Blog
Welcome to USGBC California’s blog, where we invite everyone to Learn, Share & Lead Green!
We welcome member submissions on thought leadership, case studies, community engagement, resilience, and stories that advance sustainability. *Opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect USGBC California’s views.
As the construction industry transitions toward a more sustainable future, contractors and builders are uniquely positioned to play a pivotal role in reducing embodied carbon and operational impacts. While much attention is given to the roles of architects and engineers in decarbonization at the design stage, contractors bring unmatched expertise in material procurement, logistics, and […]
The introduction of LEED v5, the latest update to the world’s most popular green building certification program, marks a shift in decarbonization priorities. With a legacy spanning over three decades, the US Green Building Council (USGBC) continues to lead the charge in transforming the construction industry through LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). This […]
Project Background Starting in 2019, Salesforce, a cloud-based software company, wanted to better understand the total embodied carbon impacts of their growing real estate portfolio, inclusive of these often-missed emissions. At the direction of their Real Estate and Sustainability teams, Brightworks Sustainability and WAP Sustainability began developing a methodology to determine uncertainty and define a […]
The Challenges of Recycling Commercial Carpet When managing construction projects, lots of attention is paid to what is being constructed…less attention goes to what is being deconstructed or torn out. And yet, for the project to be successful, deconstruction/recycling must be part of any project’s plan from the very beginning. Upon tear-out at a commercial […]
California can fast-track a guideline that reliably reduces heating and cooling energy demand up to 70% below the current Title-24 baseline: Passive House. Together, we can put this climate resilience standard onto builders’ and owners’ radar, simply by adding a voluntary Passive House alternate pathway into California’s Title-24. Without this extension, few will know that Passive […]
California Sparks a Green Revolution: Air Quality Regulations Set to Electrify the Building Industry
In 1990 my family took a road trip from our hometown in rural Washington down the west coast to Disneyland. The road trip was fantastic, stopping along the way to see beautiful redwoods and rugged coastlines – that is until we drove into Los Angeles. There we were, sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the largest […]
The building and construction sector is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, accounting for an astonishing 37% of global emissions. For those of us who work in the industry, this is a sobering and often discouraging fact. Although it is easy to succumb to the feelings of doom and helplessness evoked by the environmental […]
The construction industry has long been a significant contributor to global carbon emissions. While significant strides have been made in reducing operational carbon—the emissions produced during the use phase of a building’s life—embodied carbon, which includes the emissions from manufacturing and transporting construction materials, is now receiving the attention it deserves. To address this, California […]
The climate crisis has become part of our reality as we experience extreme heat, flooding, fires, rising insurance and energy costs. We mourn over the human loss of entire countries reduced to rubble and may not even comprehend the carbon cost to rebuild them. It may feel discouraging to think, as a single person, that […]
If concrete were a country, it would be the third highest in climate emissions globally — that’s how pervasive concrete is as a source of carbon emissions. Large amounts of carbon are emitted in the breaking up of limestone to make cement (a process known as calcination) and the heating up of cement kilns to […]
Over the last decade, Environmental, Social and Governance or “ESG” has become a key area of focus for many firms’ business priorities, with a particular emphasis on the “E.” While the environmental piece of ESG is critical, the “S” is sometimes overlooked. Los Angeles-based CIM Group, a community-focused real estate and infrastructure owner, operator, lender […]
I was born here. Raised by rocky beaches, winter deserts, and towering trees. I’ve swam in fields of golden poppies, danced in streams with golden trout, looked down from the top of our tallest mountain to the depths of our driest desert, and choked on the smoke of fires and the exhaust of trucks. I’ve […]
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