Zonda - Resource Library

Are we able to dive deeper into these numbers to find ways to reduce a building’s carbon footprint in meaningful ways? What are the methods used to measure building material carbon footprint and do they tell the whole story? Are there simple tools to assess material choices? This course seeks to address these and other questions by explaining the principal methods and tools that are used to assess carbon footprint in the context of building materials.

It includes a primer on product terminology, including life cycle assessment (LCA), environmental product declarations (EPDs), carbon footprint, embodied carbon, and whole building LCA (WBLCA) tools. It explains how biogenic carbon is treated in standard LCA methodology and dives into the forest side of the equation, explaining basics of the sustainable forestry cycle. This course also highlights some ways to track and assure wood comes from sustainable forests in North America and why demand for wood products supports investment in forest management.

Making good decisions about improving an existing home's energy efficiency and lowering its energy costs can be challenging for a consumer. Homeowners, builders, contractors, and weatherization agencies have a wide range of energy efficiency upgrades to choose from, each with different benefits and costs.

This course compares the popular upgrades and systems available to help you make the best choice for your projects and is intended to serve as a guide to answer questions about prioritizing energy efficiency investments for existing homes. By closely examining a study commissioned by the Propane Education and Resource Council, the “Analysis of Energy Efficiency Upgrades for Existing Homes,” this course will provide objective information about the most effective measures and/or equipment choices across five climate regions in the United States.

Brick is a resilient and sustainable material used in high-performance buildings, a key aspect of sustainable design. Sustainable design considers the health and well-being of building occupants and the concept of resilience, which is to withstand extreme weather events, then quickly repair and re-occupy.

The learning objectives explore the age old material, which has gained traction in resilient design and discusses how buildings constructed of the material provide occupant comfort in terms of thermal, acoustic, and non-VOC emissions.

Biophilic design has solidified itself as a staple of modern building design, quickly moving from a trend to an established design principle. An increasing number of building owners and tenants are interested in incorporating biophilic design into their commercial spaces, and because biophilic design IS the future of design, architects and designers are stepping up to meet the need. This course will help architects and designers understand the core concepts of biophilic design and why it’s an essential component of the current interior built environment, as well as the future of commercial spaces.

Home spaces, and the way people interact with them, have undergone dramatic changes in the past several years, and few residential living spaces have seen as much change as outdoor elements such as decks. The materials available for deck substructure have also seen recent advances. This course will cover the history of deck materials, including new options, and the considerations and challenges involved in building decks — with a particular focus on all-important substructure materials — that will withstand the tests of time and the elements.

A high-performance building enclosure, such as one clad with EIFS with Drainage, provides protection against the elements, contributes to energy efficiency, and is a means to protect the health and well-being of occupants.

This course will cover the performance and design benefits of modern EIFS with Drainage systems, explaining how they have evolved from the first EIFS barrier system into a single-source solution for exterior wall cladding that provides a number of benefits, including Continuous Insulation, compared to other cladding products. EIFS with Drainage also offers unparalleled design flexibility and adaptability.

It’s a common human reaction; we turn to nature in uncertain times. Nature nurtures, as they say. With the 2020 global pandemic and the limited access to the outdoors it has meant for many, people are looking at their surroundings with new appreciation – and an increased desire for buildings that help them feel good as they spend more time indoors.

While we know that good architecture doesn’t guarantee good health, evidence is growing that a well-designed building can lead to an improved overall sense of well-being for occupants. And, since wood has a natural connection with nature, there is increasing evidence that wood can contribute to the well-being of building occupants when it is left where it can be seen and even smelled. This CEU explores the trend towards architecture designed to improve the well-being of building occupants.

Webinar On Demand: This on-demand CEU is a recorded presentation from a previously live webinar event. Key findings from a recent study conducted by AIA with support from Owens Corning demonstrate that resiliency is a value shared across the design team. However, the interpretation of what resiliency actually means varies greatly based on factors such as design team role, construction type, and experience. This course will consider resiliency from multiple viewpoints, hypothesize on why discrepancies exist when it comes to defining resiliency, and demonstrate actual examples of resilient construction based on recent disaster assessments and actual in situ examples. The content aims to help design team members develop solutions that advance the resilience of commercial buildings.