In 2003, as part of their presentation (“Ventilation Myths and Misconceptions”) at the Affordable Comfort conference, Collin Olson and Paul Francisco debuted a software tool they developed called SEE STACK. (If you want to experiment with the software, you can safely click here to download the virus-free executable file and training manual from The Energy Conservatory).

Given the intense interest in the architectural community on health and wellness inside buildings, and in the related WELL building standard, you’ve probably heard someone tell you recently that we spend 90% of our time indoors. Usually this is followed by some assertion that we need to make our products, materials, and interior spaces healthier. (Is anyone reminding us to get outside a little more often?)

I’ve been hearing this statistic so much that I started to wonder if it was an urban legend. It’s not!

Back in 2009 and 2010, LEED professionals were getting busier and busier, but LEED Online, the official documentation platform, was not keeping pace. For a brief moment, LEED Automation appeared to be the answer, with a variety of companies putting forward software to streamline the process, reducing laborious documentation steps to a few clicks.

Today, the field has narrowed to a few platforms. Here are the ones we're aware of.

Another year of LEED Fellows, and another amazing class of givers and doers!

USGBC is honoring the following group next week at Greenbuild 2016 in L.A. for their volunteer hours, mentoring, organizational leadership, and innovation. Take stock of what these individuals have done and consider what you can do to advance this movement.

Congratulations!

Just about every week, I get a call or an email that turns into a building science puzzle. While the problems are varied, how you solve them doesn’t change. First, you understand how heat and moisture move through building assemblies. Second, you follow the advice of your spouse.

My wife of 27 years is a real master at jigsaw puzzles, and she would laugh to learn that I think of myself as a puzzle master of any sort, since I am useless at them. But she completely agrees that I should use her method of solving jigsaw puzzles in my work on building science problems.

A few years ago, the chances that a new building project would pursue net-zero-energy (NZE) use were pretty slim. But in the last year or so, the concept of NZE has rapidly matured, and more and more projects are using it as a goal. So, what made this possible? And should you be considering NZE for your next project?

As a standard that seeks to promote occupant health, WELL requires project teams to use clean and green products to get with the program.

The International WELL Building Institute organized the system by outcomes rather than inputs, so we have categories…er, sorry—concepts like Air, Comfort, and Mind instead of the LEED categories of Energy, Water, etc. That means that product-related requirements are sprinkled throughout the standard.

Think you know everything there is to know about green, high-performance insulation products and practices? Let’s find out! The answer key—and articles to learn more—are at the bottom of the page.

1) BuildingGreen doesn’t recommend radiant barrier products. Why not?

Flashing tapes are critical to many if not most wall assemblies that are currently being built. Therefore the durability of these pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) tapes is critical to the durability of those assemblies. So it may come as a surprise that no one really knows how long they last.

Could imitating nature help us survive climate change?

You and your boss don’t really collaborate. Neither do you and your employee, or you and your supplier.

You might work collaboratively, but ultimately one of you has power and authority over the other. Real, substantive collaboration—getting people to cooperate without power and authority—takes a lot of work, and so you only want to collaborate on challenges that need it.

Insider, eyes-only info on the AIA Top Ten is enclosed. A retinal scan will initiate, using your computer’s built-in camera. Do not look away.

Brief provided by Agent Malin. Code name: El Presidente.

The American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment (COTE) Top Ten awards for 2016 is open for submissions until January 19, 2016.

The annual class of LEED Fellows continues to impress!

Following is the group being recognized this November at Greenbuild 2015 by USGBC for their volunteer hours, mentoring, organizational leadership, and innovation. I love taking stock of what these leaders in green building have done—it's a reminder of what we can do individually and together as long as we keep working and keep collaborating.

Congratulations!

Projects have been able to try out the new LEED version 4 (LEED v4) since 2013, but USGBC is allowing projects to keep registering for LEED 2009 until October 2016. With LEED 2009 more familiar and less stringent, the majority of project registrations have continued there, even as energy requirements formulated years ago fall further behind the times. Now USGBC is proposing to increase the energy-efficiency requirements for LEED 2009 for any projects registering for that system in its last months of availability.

By Candace Pearson

Peter Yost lives and breathes by the motto “There’s no hygrothermal free lunch” (a phrase borrowed from his friend and mentor Joe Lstiburek). Any student of Peter has that phrase as fundamentally entrenched in their brain as ’I’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’.