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Zero Carbon Buildings — Municipal Summit

June 11, 2021 @ 8:00 am - 10:30 am

Why are we hosting this event?

We want to empower Municipal Leaders and Staff with knowledge on Zero Carbon Buildings, so that they have the context and confidence to make the necessary transition towards our Zero Carbon Future.

Back in March, Gov. Baker signed a landmark climate bill, An Act Creating a Next Generation Roadmap for the Massachusetts Climate Policy, into law. Included in this bill is an opt-in stretch code which represents a big win for municipalities. Elected and appointed officials from 59 municipalities representing 40% of the Commonwealth’s population signed a letter to Governor Baker expressly calling for the development of an opt-in net-zero stretch code to allow communities to address building sector emissions.

Massachusetts is stepping up and empowering local municipalities to achieve their climate goals in an efficient and coordinated way. We need to work together over the next year to ensure the building sector is decarbonized in a way that is consistent with our shared carbon reduction goals.

According to Architecture2030, with data from the UN Environmental Global Status Report 2017, embodied carbon will be responsible for almost half of total new construction emissions between now and 2050, yet MA’s Building Sector Report of the MA 2050 Decarbonization Roadmap Study doesn’t even mention it.

Considering the goal is for Massachusetts to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, you just can’t do this without considering the entire picture including embodied carbon.

Given this critical knowledge, we must prioritize solving this challenge in order to ensure we meet the global goals needed in the face of our shared climate emergency.

What can I expect from this summit?

To gain a better understanding of the complete carbon picture in buildings and why it is so important to pay attention to. You will learn ways building designers are reducing operational and embodied carbon today in Massachusetts. Discover tangible strategies municipalities can implement in the short and long terms. Have an opportunity to hear from and share initiatives with other municipal leaders.

Who is involved?

Built Environment Plus, with sponsors Eversource + Mass Save & MassCEC, is partnering with the Boston Society for Architecture, the local Carbon Leadership Forum hub, MCAN, MAPC, NEEP, SierraClub, Mothers Out Front and RMI to pull this together.

Presenters & Host
Julie Janiski, Presenter

Julie Janiski, Presenter

Partner | BuroHappold Engineering

Julie Janiski is partner in Buro Happold’s Boston office where she leads integrated teams of engineers, designers, analysts, and subject-matter experts to deliver the highest performance projects. She aligns design, consulting and analysis to provide solutions that encompass all aspects of regenerative design in the built environment, from carbon reduction and water conservation to social equity and human health and wellbeing. Her career has included work in construction, building operations, architecture, and engineering–an experience that lays the foundation for a fully integrated approach.

Julie has delivered projects across every scale (from design of individual buildings to city planning and drafting policy), and in all major sectors. Her recent work includes consulting for the Massachusetts Commercial Energy Code, a number of U.S. Embassy projects internationally for the U.S. State Department, USDA grant-funded research on forestry and heavy timber design, a Net Zero workforce training center in Pittsburgh, and The House at Cornell Tech – a residential high-rise in New York City which is certified LEED Platinum and Passive House.

Julie holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Michigan and a Master of Design Science in Sustainable Design from the University of Sydney, and continues to engage with students at many institutions as adjunct faculty, a visiting lecturer or critic. Her commitments in the local Boston community include being a board member for Built Environment Plus, the co-chair of the Boston Carbon Leadership Forum, and a key contributing author for a proposed Net Zero stretch code.

Jacob Knowles, Presenter

Jacob Knowles, Presenter

Director of Sustainable Design | BR+A

As Director of Carbon Neutral Planning at BR+A, Jacob Knowles leads our sustainability consulting team. He is a Zero Net Energy guru, spearheading millions of square feet of Carbon Neutral + Cashflow Positive projects. With the help of his team, we have developed carbon neutral master plans and our projects have received awards such as AIA COTE Top Ten, I2SL Go Beyond, and major MA DOER high performance buildings and zero net energy grants. Jacob is also a board member of the Boston Society for Architecture.

Meredith Elbaum, Host

Meredith Elbaum, Host

Executive Director | Built Environment Plus

As a sustainability advocate and educator, Meredith joined Built Environment Plus as Executive Director, in November 2017, where she drives sustainable and regenerative design, construction, and operation of the built environment.

Before becoming ED, she was developing climate action plans, master plans, design guidelines and green buildings as President of the Elbaum Group and she launched the Health Product Declaration, as its Interim Executive Director. For almost a decade, Meredith was Director of Sustainable Design at Sasaki. During that time she helped in USGBC MA Chapter’s creation and served as a founding board member. She earned a BArch from Rice University, a MSArch from MIT, and currently teaches at Wentworth Institute of Technology.

