By Molly Cox
The Residential Green Building Committee gathered for a meeting on May 9th, 2016. We had a presentation from Declan Keefe who is the Strategic Director at Placetailor, an architecture firm focusing on design and development of energy efficient buildings.
Placetailor is unique in the energy efficiency building space, as they incorporated the Passive House (Passivhaus) standards from Germany into the US market (there are separate standards for Passive House US), which mandate environmentally friendly heating and cooling systems in a building. Placetailor also strives to achieve a net zero source energy rating for their projects, meaning the building’s production will zero out when “embodied energy” is taken into account, as opposed to net zero site energy. This embodied energy is not directly tied to Passive House standards, but Placetailor has made great strides to achieve this through employment of local crews, purchasing of materials nearby, and more. Net zero site energy does not include the full life cycle analysis of the building’s creation, but homeowners can make further strides to achieve net zero source energy by installing solar PV for example.
Keefe shared some case studies of past projects with us, which gave us a chance to ask any and all questions about the details of their work. Their first project in 2008 was the Pratt House, and the previous owner of Placetailor actually lived there. Furthermore, the Rocksberry project has a roof that was installed at an asymmetric angle, to accommodate Solar PV if the homeowner chose to install.
Placetailor is a competitive player in the energy efficiency building market, especially when it comes to cost. Overall, they have found their projects are outperforming what they had modeled initially, and utility bills are lower than predicted for their clients. It was an amazing presentation, and we look forward to staying on top of future Passive House news!
To continue our Committee meeting, we discussed RGBC initiatives for this year. We found advocacy to be a common interest among us all, and we plan to focus on these efforts. We will also have some updates for the Integrated Energy Efficiency Program in Somerville and Boston soon!
We have a building tour coming up on June 4th, visiting two houses. Sign up HERE. Stay tuned for some more events with USGBC!
Global Head of Sustainability, Superior Essex
Sustainability Director, Steven Winter Associates
PE | Associate, LeMessurier
Vice President, AEW’s Architecture & Engineering group
Interior Designer, Jacobs, Boston
Senior Vice President, Market Transformation and Development U.S. Green Building Council
AIA LEED AP BD+C | Senior Associate, Gensler Boston 
LEED Fellow, WELL AP | Founder and Principal, Ecoworks Studio
AIA, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP
LEED AP BD+C | Environmental Sustainability Manager, Armstrong World Industries
Assistant Professor of Exposure Science | Director of the Healthy Buildings program
Managing Director, Harvard University Office for Sustainability
Principal & Director of Certifications and Consulting, Epsten Group, Inc.
Vice President of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility, Jamestown
Director of Sustainability Programs, DASNY | LEED AP BD+C
Associate Principal, BuroHappold Engineering
Senior Vice President, Sustainability at Kilroy Realty Corporation
Co-Founder, Facilitator at The Laurentia Project | LEED AP BD+C, LFA
Vice President of Sustainable Development, Shaw
Founder and President, Board of the Healthy Building Network
Building Technology Director, Kingspan North America
LEED® AP ID+C, BD+C, USGBC Faculty, WELL® AP, WELL Faculty and Fitwel Ambassador
Workplace Strategy Expert and Researcher, EYP
Principal, Integrated Ecostrategy
Senior Vice President, International WELL Building Institute
Principal, Bruner/Cott
Architect, Associate, and Sustainability Design Leader, Stantec Architecture and Engineering
FAIA, LEED Fellow, Long Green Specs
Products & Materials Specialist, BuildingGreen
Director of Acquisitions and Development
Director of Restorative Enterprise, Interface
Sustainability Manager, Consigli Construction Company