Selecting a Sustainable Architect

BECx_Silicon Valley
An Insider’s Point of View Being an architect myself and having worked as an architectural project manager until 2012, I have an insider’s view into the profession. In the 18 years of practicing architecture, I worked across many different sectors including residential, commercial and higher education, getting a really good feel for how different sectors
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LEED Midrise Certification

LEED Midrise Certification
Last year, I petitioned the USGBC Technical Committee on Homes and received the green signal to pursue LEED certification for a 32 story apartment tower in San Francisco’s Transbay neighborhood. Midrise V 2010 allows certification for residential buildings of 4 to 12+ stories with exceptions made for taller buildings on a case-by-case basis. Residential projects
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Understanding LEED IAQ Testing Requirements

MODERN COMMERCIAL OFFICE
Understanding LEED IAQ Testing Requirements LEED 2009 and LEEDv4 both have credits that require building flush-outs or building air quality testing prior to occupancy. The credit requires that after construction ends, the GC must install new filtration media and flush-out the building by supplying a total air volume of 14,000 cubic feet of outdoor air per square
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Selecting Energy Efficient Windows for your New Home

Energy Efficient Windows - Insulated or Thermally Broken Frame
For folks building a new home, the job of selecting the Energy Efficient windows can be daunting. Based on the nature of the contract, the architect may or may not be involved in the window selection. Their contract may end with assisting the home owner with obtaining the permit. In such cases the homeowners may rely
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Healthy Building Science Joins the Building Health Initiative

Building Health Initiative Logo
We are excited to announce that we are new members of the U.S. Green Building Council – Northern California Chapter’s Building Health Initiative! The Building Health Initiative is a two-year program in which Northern California industry leaders from multiple sectors have pledged to promote health and wellness. Members have made commitments to take simple but
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Watch a Funny Video About Healthy Building Science!

Funny-Video-Graphic-Artist-Drawing-Characters
We decided to lighten the mood at Healthy Building Science by creating a funny building science video about what we do. What started off as a standard informational video soon turned into something very different. We hope you enjoy the results of this building science video. In October 2013, we assembled a team consisting of
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Safer Sofa Foam Exchange Announced for Bay Area

TB117
You may have heard about the problem with flame retardants in polyurethane furniture foams. If you haven’t, and you want a safer sofa, I highly recommend reading the Chicago Tribune’s exposé on the flame retardant industry: Playing With Fire. The California flammability standard, known as TB117, in effect required manufacturers to use toxic flame retardant chemicals
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LEED Envelope Commissioning (Enclosure Commissioning)

What is Envelope Commissioning or Building Enclosure Commissioning (BECx)? Most of us have heard of Commissioning (Cx) as it deals with HVAC equipment and digital controls. But what is “Enclosure Commissioning” or “Envelope Commissioning,” and what about LEED Envelope Commissioning? Its scope is vast and skills and knowledge required are pretty intensive as well. LEED v4
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Understanding Materials Transparency in LEEDv4

The Materials and Human Health Summit provided a good explanation of the approach that LEED v4 is taking with regard to materials transparency in LEEDv4. (See my previous post, Tension at the Materials and Human Health Summit? for more on the event). In place of the controversial LEED Pilot Credit 54 that ignited some of the animosity between
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Is PVC Toxic?

Is PVC Toxic to Humans? We are often asked, “Is PVC Toxic?” Is polyvinyl chloride (PVC or “vinyl”) is toxic to humans when it is used as a building product. Or, is it only problematic during manufacturing and/or disposal? The answer is that PVC is toxic to humans throughout its life cycle. In production, carcinogens and endocrine disruptors
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