By Derek Newberry, Advocacy Fellow
If you couldn't make it to yesterday morning's lively and important advocacy breakfast about Green Tax Benefits, here's a brief summary of what you missed, and some of the great resources that were shared.
There was a big turnout of both regulars and newcomers, who came for the donuts—and stayed for the invaluable tips about how to save big on their energy efficiency projects. Jerome Garciano, an attorney at Robinson & Cole and one of Chapter's Advocacy Committee members, spoke about tax credits, deductions, and other financial incentives at the federal and state level. Jerome shared an very worthwhile resource for green builders with his Green Tax Incentive Compendium, an easy-to-access tax guide with federal and state-specific information about tax incentives for renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Below is the one of the slides that prompted the most questions and discussion from the audience. The chart simply illustrates the process and players in an energy investment tax credit. There are a lot of other valuable slides in Jerome's PowerPoint presentation, which you can access here.
IRS Code 179D—Big Tax Breaks, But Surprisingly Unknown
We also heard from Jack Keleher, the Deputy General Counsel at Massachusetts' Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAMM). He explained an incentive program that surprisingly few architects, engineers, and developers in the green building industry are aware of—even though 179D could potentially bring huge tax breaks to their businesses. Check out this article from Forbes.com that clearly explains what IRS Code 179D means for project developers, or email Jack Keleher if you have questions about how you can get DCAMM to sign off on your energy-efficient projects (the IRS requires that your projects are approved by a third party).
Thank you to our engaged audience and our wonderful presenters for sharing their expertise. We're looking forward to hosting more Advocacy breakfasts like this in the near future; please email advocacy@usgbcma.org if there's a green building advocacy issue you'd like to hear about at an upcoming breakfast meeting, or if you would like to be a presenter. See you next time!
Here are some photos of Massachusetts' green building advocates at yesterday's breakfast:
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