Sep 13, 2018 | Uncategorized
Over mighty hills and across coursing rivers, the 2018 USGBC EPMA Bike Tour rode from sustainable site to sustainable site across Somerville Saturday, August 25th. Our multi-generational band of bikers rode all morning and into the afternoon to visit several sites through the city, starting in Davis Square and ending at Aeronaut Brewery. If you weren’t able to make it this year, please enjoy this virtual tour through our route.
The route started along the Somerville Community Path, a mixed-use path and part of the growing bike-friendly infrastructure of Somerville.
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Our first stop was at the Saint Polycarp Village apartment complex, built and managed by the Somerville Community Corporation. SCC CEO Daniel LeBlanc spent some time with us and offered his insights as a long-term Somerville resident and 30-year veteran of Massachusetts not-for-profits. The Saint Polycarp Village complex has been developed by the SCC as sustainably constructed low-income housing. This LEED Silver certified housing complex not only made use of sustainable construction materials, its energy and water efficient design directly supports SCC’s mission by keeping utility costs down for their residents.
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Next we visited the Blessings of the Bay Park and spoke with Landscape Architect Kate Kennen, Owner of Offshoots Inc. In partnership with The Mystic River Watershed Association Offshoots Inc is designing an ambitious revitalization plan for the park, informed by a comprehensive a community engagement including public meetings, surveys, and knocking on doors to directly contact community members. Kate walked us through their future plans to reduce the impact of invasives, include plantings that support bioremediation of the shoreline, and develop better river views and river access for the community.
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After a very enjoyable ride through the Mystic River Reservation, making use of their well developed bike paths and community spaces, we stopped to visit the Capuano Early Education Center. The first Somerville public school to pursue ambitious sustainability goals, the CEEC made extensive use of recycled materials in its construction, houses solar panels that cover 10% of its energy needs, and uses a rainwater collection system to irrigate its school fields. Somerville has continued its support of sustainable schools with the East Somerville Community School and Somerville High School.
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We ended our tour visiting Artisan’s Asylum and their neighbor the Aeronaut Brewery. At Artisan’s Asylum (also known as A2), EPMA’s own Aliza Vaida gave a tour of the largest makerspace on the east coast. Tired and sweaty, our riders relaxed at Aeronaut for food, beverage, and conversation.
Many thanks to BlueBikes for supporting the tour with vouchers for free rides, and Aeronaut Brewery for hosting our end-of-tour reception.
Aug 22, 2018 | Uncategorized
In 1984, the World Health Organization (WHO) coined the term “sick building syndrome.” That same year, a WHO Committee report suggested that up to 30% of new and remodeled buildings worldwide might be the subject of excessive complaints related to indoor air quality.1
As times change, so does the way people think about buildings. Today, the focus has shifted from concerns about sick buildings to creating healthy environments for buildings’ occupants. This focus on wellness was on display at last week’s USGBC-Massachusetts Healthy Building Summit. Advances in building science, more certifications that evaluate the life cycle impact of building products, and even shifts in workforce demographics are shaping how the AEC community approaches the relationship between a building and its occupants.
And while no one can predict the future with certainty, following are some predictions for how the healthy building conversation may continue to evolve in 2019.
- Increased Focus on the Occupant Experience – By their nature, buildings serve occupants engaged in varied experiences and with differing environmental concerns. For example in a hospital environment, privacy, indoor air quality, acoustics, and access to nature are being evaluated in context with patient experiences and even outcomes. Viewed in this context, insulation used in the enclosure should be considered in terms of its acoustic as well as thermal performance and ingredient composition. Acoustics and indoor environmental quality are also top concerns for school districts.
- A System Approach to the Building Enclosure – Strategic design and mindful materials will continue to converge into a system approach to the building enclosure. From below-grade garages to green rooftops and throughout the wall system–a system approach can manage the potential for moisture accumulation, meet energy expectations and support indoor environmental quality efforts. The system approach also applies to the life safety systems within the enclosure.
With nearly a half-century of experience, the Owens Corning® and Thermafiber® Insulation teams continue to be one of the pioneers in passive life safety systems. Thermafiber® recently became the first insulation to earn the SAFETY Act designation, providing powerful liability protection to architects, OEMs, fire stop contractors, building owners and other stakeholders in the unfortunate event of an act of terror.
