Built Environment Education©
Created by architecture faculty and practitioners, BEEnow is a voluntary certification program that inspires architecture schools to emphasize the teaching of sustainability, preparing graduates to substantially contribute to low-carbon building design.
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Resources & Articles
Resources
2030 Pallette - Sustainable Design Resources
The 2030 Palette is a free online platform that puts the principles and actions behind low-carbon and resilient built environments at the fingertips of design professionals worldwide.
Since planning and designing the built environment is primarily a visual activity, the 2030 Palette is structured as a visual network of interrelated elements called Swatches. Swatches present highly complex and multi-dimensional information in a readily accessible format organized by category – Region, City/Town, District, Site and Building. Each Swatch contains a written recommendation, rule-of-thumb, images and graphics representing the physical application of the recommendation, as well as more detailed information for its successful application.
EPA CIRA Report - Scientific Resources​
Climate Change in the U.S. - Benefits of Global Action:
The Earth’s changing climate is affecting human health and the environment in many ways. Across the United States (U.S.), temperatures are rising, snow and rainfall patterns are shifting, and extreme climate events are becoming more common. Scientists are confident that many of the observed changes in the climate are caused by the increase in greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere. As GHG emissions from human activities increase, many climate change impacts are expected to increase in both magnitude and frequency over the coming decades, with risks to human health, the economy, and the environment.
Leading Higher Ed Investors Target Net Zero
May 2021
A group of seventeen leaders from higher education endowments, investment consultants, asset managers, and nonprofit partners have joined together as a steering committee to guide a new Net Zero Endowments initiative hosted by the Intentional...
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Architectural education is key to a sustainable future
October 2018
Last week’s IPCC report confirmed the urgency of tackling climate change and architects can help do so – but only if architecture schools integrate the appropriate training into their curriculums, writes student Scott McAulay. The recent IPCC report confirms...
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Articles
Higher Education for Sustainability: A Global Perspective
June 2021
Higher education institutions have an essential role in sustainability. They are key agents in the education of future leaders that will contribute to the successful United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) implementation...
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LEED Lab - Campus Sustainability Resources​
In the heart of Washington, D.C., the Catholic University of America (CUA) is the proving ground for a new approach to multidisciplinary education. Since the university has no designated sustainability office or officer, faculty developed a course which would provide the platform for environmental literacy among all university parties. It was a necessary transformation; a bottom-up-approach where students became the catalysts for change, proliferated by faculty and staff as a new approach to integrative learning, empowered by a desire to employ creative methods of education while promulgating a greater awareness of energy, water conservation and other sustainability measures on campus.
Architecture "hasn't caught up" with sustainability goals says AIA
May 2017
Many architects are still not addressing the environmental impacts of their buildings, claims the American Institute of Architects, in response to Aaron Bestky's recent critique of its COTE Top Ten sustainability awards. Mary Ann Lazarus, the chair of the AIA...
February 2017
In the culture of today’s world, most people enter numerous buildings every day. We spend about 90% of our time inside buildings. We leave our houses and go to school or work. We shop at grocery stores, workout in gyms, and watch movies in...
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The Carbon Neutral Curriculum Materials Project is a joint research effort between members of the Society of Building Science Educators (www.sbse.org), the American Institute of Architects (www.aia.org), and a private donor, the purpose of which is to provide practitioners, faculty and students with the means to meet the 2030 Challenge (www.architecture2030.org), that is, to be able to design and construct buildings to a state of carbon neutrality by the year 2030.
When It Comes to Sustainable Design, Architects Still Don't Get It
February 2016
In the face of global doomsday predictions, sustainability has become one of the most crucial aspects of the 21st century, now playing a huge role in everything from politics to the way you dispose of your trash. Fortunately, most architects understand...
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Papal Encyclical - Ethical Resources
The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change. The Creator does not abandon us; he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us. Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home. Here I want to recognize, encourage and thank all those striving in countless ways to guarantee the protection of the home which we share. Particular appreciation is owed to those who tirelessly seek to resolve the tragic effects of environmental degradation on the lives of the world’s poorest. Young people demand change. They wonder how anyone can claim to be building a better future without thinking of the environmental crisis and the sufferings of the excluded.
Architecture and Building Science Education in North America
July/August 2014
When the design of a building falls short of expectations and performance suffers as a consequence, we often blame the architect. Arguably, however, the architect never saw it coming. Education requirements for colleges of architecture accredited...
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Why architects must lead on sustainable design
March 2013
Sustainability leader Hunter Lovins once called the building industry "dynamically conservative — it works hard to stay in the same place." But old habits cannot fully address new challenges. According to 350.org, fossil fuel corporations currently have in...
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The Carbon Neutral Curriculum Materials Project is a joint research effort between members of the Society of Building Science Educators (www.sbse.org), the American Institute of Architects (www.aia.org), and a private donor, the purpose of which is to provide practitioners, faculty and students with the means to meet the 2030 Challenge (www.architecture2030.org)- that is, to be able to design and construct buildings to a state of carbon neutrality by the year 2030.
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