5 Things You Need to Know about Life Cycle Assessments

February 10, 2016

Ellie Troxell Sustainability Associate, Civil Engineering There has been discussion for a number of decades about the environmental impacts of materials and processes, but only recently has a tool been developed in an intentional way to measure those impacts.  The …

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DC Microgrids

September 08, 2015

By Austin Good | Sustainable Building Associate The Institute for the Built Environment (IBE), in partnership with the Center for Energy and Behavior, the Energy Institute, Positive Energies (PosEn), the Colorado Clean Energy Cluster (CCEC), and Schneider Electric have come …

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Food Waste Decomposition Systems

November 04, 2014

By: Cassandra Kliewer | Sustainable Associate Josie Plaut | Associate Dirtector   Food Waste In 2010, America wasted an estimated 34 million tons of food and only about 3% of that waste was diverted from landfills. Food digesters, which turn food waste into compost …

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The Power of Perception

September 30, 2014

By: Evan Hughes Sustainable Building Associate “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” It’s something we’re taught at an early age that reminds us to keep an open mind and try new things. It may be a trite phrase, but …

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Using Biomimicry in Sustainable Design

September 09, 2014

By: Cassandra Kliewer Sustainable Associate Nature is the best learning tool. After generations and generations of improvement, nature has perfected itself to work best with its environment. Taking a closer look at an organism and the way it operates can …

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Green Globes: To Use or Not To Use?

August 12, 2014

By: April Brown & Helene Gotthelf Project Managers Ever since the General Services Administrationannounced their support of Green Globes in 2013, we’ve been eager to learn more about the rating system and test it out. We began brushing up on the …

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No Difference in Occupant Satisfaction and LEED? Not so fast!

July 16, 2014

By: Josie Plaut Associate Director The Center for the Built Environment (CBE) at UC Berkley recently released a study in May 2014 suggesting that there is no difference in occupant satisfaction for LEED and non-LEED buildings.  Unfortunately, results like these can …

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The Benefits of Building Small

June 30, 2014

By: Evan  Hughes Sustainable Building Associate Americans like big stuff.  We have the biggest companies, the biggest cars, and, it turns out, the biggest houses.  According to a study of 18 countries conducted by Shrink That Footprint, an independent carbon-footprint …

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A Personal Small Step to Sustainability

March 04, 2014

By: Anderson Lewis When someone makes a conscious decision to live more sustainably, it is easy to get discouraged by the mindset of “I’m just one person. What difference can I really make?” But when it comes to being sustainable, …

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An Alternative to LEED: Green Globes

February 25, 2014

By: Allison Smith Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating systems have brought objective standards to the understanding of sustainable and regenerative design projects. But as the leading rating system in the US market, it’s easy to forget that …

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