- Green Without Compromise –In 2011, Owens Corning changed the manufacturing platform to remove formaldehyde from commercial and residential fiberglass insulation, replacing it with a bio-based binder, and continues to do so in the Thermafiber product line. As a product’s energy efficiency and environmental profile should not come at the expense of product performance, Owens Corning pledges that new products will perform at the same level or better than earlier versions. This philosophy is referred to as “green without compromise.” More information on this approach to sustainability is available here.
- Appealing to Generation Z – Competition for top talent is especially rigorous in a tight labor market. Generation Z workers just entering the market have a strong desire for authenticity, presenting an opportunity for manufacturers to provide transparency and describe products in terms of their life cycle impact. The recently launched Owens Corning Building Science Solutions Center’s “Sustainability” section makes it easy for AEC professionals to access research and white papers on product health and safety.
Owens Corning is proud to be a sponsor of the USGBC Healthy Building Summit. More information on Owens Corning’s commitment to sustainability – including an online learning center is available at the Building Science Solutions Center.
1 United States Environmental Protection Agency, Air and Radiation (6609J) Research and Development, Environmental Protection (MD-56) Agency February 1991
© 2018 Owens Corning. All Rights Reserved.
Aug 7, 2018 | Uncategorized
Written by Lindsey Machamer
As a civil engineer, I feel proud to be contributing to the development of our public infrastructure which will be around for 25, 50, or even 100 years. The state of the US infrastructure is at a critical point where significant investment is needed to redevelop degraded roads, water and wastewater utilities, and energy systems. New systems need to be built to address the needs of today without jeopardizing future generations’ needs.
In my work at Pare Corporation, I have been learning and working with Envision, a rating system for infrastructure projects, similar to the LEED rating system for building projects. I was thrilled to share what I’ve learned about this system with the Emerging Professionals meeting in July. The rating system, which was released in 2012, was developed by the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI), a group founded by the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Council of Engineering Companies, and the American Public Works Association. The system comprises of 60 credits in five categories: Quality of Life, Leadership, Resource Allocation, Natural World, and Climate and Risk.
Envision is uniquely qualified for the challenges inherent in infrastructure development. Infrastructure, being a public feature, is not owned by a single developer. It is owned, operated, used, regulated, and funded by a broad spectrum of stakeholders. Envision is designed to create a consistent approach to measuring as well as guiding a project’s contribution to economic, environmental, and social aspects of sustainability. One of the hallmarks of the system is its focus on stakeholder collaboration. The credits in the “Leadership” category are structured to facilitate input early and often to best meet the needs of all parties involved (including the natural world).
The American Society of Civil Engineers, in a statement on sustainable infrastructure, compels designers to be “the bridge between science and society.” The Envision rating system is a tool that helps us live up to that responsibility by helping to guide sustainable decision making and provide clear communication for all involved.
To learn more about the Envision rating system and to find examples of local Envision Verified Projects, visit sustainableinfrastructure.org.
Aug 2, 2018 | Uncategorized
At USGBC MA, we are proud to work with a diverse community of leading companies in the Massachusetts area. Take a look below to learn a little bit more about out Healthy Building Summit 2018 Sponsors.
At SmithGroup we work to create a legacy of inspiring places that enhance the environment and enrich the human spirit. We deliver sustainable solutions to create a healthy and prosperous future for our clients and communities. Designing for the overall health of people is a fundamental responsibility. As stewards of future generations, our work seeks to balance the needs of a thriving society, economy, and environment.
With our multidisciplinary expertise and integrative design process, SmithGroup teams collaborate with clients to identify innovative solutions, seeking synergies that can accomplish multiple goals. The integrative design process achieves sustainable community solutions that improve health and the human experience. By incorporating biophilic design elements, natural daylighting, and views to nature in our work, we seek to create a healthier human environment and design a better future.
