This year we have continued our work bringing education in the form of trainings and resources to our community of emerging professionals and our more established members. Rating system introductions and prep courses showed to be popular, but our greatest growth was with our engagement with Living Building Challenge. We continued two foundational programs this year: our Green Building Leadership Institute for emerging professionals, and our Workforce Training Grant Coalition to connect the current and emerging workforce to knowledge that empowers. We hosted the majority of trainings and events virtually.

Participants track progress through a point-based system with points accrued in 4 categories.

• Accreditations/Certifications (20 Points)
• Chapter Involvement and Community Involvement (30 Points)
• Leadership Skill Development (20 Points)
• Community Service (30 Points)

Notes of the efforts this year…leading up to the climate bill… go to our Road to Net Zero page to see whats been happening since…

In January 2020 we held a working session to develop consensus around what we believe are the core concepts that should be included in the Net Zero Stretch Code. This drafted proposal could become the standard that which other proposals are compared to.

We reviewed precedent net zero codes and standards, gathered input from municipal stakeholders, and outlined what we believe are the core elements that should be included in the Net Zero Stretch Code. This was not be a “code language” crafting event. We focused on big picture core concepts.

In May 2020 we the Energy Zero Code V1 was submitted.

In November 2020 the Energy Zero Code V2 was submitted

The MA E-Z Code offers an alternative compliance path for building energy efficiency and an update to the existing stretch code. The alternative compliance path is a prescriptive path, which may be selected for new buildings, instead of the performance (energy model) path. The prescriptive path has been named the “Energy Zero (E-Z)” path because it enhances building energy efficiency, is simpler to apply, and supports a more streamlined regulatory review for compliance.

In addition to offering a prescriptive compliance path, the MA E-Z Code addresses the electrification of buildings, a critical strategy for the Commonwealth to reach carbon neutrality. The MA E-Z Code modifies the IECC 2021 Zero Code Renewable Energy Appendix (ZCREA) to limit renewable energy sources to those that meet ‘additionality,’ ensuring that the renewable energy will have a net positive effect on Massachusetts greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The MA E-Z Code additionally addresses demand response, resilience, and several other topics that minimize a new building’s life cycle impact on GHG emissions. (This is an excerpt from the V2 submission).

Built Environment Plus’s Materials and Wellness Working Group encouraged our community to add their signature’s to a BE+ letter in support of An Act to Protect Children, Families, and Firefighters from Toxic Flame Retardants. The bill that we solicited support for in 2019 made its way back to Governor Baker. He vetoed it in the first session because he felt it would hurt MA businesses and people who wouldn’t be able to afford the products without flame retardants. As a letter that Meredith and Barbra sent to him attests, his logic is off. The working group felt it was important for us to act and to lend our voice to the chorus of other groups who have been working on this issue for the last decade to address human health concerns.

Over 100 Individuals signed our community letter that was sent to Governor Charlie Baker asking him to finally support this bill. This is in additional to an incredible amount of other responses through our community partners and the state’s own website. We are thrilled that Governor Charlie Baker then signed An Act to Protect Children, Families, and Firefighters from Toxic Flame Retardants into law, closing a major step this group has been working at for two years!

A big thank you to members Lisa Carey Moore and Lisa Goodwin Robbins for leading BE+, and to our many partners in this coordinated effort.

Over the summer of 2020, industry experts presented an overview of a specific COVID-19 mitigation topic, through a sustainability lens. The conversations with attendees that followed addressed issues like what building owners are asking for, which solutions are proving most effective, and how these strategies measure up against various sustainability imperatives. In addition to the priority of human health through reduced viral transmission, we discussed the long-term impacts on health (like ozone and UV exposure), the environment (like GHG emissions from increased energy use), and the economy (capital as well as operational cost).

Specifically, we investigated the eight factors that were the latest and greatest (and not so great) methods of disease control through engineering, design, and building maintenance strategies and examined them by their effectiveness and considerations for building sustainability and human health.

These papers were written and designed by Built Environment Plus interns, Catrina Schick and Kaleigh Stirrat, and edited by Built Environment Plus staff and the Conversation Series expert panel.

The Exchange was creating in to continue the conversations that began at our Building Tech Forum series. There, you will find recordings of past and upcoming Tech Forum presentations, as well as speaker and contact information. You’ll have the opportunity to reach out to speakers about the important work they’re doing, as well as keep the conversation going long after each Building Tech Forum session is finished. Over time, we envision the BE+ Exchange becoming a vast resource and community space for those in our community who are interested in the innovations changing the way we design, build, and maintain our buildings. Please check it out!