The Stanford Building Decarbonization Learning Accelerator (BDLA) hosts workshops for professors who are interested in incorporating the BDLA teaching materials into their existing curriculum or developing a new building decarbonization course.
Upcoming Webinars
Teaching Carbon Neutral Design: Twenty Unique Perspectives
May 22, 2025 11am-12pm PT
There are hundreds of architecture programs across higher education institutions in North America; however, only a small percentage of them place an emphasis on pedagogy related to educating future graduates to combat the climate crisis through carbon neutral design. In an effort to increase the adoption of building decarbonization content into curricula across the continent, Robin Puttock crafted this book to highlight the many existing diverse and innovative methodologies, each detailed in a chapter written by an international award-winning professor in this field. She will speak about the process and the outcomes of this effort to date.
Robin Z. Puttock, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP, is an Assistant Professor at Kennesaw State University and a practicing architect with over twenty years of professional, national award-winning, sustainable design experience. She is the editor and contributing author of Teaching Carbon Neutral Design in North America: Twenty Award-Winning Architectural Design Studio Methodologies (Routledge 2025) and is the project architect of many LEED certified buildings as well as the first US Department of Education Green Ribbon School recognized by President Barack Obama. Robin serves as the 2025 Chair of the National AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Leadership Group.
EcoBlock: an Urban Block-Scale Decarbonization Retrofit
June 26, 2025 11am-12pm PT
Decarbonizing one house at a time does not match the urgent pace needed to rapidly reduce emissions and may bypass priority populations. EcoBlock is a pilot research project that explores decarbonizing buildings at the neighborhood block level with the aim to lift up all neighbors. Funded primarily by the California Energy Commission as part of the Advanced Energy Community program, the Oakland EcoBlock delivers needed home performance, electrification, and shared rooftop solar to 24 residents and a commercial unit in an older diverse neighborhood. This talk will describe the technical details, potential economies of scale, outreach and education, development of a governance vehicle for neighbors to co-own the solar, and lessons learned along the way. EcoBlock highlights using the “neighbor effect” in accelerating adoption of clean energy technologies, especially to historically hard-to-reach people.
Therese Peffer, PhD, is a project manager and researcher at UC Berkeley’s California Institute for Energy and Environment (CIEE) and CITRIS. She manages and conducts research on smart building technologies, building-to-grid interactions, demand response, and decarbonization projects, aiming to create comfortable, energy-efficient spaces. Dr. Peffer serves as Associate Director for CIEE and the CITRIS Climate initiative and co-chairs the annual Behavior, Energy and Climate Change (BECC) conference. She holds a PhD in Architecture with a building science emphasis from UC Berkeley and a Master’s in Architecture from the University of Oregon.
Previous Webinars
Architectural Epidemiology: Exploring Health Impacts of Building Decarbonization Through Experimental Exposure Pathways
The built and natural environment create the physical context within which we live our daily lives. It can be designed to protect society from environmental toxins (such as traffic-related air pollution or high concentrations of airborne viruses like SARS-CoV-2) and to make health-promoting behaviors the obvious choice (such as safely walking to school).
Local Law 97: Implementing New York City’s Groundbreaking Emissions Reduction Law
Join the Stanford BDLA and Impact Hub New York Metropolitan Area to take a close look at building decarbonization in action with New York City’s Local Law 97.
BDLA Monthly Webinar: Transitioning California and the World to 100% Clean, Renewable Energy and Storage for Everything
Global warming, air pollution, and energy insecurity are three of the most significant problems facing the world today. This talk discusses the development of technical and economic roadmaps to solve these problems across 149 countries and all 50 states, including California.
BDLA Monthly Webinar: Boosting Energy Autonomy Through Decarbonization with Hip Hop Caucus
Bank Black & Green works to flow capital away from systems invested in mass incarceration and the fossil fuel industry
BDLA Monthly Webinar: Cooking Up Clarity – Insights on Gas Stoves and their Influence on Indoor Air Quality
The Stanford Building Decarbonization Learning Accelerator (BDLA) will host a 1-hour webinar with experts from RMI and Stanford University.
BDLA Monthly Webinar: Building Decarbonization Goes Mainstream – How a Quarter of the US Adopted Electrification Policies
The Stanford Building Decarbonization Learning Accelerator (BDLA) will host a 1-hour webinar with experts from the Building Decarbonization Coalition.
BDLA Monthly Webinar: Build Beyond Zero
40% of global emissions come from the built environment, yet we now see a path beyond zero to buildings absorbing gigatons of carbon every year. Bruce King gave a talk about building technologies both new and ancient that can provide all of our needs as well as help heal the climate.
BDLA Monthly Webinar: Accelerating Decarbonization with Equity and the Risks of Not
However, decarbonization has the opportunity to exacerbate existing inequalities in health and income or start to address these inequities. This webinar reviewed the risks of continuing as the industry has over the last decade and how equitable solutions can accelerate decarbonization in residential and commercial properties.