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Top 10 CEUs of 2021
With distant learning and remote education on the rise in 2021, building professionals across the country are taking advantage of Think Wood’s web-based CEUs. Don’t miss out—there’s still time to complete your end-of-year CEU credits!
Gain fresh insight and master new skills on everything from calculating the wood carbon footprint of a building to designing spaces that promote health and wellness—and much more. Not sure where to start? Take a tour of our top 10 CEUs from 2021:
1
Designing Beneficial Spaces for Living, Working and Well-being
Occupant health and well-being is more important than ever. In the face of a global pandemic, building professionals have improved how we design, use, and occupy buildings. And these improvements are here to stay: touchless entries, better ventilation systems, and facilities that promote hygiene and safety. But these advancements go beyond occupant safety—designers are looking for ways to enhance the user experience and provide flexible, versatile, and more open, adaptive spaces. In this course, you’ll learn how you can boost well-being on your next project and deliver unique design solutions that can better service and delight occupants in a rapidly changing world.
2
The Role of Wood Products in Green Building
Material choice can have a big impact on the sustainability of buildings, both during construction and throughout the building’s lifecycle. Wood is a renewable, durable building material that can be used in almost any building application—and typically requires less energy to produce than other building materials. In this CEU you’ll learn about green building standards and their recognition of wood’s contribution to improved energy and environmental performance. You’ll gain a better understanding of all the related terminology and the tools used to assess green building certifications.
3
MultiFamily Mid-Rise Wood Buildings: A Code-Compliant, Cost-Effective and Sustainable Choice
Demand for affordable and sustainable multifamily housing continues to play an important role in the overall U.S. construction market. In this CEU, you’ll identify the sustainability and economic benefits of using wood construction for mid-rise multifamily or mixed-use buildings. You’ll learn about building code requirements and design best practices through practical examples and in-depth case studies. Upon completing this course, you’ll expand your knowledge of framing solutions that address issues such as shrinkage, fire protection, and seismic requirements while minimizing a building’s carbon footprint.
4
Architecting Change: Design Strategies for a Healthy, Resilient, Climate Smart Future
Over the past decade, the architectural, construction, and engineering (AEC) sector has grappled with big technological and socioeconomic changes along with an unprecedented confluence of challenges to the health of our communities, our cities, and our planet. While these challenges are daunting, industry thought leaders increasingly see an opportunity to be at the forefront of change. In this course you’ll learn from design teams who are embracing new strategies and delivering unique solutions that begin to address some of the most urgent global issues of our times.
5
How to Calculate the Wood Carbon Footprint of a Building
Buildings consume nearly half the energy produced in the United States, use three-quarters of the electricity and account for nearly half of all carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Measuring carbon impacts is a critical tool in the fight against climate change and harmful greenhouse gases (GhG). This course explains the principal methods and tools that are used to assess the carbon footprint of building materials. You’ll gain a better understanding of product terminology, including life cycle assessment (LCA), environmental product declarations (EPDs), carbon footprint, embodied carbon, and whole building LCA (WBLCA) tools.
6
The Impact of Wood Use on North American Forests
Building professionals are looking for ways to increase their use of eco-friendly, low carbon materials, particularly when it comes to a building's primary structure. Increasingly, wood from sustainably managed forests is viewed as a responsible choice. This course will demonstrate how specifying and building with wood can contribute to the sustainability of forests, while reducing embodied energy emissions. You’ll learn more about forest sustainability measures such as biodiversity, soil and water quality, and harvest vs. net growth—and why increasing the use of wood in buildings provides an incentive for landowners to keep forests healthy and helps stave off urban development.
7
Opportunities for Wood in Low-Rise Commercial Buildings
Building professionals are increasingly turning to wood for low-rise commercial buildings. This course provides practical information that can be applied to such projects—covering code-related topics, cost implications of construction type, opportunities for achieving unlimited area, and implications of multi-tenant occupancies. It provides an overview of wood wall and roof systems commonly used in commercial buildings, and highlights key design considerations.
8
Designing Sustainable, Prefabricated Buildings
Factory-built, prefabricated technologies—using both light-frame and mass timber—are offering a nimbler, quicker, and more integrated way to construct today’s buildings. In this course you’ll learn how prefabricated wood components can help solve many design and engineering challenges and deliver material and process efficiency, environmental performance, and life safety benefits. You’ll achieve a better understanding of prefabricated wood buildings and how they can be designed like a kit-of-parts made, delivered, and assembled on site, much like life-sized Lego.
9
Wood and Evolving Codes: The 2018 IBC and Emerging Wood Technologies
Valued for its versatility, low carbon footprint, aesthetic qualities, and cost performance, both light-frame and mass timber construction offer new design options for architects and building owners. And in recent years building codes have evolved allowing for taller wood construction. In this course you’ll learn more about these changes and how the International Building Code (IBC) ensures that wood buildings provide a proven and trusted level of safety. You’ll develop a better understanding of techniques that make it safe for designers to increase heights and areas of building projects beyond IBC base limits.
10
Exceeding Thermal Performance Goals by Choosing Wood
The benefits of choosing wood in commercial and nonresidential projects are many. Both light-frame and mass timber structural systems offer flexibility in design options. They also are economical and relatively easy to construct, providing ease of use on the job site. Yet one important benefit that should not be overlooked is the thermal performance that wood can provide. Thermal performance contributes to a range of important goals for most projects, including energy efficiency, comfort, durability, code compliance, structural integrity, and sustainable outcomes. Designing with wood not only meets performance requirements for commercial and nonresidential buildings—it can also exceed goals.