Thermal Bridging Working Group Update

The Thermal Bridging Working Group is actively trying to spread awareness of thermal bridging, and how structural engineers can address it, to help make more efficient building envelopes and reduce unnecessary energy losses. This has been aided with their recent publication in AISC’s ModernSteel Construction. Learn more about this free resource on our previous post or download the file electronically from MSC.  Detailing to prevent or reduce thermal bridging is much more mainstream outside of...

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Diaster Resilience Part of Sustainability Too

The Ray and Dagmar Dolby Regeneration Medicine Building at University of California, San Francisco. (Bruce Damonte, courtesy Rafael Vinoly Architects) Surviving and thriving after natural events like earthquakes, storms, and tsunamis is a key component of sustainability. Although designers have previously placed more emphasis on material selection and energy performance, there's no disputing...

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Coming Soon: New White Paper on Disaster Resilience

The Disaster Resilience Working Group is hard at work on a white paper that highlights the connections between disaster resilience and sustainability.  The document is still evolving but is starting to take form.  The white paper is expected to be finished by late 2012 and released to the public in mid-2013 after undergoing peer review. The first chapter defines the main concepts and highlights the impacts of disasters and the importance of hazard mitigation.  The second chapter...

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Hajjar & Webster Design for Deconstruction

What if aging buildings could be dismantled and their components reused? Jerry Hajjar, Northeastern University, and Mark Webster, Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, have received a $250,000 research grant from the National Science Foundation to study design for deconstruction. Using structural clamps to attach precast plank to steel girders is one of the concepts to be evaluated. Read more about their work on the news@Northeastern web publication. http://www.northeastern.edu/news/2012/05/design...

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Announcing the SEI Sustainabillity Committee's New Web Presence

The Sustainability Committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Structural Engineering Institute (ASCE-SEI) has re-launched their website with a new, more dynamic and interactive format. The goal of the new website is to provide current information, promote discussion, and build connections between organizations and individuals interested in sustainable structures. The new site will present weekly updates from the committee’s technical working groups. Web 2.0 features will...

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Passive House Institute US

Is it possible to heat a house with a hair dryer? If so, it would probably be a Passive House.  The Passive House concept is currently the highest energy standard that residential homes can pursue. Over the past 10 years, more than 15,000 buildings in Europe have been designed to the Passive House standard. Learn more by following the link. http://www.passivehouse.us/passiveHou...

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Disaster Resilience

A sustainably-built environment is not obtained just by using greener building materials or improving energy efficiency.  It also requires facilities to remain useful through disasters, environmental attack, and changes in the occupants and uses of a structure.  The goals of the Disaster Resilience Working Group are to: Promote awareness of the importance to sustainability of disaster resilience. Provide guidance that structural engineers can use to design disaster resilient structures. Actively coordinate...

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