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Legislation for Training Federal Facilities Personnel
Call for Institute Board Nominations
Earthquakes Happen: Be Prepared
Save the Date: High-Performance Building Week Will Be Here Soon
Meet the Coordinating Council
Director Wanted for NIST Disaster and Failure Studies Program
Advanced Materials Council to Meet in July
Learn How to Reduce Energy Usage in Older Homes
at May 4 Webinar
The BEST
Conference Yet
Upcoming DOE RFP Will Focus on Residential Energy Usage
Papers Wanted for Canadian BEC Conference
Teaching BIM in Schools: Papers and Case Studies Due May
WBDG Course Selection Gets Bigger: Four New Courses Added
Foresight is Power: The Role of the Architect in 2025
The Hot Topics at the “School” for School Board Members
Developers of SPie Database to Receive Award of Excellence
May 1-30
Building Safety Month
May 10-12
Energy Efficiency Global Forum and Exposition
Washington, DC
May 12-14
CSI - CONSTRUCT2010
Philadelphia, PA
May 12-15
NASCC: The Steel Conference and the 2010 Structures Congress
Orlando, FL
May 14-23
ICC Final Action Hearings
Dallas, TX
May 19
Green BIM: How Environmental Performance Modeling is Improving Sustainability
Boston, MA
May 19
Consultative Council Meeting
Washington, DC
May 19
Coordinating Council Meeting
Washington, DC
May 20
Board of Directors Meeting
Washington, DC
May 31
Abstracts Due: 2011 Canadian Conference on Building Science and Technology
Winnipeg, Manitoba
June 2-6
Environmental Design Research Association
Washington, DC
June 10-12
AIA Convention 2010
Miami, FL
June 13-19
High-Performance Building Week
Washington, DC
June 27-29
BOMA 2010 Conference
Los Angeles, CA
July 14-15
Advanced Materials Council
Washington, DC
August 23-25
4th Annual HAZUS Conference
Indianapolis, IN
September 15
Consultative Council Meeting
Washington, DC
September 15
Coordinating Council Meeting
Washington, DC
September 16
Board of Directors Meeting
Washington, DC
September 23
World Standards Day
Washington, DC
October 10-11
EO6 Performance of Buildings: Symposium on Condensation in
Exterior Building Wall Systems
San Antonio, TX
October 18-20
Design-Build Conference & Expo
Las Vegas, NV
October 26
Workshop: Why Green Buildings Cannot be Built Without Air Barrier Systems
Washington, DC
October 25 - November 1
ICC
Annual Conference/Final Action Hearings
Charlotte, NC
December 5-9
Buildings XI
Clearwater, FL
December 6-9
National Institute of Building Sciences Annual Meeting/Ecobuild America
Washington, DC
December 8
Consultative Council Meeting
Washington, DC
December 8
Coordinating Council Meeting
Washington, DC
December 8
Annual Awards Reception/Dinner
Washington, DC
December 9
Board of Directors Meeting
Washington, DC
CPTED 101: Crime Prevention through Environmental Design – The Fundamentals for Schools
Journal of Building Information Modeling (JBIM)
Journal of Building Enclosure Design (JBED)
ASTM Invites Submissions for Sealant and Adhesive Symposium
ASTM International invites papers for its Fourth Symposium on Durability of
Building and Construction Sealants and Adhesives, to be held June 16-19, 2011,
in Anaheim, Calif. Interested presenters must submit an abstract by Aug. 15.
Read the release.
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APRIL 2010 |
Legislation for Training Federal Facilities Personnel Has Wide Industry Support
New legislation addressing training for federal facilities personnel has wide approval from the construction industry. The Federal Buildings Personnel Training Act of 2010 (otherwise known as House Bill 5112 and Senate Bill 3250) was introduced in Congress last week by Representatives Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) and Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), and Senators Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). The National Institute of Building Sciences, along with other leading organizations in the building community, worked with the
Act’s authors to identify the need for training and to develop the bill’s content. The bill will ensure those personnel who maintain federal buildings have the necessary skills they need to meet the government’s energy efficiency and high-performance goals.
Find out what the bill covers.
Call for Institute Board Nominations
The National Institute of Building Sciences Board Nominations Committee is soliciting candidates to be considered for election to positions on the Institute’s Board of Directors. The three-year terms begin in December 2010. People may nominate one or more candidates, but a separate nomination form must be completed for each. In preparing the election ballot, the Board Nominations Committee will give equal consideration to single and multiple nominations. Membership in the Institute is not a requirement for nomination or election. Nominations must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Friday, July 23.