Over the past several years, Bergmeyer has been extremely involved in the building design and construction industry’s push for increased product transparency and material ingredients reporting, and the firm is committed to eliminating the use of products and materials containing hazardous chemicals in our projects. In 2014, Bergmeyer – along with other firms across the country – issued a letter to product manufacturers pushing for greater transparency regarding chemicals and other potentially harmful substances in the materials and products architects specify. The letter served to make manufacturers aware of our preference for products with Health Product Declarations (HPDs), which provide information on building product content and associated health information. That same year, Bergmeyer’s president Mike Davis was invited by the American Institute of Architects to participate in a national task force called the AIA Materials Knowledge Working Group (MKWG). Twelve nationally-recognized architect- leaders in sustainable design were joined by an equal number of representatives from the USGBC, Architecture 2030, the Health Product Declaration Collaborative, the International Living Futures Institute, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, attorneys practicing in design and construction law, and senior AIA staff. This working group had three charges: 1) to create an educational curriculum for architects around building materials and human health; 2) to plan a communication and advocacy approach around materials transparency and disclosure documents; and 3) to develop a position statement for the AIA National Board of Directors that would endorse the pursuit of greater knowledge of building materials’ content in support of human and environmental health (adopted by the AIA Board of Directors in December 2014). Mike later went on to lead the AIA’s Materials Risk Task Group, chairing a 2015 summit on Materials Transparency and Liability Risk, and his continued involvement with the materials transparency movement has put Bergmeyer at the forefront of the product transparency and healthy building materials movement.
Building design, engineering, and architecture is a constantly evolving frontier. A greater focus on energy efficiency and human health charges building owners to collaborate with progressive manufacturers that proactively keep on the cutting edge. Beyond this, the transparency of products is essential in ensuring the maximum health outcomes for occupants.
ASSA ABLOY, a worldwide provider of door opening solutions, is driven to provide safe, convenient, and secure products, in addition to products that reflect a sustainable, positive impact on a changing industry.
In the spirit of education, advocacy, and product optimization, a variety of transparency documents (like EPDs, HPDs, and Declare labels) are provided by ASSA ABLOY to help their stakeholders understand where a product was made, how it was made, and what it is made of.
Further, ASSA ABLOY shows dedication to the improvement of health and wellness of building inhabitants by certifying door and accessory products for low levels of harmful chemical off-gassing. In addition, their products can be used with open architecture design, using glass solutions to provide access to daylighting and quality views.
Join ASSA ABLOY at the Healthy Building Summit to learn more about how they can offer optimal door opening solutions for your building.
ReVision Energy, your local clean energy transition company, is 100% employee owned and operated. They are always striving to find new ways to encourage their employees to be happier, healthier, and more productive every day. This past year, they became employee-owned to help give employees a greater sense of ownership for their work. With flexible work hours and management of their own schedules, the work-life balance is great for employee-owners ?.
With their team of in-house solar and heat pump specialists (engineers, designers, installers) they have built over 7,000 solar energy plus systems in the region. They also are a Certified B Corp, striving to be one of the best businesses for the world, and are always hiring. Just recently announced, ReVision Energy became #1 in New England for rooftop solar systems for the second year in a row. ReVision Energy is helping to educate and empower business owners to create healthier environments in their workplaces through energy-efficient technologies. To learn more about their work, stop by their booth and talk with Malcolm or Brittany at the Healthy Building Summit.
Today more than half of the world’s population, over 54%, is living in urbanized areas. On average we are spending around 80%-90% of our time indoors and, astonishing though this may sound, this is estimated to only increase. No wonder there is a growing focus on the quality of our indoor environment, while the attention given to green architecture and healthy buildings also continues to increase in prominence. Not single products, but the building as a whole, is now in the center of environmental rating systems like LEED or the WELL building standard.
As our floors are part of the indoor environment in which people live, meet and work, it is our mission to design and offer products that contribute in a positive way to the health and comfort of the individual. “Committed to the health of one” introduces our commitment to sustainability that centers around all aspects that concern your health, well-being and comfort in relation to our products and services today as well as for future generations.
Learn about Structuretone
Learn About Ellenzweig
Learn about DriTac
Learn about The Green Engineer
Jul 30, 2018 | Uncategorized
Written by Julie Salvatoriello
USGBC EPMA, alongside Net Impact Boston, took a tour of the Fenway Rooftop Garden lead by Jessie Banhazl from Green City Growers and Brendan Shea from Recover Green Roofs.
The 2,400sqft Fenway Rooftop Garden is in its fourth year of operation. It grows 30+ types of produce, and produces 6,000lbs of organic, food safe certified produce annually, making up approx. 35% of the produce used by the Dell EMC club (with overflow going to other places in the park food network, including the concessions stands). Everything in this rooftop container garden is grown in Vermont Compost Company soil who were generous sponsors of this event.
This garden gets exposed to 1/2 million people every year, including the 15,000 that take a Fenway tour each week. In fact, Fenway is the #1 tourist attraction in New England. Jessie noted that many tour goers have never seen urban agriculture systems in person and the rooftop garden inspires people to question, investigate and act upon their food sources and supply chains.
