about a quarter of national greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). The success of electrification as a decarbonization strategy in building, transportation, and all other sectors relies... Read more

With the adoption of LEDs, the reduced energy impacts of lighting are now taken for granted, but there are still a lot of old fluorescent and first generation LEDs on the market. And LED lighting is still complicated, especially for outdoor applications. How do you balance efficacy (lighting energy performance, measured in... Read more