Download the nomination form.
Earthquakes Happen: Be
Prepared
With all of the earthquakes that have occurred recently around the world—in Haiti, Chile, northern Mexico, southern California and China—now is a good time to consider the potential earthquake risk at home, at work and on travel. Find out which states and U.S. territories are most likely to experience an earthquake, how to prepare for an earthquake, what to do during an earthquake, and steps to take immediately after an earthquake.
What to do to be ready.
Save the Date: High-Performance Building Week Will Be Here Soon
Mark those calendars! The second annual celebration of High-Performance Building Week will be June 13-19. High-Performance Building Week is the perfect opportunity to highlight the importance of high-performance buildings to federal, state and local policymakers and the general public. Now is the time to begin planning activities.
High-Performance Building Week is one of a number of activities sponsored by the High-Performance Building Congressional Caucus Coalition (HPBCCC). A member of the Coalition’s steering committee, the National Institute of Building Sciences is chairing this year’s celebration.
See the schedule of events and get publicity materials.
Meet the Coordinating Council
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| Cagley |
Holmes |
The National Institute of Building Sciences membership is at the heart of this organization’s success. Involved in the Institute’s numerous councils, committees and projects, our members participate in the detailed processes of task forces and working groups. Beginning this month, the newsletter will focus on members of the Coordinating Council. The Coordinating Council works to harmonize efforts among the various Institute programs to enhance synergies across programs. In this issue, we focus on the Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC) representatives on the Coordinating Council. William T. Holmes serves as BSSC chair. James R. Cagley serves as BSSC vice chair. Read more about
Holmes and
Cagley.
Director Wanted for NIST Disaster and Failure Studies Program
The Building and Fire Research Laboratory (BFRL) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is looking to hire a director to establish a national Disaster and Failure Studies Program. The announcement for this full-time, permanent position for a supervisory research engineer closes May 7. For more information, visit
www.usajobs.gov and search for the vacancy announcement NISTBFRL-2010-0012.
Advanced Materials Council to Meet in July
The next meeting of the Advanced Materials Council (AMC) will be July 14-15 in Washington, D.C. The agenda includes a demonstration of the Advanced and High-Performance Database and website, a review of other materials’ websites and databases, the unveiling of the inaugural edition of the
Journal of Advanced and High-Performance Materials (JMAT), and planning for the AMC Symposium to be held in conjunction with Ecobuild 2010 and the Institute’s Annual Meeting. Due to space limitations, attendance at the July meeting is limited to current members of the AMC.
Learn How to Reduce Energy Usage in Older Homes
Sign Up for May 4 Webinar on Residential Energy Retrofitting
 Many of the 60 million housing units in the United States built before 1960 will soon need major systems replaced. A new web seminar from the National Institute of Building Sciences Building Enclosure Council and the American Institute of Architects offers timely techniques for residential energy retrofit work, particularly applicable for older building stock. The "Deep Energy Retrofits for Existing Homes - Concord House Case Study" webinar will be held next Tuesday, May 4, from 2:00 to 3:30 pm ET.
Learn more.
Register now.
The BEST Conference Yet
The BEST2 Conference, held April 12 -14 in Portland, Oregon, was a great success. But, there’s no need to take our word for it. The May issue of Building Sciences will include a conference recap, with attendance counts, sponsor information, photo coverage, links to the session presentations and fun factoids about beer tasting. A few quick tidbits to keep people salivating: standing room only crowds and a 200% increase in attendance! No idea what BEST2 is?
Check out the website.
Upcoming DOE RFP Will Focus on Residential Energy Usage
On behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building America residential research program, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) in early May for research teams to support Building America activities. Building America forms research partnerships throughout all facets of the U.S. residential building industry to develop cost-effective solutions that improve the quality and energy efficiency of new and existing homes.
The purpose of next month’s solicitation is to select research teams to develop reliable building energy systems that dramatically reduce the average energy use of housing by 40%-100. NREL intends to award 10-15 firm, fixed-price Task Ordering Agreements (TOAs) under this solicitation.
Visit the
Building America website and
NREL's Business Opportunities website in early May to see the announcement of the RFP, along with detailed information about project scope, evaluation criteria, and proposal due date.