Joseph Curtatone, Mayor of Somerville - Panelist

Joseph Curtatone, Mayor of Somerville, MA, has implemented a wide range of reforms and new programs that have earned the city many distinctions by regional and national organizations, including “the best-run city in Massachusetts” (The Boston Globe), one of the “100 Best Communities for Youth” in the nation (America’s Promise Alliance), three “All-America City Awards” (the National Civic League), and the designation as one of the 15 most influential cities in the U.S (Boston University study). Curtatone earned his bachelor’s from Boston College, a J.D. from New England School of Law, and a Mid-Career Masters in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School. Currently serving a record 8th term, Curtatone is the longest-serving Mayor in the City’s history. Prior to his election to the office, he served as one of Somerville’s four Councilors at Large.
After inheriting a government in fiscal crisis, Mayor Curtatone stabilized city finances while expanding services and earning the City its highest bond ratings ever. Under his leadership, the Somerville Public Schools have seen extraordinary growth in test scores, the transformational and Smart Growth development of the Assembly Square neighborhood has become one of the most exciting mixed-use projects on the east coast, and forward-looking investments in the city’s pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure has earned the City status as one of the most walkable and bikeable cities in the nation.
His key early initiatives included comprehensive reform of the Somerville Police and a citywide commitment to data-driven performance management. In 2006, Somerville also became the first city in America to offer both a 311 constituent service center and Connect CTY mass notification technology. His administration has earned national recognition for its “Shape Up Somerville” healthy living and child obesity prevention program, which inspired the national “Let’s Move!” campaign, and the City’s “Happiness Survey,” is the first municipal wellbeing survey in the nation.
A vocal advocate for sustainable transportation, Mayor Curtatone brokered the construction of the first new MBTA subway stop in a quarter century and also worked with MassDOT and the MBTA to save the Green Line Extension project, which will bring 7 more new T stops. Recent initiatives include an aggressive and multi-pronged plan to increase housing affordability, regional leadership on Climate Change and the Somerville Climate Forward Plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, and numerous supports and unwavering advocacy for immigrant residents. Mayor Curtatone is the Chairperson of the Metropolitan Mayors Association and past president of the Massachusetts Mayors’ Association.

Stephanie Ciccarello, Town of Amherst - Panelist

Stephanie Ciccarello is the Sustainability Coordinator for the Town of Amherst and has worked for over two decades addressing municipal energy efficiency, regional climate change and carbon emissions, alternative transportation and food security.  She was the staff liaison for one of the state’s more successful Solarize Mass campaigns, co-founder of Grow Food Amherst, is a founding member of the Valleybike regional bikeshare program as well as a current member of the state’s Green Communities Advisory Committee.

Andrea Love, Cambridge Net Zero Task Force - Panelist

Andrea Love is a Principal and the Director of Building Science at Payette, a member of the Cambridge Net Zero Task Force, and serves on the board of the Boston Society for Architecture. As a Building Scientist, Andrea’s interests are in pushing the performance and minimizing the environmental impact of her projects. She also enjoys building the firm’s knowledge and intuition about sustainability through research endeavors and project explorations.

At Payette, Andrea works across projects to bring rigor to the performance of projects. She integrates performance modeling tools into Payette’s design process at the very beginning to inform and push designs. Additionally, she leads a number of internal research projects, and was the Principal Investigator on the 2012 AIA Upjohn Research Initiative-funded “Thermal Performance of Facades,” a research project focused on thermal bridging. She also leads the firm’s efforts on the AIA 2030 Commitment, tracking and benchmarking the performance of projects across the firm.

Andrea received a Master of Science in Architecture Studies in Building Technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was the recipient of the Tucker-Voss Award and focused her thesis on the thermal performance of facades. She is also a Lecturer at MIT in the Department of Architecture’s Building Technology group where she teaches a class on building envelope performance.

As this event is intended for Municipal Staff and Leadership, they are welcome to come for FREE. Built Environment Plus members can also join in for FREE using their email as a promo code. All other parties are asked to join via general admission.

If you have a hardship, or have another situation you wish us to consider, please reach out to communications@builtenvironmentplus.org.

Where and When is this happening?

This summit is on June 11th from 8:00AM to 10:30AM EST, and is 100% digital using Zoom. To foster better, and more focused conversations, we will breakout at times into groups to work through our shared thinking and planning.

Details

Date:
June 11, 2021
Time:
8:00 am - 10:30 am
Event Categories:
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