The American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE®) is a national association of energy professionals founded and dedicated to ensuring the input of African Americans and other minorities into the discussions and developments of energy policies, regulations, R&D technologies, and environmental issues.

Attend the #1 Conference & Expo In Commissioning, Energy Management, & Building Technology!

• 30+ Technical Sessions Led By Top Industry Experts
• AIA Credits Available Toward CxA, EMP, and TBE Recertification
• Expo Hall, Showcasing Technologies for Commissioning, Energy & Testing
• Pre-Conference Training & Educational Opportunities
• NEW! $99 all-access pass for government officials, code authorities, and institutional building owners!

The Getting to Zero Forum is the premier event dedicated to building decarbonization. With a growing number of climate emergencies across the United States and around the world, there is no more important time than now for the Getting to Zero Forum. The event brings together the world’s leading experts to share best practice approaches to reducing energy demand and decarbonization related to policy, program, and projects. It is the only event with a broad cross-section of stakeholders focused on ambitious building efficiency goals and is an ideal venue for organizing both the policy and building communities to achieve zero carbon ambitions.

Building Innovation 2024 will bring together everyone who impacts the built environment to explore challenges, possibilities, the latest tools, groundbreaking strategies, and more.

Applying emerging design and construction technologies and innovation to address industry disruption, reshaping project delivery, and influencing the future of our cities and infrastructures.

Event Topics include:

• Discovering new offsite solutions and modern methods of construction
• Emerging design and construction tech that reduces cost and boost productivity
• Strategies for designing and delivering sustainable, energy-efficient, high performing buildings
• Impact of AI, automation, and robotics for building design and construction
• Rethink contracts and risk for improved collaboration with your industry experts and policy makers

Digital twins – detailed digital replicas of physical buildings – are recognized for enhancing design, management, and operational processes.

This session will present the fundamentals of digital twin technology, its integration with building information modeling (BIM), and the creation of interactive, real-time building models. It will highlight the technology’s role in optimizing various stages of a building's lifecycle, from planning to operation.

Attendees will learn about the application of digital twins in the building sector through case studies. These examples will demonstrate the technology's impact on occupant health, environmental sustainability, and operational efficiency. The presentation also will address challenges in adopting digital twins, including industry standardization, setup costs, data privacy, skill requirements, and the need for interdisciplinary collaboration.

The AIA24 Expo connects your firm to 500+ brands offering a wealth of knowledge on new products, materials, and trends and offers interactive firm team-building experiences. Connect with the AEC industry in one centralized place through five new expo zones, including 'prosper'—focused on firm growth.

Mass timber structural systems are gaining popularity in U.S. construction of multi-unit residential buildings and office buildings for a number of reasons. Mass timber is well suited for prefabrication and reduced construction schedules, has low embodied carbon, can be exposed aesthetically, and can be built taller than traditional light-framed wood construction.

Because modern uses for mass timber are relatively recent, practitioners are still learning about mass timber system selection, relevant design provisions for mass timber structures, and design decisions’ effects on final design performance. Many guides and tools for mass timber structural design exist; however, these resources offer limited guidance during the early design stage when key decisions are made. Further, the available resources do not typically link multiple design goals to each other to understand how early-stage design decisions affect multiple project goals.

Based on the parametric modeling of mass timber floor structures, this presentation discusses design guidance for early decision-making related to the following performance goals: embodied carbon, fire design, structural depth, floor mass, and acoustic insulation. The discussed guidance and related parametric model data will be included in a free design guide to be released at the end of the year as part of the AIA Upjohn Research Initiative.

Join us for another thought-provoking Women Executives in Building Symposium. This event is focused on women's leadership in the built environment. The symposium is designed to empower and inspire women in the industry to reach new heights in their careers. From interactive discussions to networking opportunities, attendees will gain valuable insights and strategies for success in a male-dominated industry. NIBS, with the help of our partners, are thrilled to offer this transformative experience and opportunity to connect with like-minded professionals. Reach out to Jennifer Hitzke, jhitzke@nibs.org, if you are interested in attending this invitation only event.

If you’re interested in learning about our exclusive sponsorship opportunities, please view the prospectus here.

The built environment consumes 40% of all resources globally, generally following the take-make-waste linear economy.

By contrast, the circular economy in the built environment is a systems-based industrial framework designed to tackle global sustainability challenges, such as climate change, waste, and biodiversity loss. In a circular economy, products and materials are reused, repaired, recycled, or repurposed to create new products, contributing to a more sustainable and resource-efficient economy.

A circular economy is a crucial component of the pathway to net zero. It’s being used by several companies, including Desso, Interface Carpet, IKEA, and Patagonia. It’s also been a long-standing pathway for William McDonough’s Cradle to Cradle concept for architectural design.

Further, the latest U.S. Acts (IRA, CHIPS, and IIJA) include circular economy goals as a way forward to:

• recirculating critical materials
• federal buy clean initiative
• extending product lifecycles
• reducing greenhouse gas emissions
• creating new industries and jobs
• avoiding unnecessary disposal of products and materials to mitigate emissions associated with embodied carbon

In this webinar, attendees will learn about the elements of the circular economy and why it is a resilient and timely system that is good for business, people, and the environment.