Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Thermal Bridging Design Guide

BC Hydro has produced an extensive document for researchers and designers with extensive studies on many common wall, floor and roof details to calculate the actual resistance of an assembly to heat transfer.

https://www.bchydro.com/powersmart/business/programs/new-construction.html
(scroll to the bottom for the thermal bridging information)

As noted on the page, designers may find Part 1 and Appendices A and B the most valuable.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

November news roundup

A couple of news posts in advance of our November meeting, November 19 at KPFF.


 USGBS announces LEED 2009 extension. The new deadline to register projects under LEED 2009 is now October 2016. Projects may register for LEED v4 already, but it sounds like few projects are electing that option.



Seattle City Light (and other Washington businesses and individuals) signs declaration for action on climate change.
http://powerlines.seattle.gov/2014/10/27/seattle-city-light-and-other-washington-companies-call-for-action-on-climate-change/

Monday, November 17, 2014

Developer Plans to Build a Seven-Story, Wooden Office Building in Downtown Minneapolis



Hines is hiring Michael Green Architecture to design a seven-story office building in Minneapolis as part of the Tall Wood Building Prize Competition. If approved it would be the tallest modern all-timber structure in the U.S..  Michael Green just completed the tallest wood structure in Canada, Wood Innovation and Design Centre, in Prince George, B.C..

http://online.wsj.com/articles/towering-ambition-tallest-wood-office-building-deal-of-the-week-1415755448

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

October news roundup

Time again for our monthly news and events roundup, links from around the web.

Conferences and Seminars
ASCE International Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure, Nov 6-8
http://content.asce.org/conferences/icsi2014/index.html
Note the new focus of this conference: "This conference is not about how to be sustainable. If it were, we would tell you not to waste your time. Instead, and more appropriately, this conference is about how to deal with the consequences of non-sustainability, that is, how to plan, design and construct infrastructure for a new and increasingly harsh operating environment."



WoodWorks National Symposium: Toward Taller Wood Buildings in Chicago Nov 6-7.


WEBINAR – Bullitt Center: Meeting the Living Building Challenge by Brian Court of Miller Hull. November 19, 12-1pm

Environmental Declarations
Lefarge Canada goes one step beyond an Environmental Product Declaration and creates a Environmental Building Declaration for their new research facility.
http://www.athenasmi.org/news-item/lafarge-canada-publishes-building-declaration-for-new-research-facility/

Concrete EPDs: The NRMCA recently released two important reports on industry averages:
http://www.nrmca.org/sustainability/EPDProgram/Downloads/NRMCA%20EPD%2010.08.2014.pdf
http://www.nrmca.org/sustainability/EPDProgram/Downloads/NRMCA_Benchmark_Report_-_October_14_2014_web.pdf

Architecture 2030's release on the NRMCA study above, including an overview of embodied carbon, LCAs,
http://www.architecture2030.org/enews/news_101614.html