Papers Wanted for Canadian BEC Conference
Have an idea for a great building enclosure technology paper? The Manitoba Building Envelope Council (BEC) issued a call for abstracts for the 13th Canadian Conference on Building Science and Technology. The conference, to be held May 10-13, 2011, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, will emphasize new innovations and ideas under development in the building science industry. The Manitoba BEC is the host chapter for the event. Abstract submissions are due this May 31.
Get more information.
Teaching BIM in Schools: Papers and Case Studies Due May
The buildingSMART alliance and BIMForum are calling for building information modeling (BIM) papers and case studies. The two organizations will hold a BIM-related Academic Workshop December 7-9, during the National Institute of Building Sciences Annual Meeting, held in conjunction with Ecobuild America in Washington, D.C.
The main objective of the Academic Workshop is to address the need to incorporate BIM and related information technology applications into higher education curriculum. Papers are due May 21.
Learn more.
WBDG Course Selection Gets Bigger: Four New Courses Added
 The Continuing Education section of the WBDG Whole Building Design Guide® website is expanding. Four new courses have been added, raising the counts up to a total of 13 free, online courses now available on the site.
WBDG 10 Seismic Design Basics introduces the concepts and principles of seismic design, including strategies for designing earthquake-resistant buildings. WBDG 11 Site Security Design Process and Strategies provides an overview of the principles and the process of effective site security design. WBDG 12 Window and Glazing Design Strategies for Sustainable Design covers the basics for specifying window and glazing systems, particularly energy-efficient windows. WBDG 13 Strategies for Sustainable Historic Preservation addresses the historic preservation process, with focus on balancing sustainability goals and operations and maintenance practices with preservation solutions.
The courses range from 60 to 90 minutes in length. Qualifying students who complete a course and a short quiz can earn from 1 to 1.5 Health, Safety and Welfare (HSW) and/or Sustainable Design (SD) American Institute of Architects continuing education learning units (LUs) for registered architects. Other building design professionals receive a certificate of completion for approval and processing with their professional membership organization upon passing a course.
All of the WBDG Continuing Education program course material is based on WBDG integrated content. Featured courses offer an introduction to whole building design concepts as well as more specific applications for design objectives, building types, operations and maintenance.
View the course listings.
Foresight is Power: The Role of the Architect in 2025
What will the role of the architect be in 2025? The Institute’s Advanced Materials Program Director Richard Paradis will address this topic during his session, Achieving High Performance Buildings Cost-Effectively, at Construct 2010, to be held May 11 in Philadelphia. The architect of the future will face significantly greater challenges than those of today’s architect, such as meeting the goal of net-zero energy buildings, designing for deconstruction
and retrofitting existing buildings to improve energy performance.
Learn more.
The Hot Topics at the “School” for School Board Members
The members of America’s school boards serve on the front lines of school facility issues and the National School Boards Association (NSBA) National Conference is the “school” for school board members. The NSBA is one of the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities’ (NCEF) largest constituencies. This year, at the NSBA Conference in Chicago, attendees were most interested in the NCEF
resource list,
School Closure, Consolidation, and Co-location, and the NCEF publication,
Schools as Centers of Community: A Citizen's Guide For Planning and Design. NCEF has participated in NSBA’s conferences every year for more than a decade and with 7,000 or more attendees each year, it is by far one of the largest conferences NCEF staff attends.
Developers of SPie Database to Receive Award of Excellence
Mark Kalin, FAIA, FCSI, CCS, LEED AP, SCIP, of Kalin Associates, and Bill East, PhD, PE, of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, will be honored in a few weeks for their work on the Specifiers’ Properties information exchange (SPie) database. The two created the specifiers’ property set database for building products, which will be used by building information modeling (BIM) software to improve communication between designers, specifiers and product manufacturers. East and Kalin are key players involved in the SPie development team. East, who also heads the Construction Operations Building information exchange (COBie), is involved in a number of other Institute projects and committees.
The Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) and Specifications Consultants in Independent Practice (SCIP) created the Excellence in Construction Information Award to recognize excellence, originality or creativity in processes, tools or documents used in development or construction of the built environment. East and Kalin
will accept the award in Philadelphia during CONSTRUCT2010 and the CSI Annual
Convention, May 12-14, 2010.
Find out about the event.
Learn about SPie.
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