Green City Growers and Recover Roofs also showed us the adjoining Vineyard Vines Club. This open-air rooftop space was also built upon a previously underutilized rooftop space and transformed into a gathering and socializing area filled with edible landscaping. Center planters were planted with Kale and with some cucumber vines hanging over the side. Produce grown in the Vineyard Vines Club is donated to local food rescue: Lovin’ Spoonfuls, based in Brookline, MA.
If you love all of this, Jessie and Brendan also told us a bit about how we could create some of these systems in our own backyards and rooftops (if it’s sturdy enough and not too slanted). The Fenway Rooftop Garden is planted entirely in standard square milk crates lined with 13x13x13in square pot planter liners; all sitting upon an artificial turf roof. The milk crates are set up with a drip irrigation system with irrigation spikes to send water straight to the roots. The garden is highly productive, light and easy to move. The liners are filled with The Vermont Compost Company’s Fort Light mix and amended with their Compost Plus.
We learned from our tour that Fenway is committed to sustainability. It is the oldest ballpark in the country and the first ballpark to install solar panels. It was been lowering its electricity load over the past decade, reducing it by 11% since 2011.
The USGBC Emerging Professionals of Massachusetts are so grateful to Fenway for their sustainability efforts and for leading these tours. Thank you to Jessie and Brendan from Green City Growers and Recover Green Roofs for your work and the wonderful tour. This was my first tour of Fenway and now I absolutely have to go back and bring my family.
Jul 27, 2018 | Uncategorized
BY ALISHA PEGAN
After graduating college, Alisha Pegan really wanted to understand how sustainability initiatives were being pushed in city government. Who were making decisions and why did progress feel so slow? She joined the City of Boston’s Environment Department last September working on energy efficiency and climate resiliency, while also observing bottlenecks and leverage points within local government. She is now completing district scale studies, gathering resources to change zoning, supporting extreme temperature planning, collaborating with other departments on developing resiliency guidelines, and planning the future of the Climate Leaders program. Most things are in development, and few are completed. Alisha identified six potential bottlenecks.
First, people’s attention. When Bostonians are concerned and eager about a certain topic, e.g. coastal flooding during the winter, then there is more media attention on the department’s work. Leaders and employees in the department are more prone to respond with an action.
Second, grant cycles. A majority of the City’s initiatives are grant funding by the State or foundations. So, a lot of projects will complete a deliverable after a year.
Third, lack of in-house expertise. There are certain things City employees do not have in-depth knowledge on, e.g. engineering specifications for a raised road. Gathering that knowledge can slow down an action. Finding and hiring an expert is a 2-5 month process.
Fourth, divergent timetables. Most action items called out in the Climate Ready Boston report require collaboration with other agencies. Every agency has different projects and timelines, which can make it harder to coordinate.
Fifth, political turnover. When a mayor leaves, most of his/her chiefs and commissioners (the leadership) also leave. This destabilizes the department’s groove, and getting it back takes several months.
Sixth, the web of approval. In this system, any major action will need the approval of citizens, state agencies, foundations, businesses, partner agencies, the Mayor, department heads, and coworkers to convince.
Alisha highlighted that there is not a clear set of guidelines on how to be resilient. Figuring it out and doing it equitably takes time.
Jul 10, 2018 | Blog
by Kelsey Margulies
EPMA’s Summer Picnic was a great success, gathering together young professionals from all backgrounds in the building industry. Guest speakers Lawrence Flicker, Steven Burke, and Michelle Moon joined us and lead discussions on integrating wellness into their everyday professional lives. Lawrence kicked off the afternoon with a group yoga session involving controlled breathing and coordinated body movements, easy to follow for both beginner and experienced yogis alike. Afterwards the group collected plates full of delicious food from Whole Heart Provisions and congregated to hear Steven’s experience as Sustainability Manager at Consigli Construction. Steve spoke about the challenges and responsibilities associated with his job, as well as his positive outlook on the construction industry’s continued efforts to include more wellness-centered activities. Michelle Moon then shared her passion for bicycle advocacy and improving bicycle infrastructure in Boston. As a dedicated cyclist herself, Michelle expressed the importance of getting as many people involved in the bicycle commuter lifestyle for increased awareness, as well as a few safety tips from her own experience.
Thank you to our event sponsor, Xquisite Landscaping for making this event possible.
Jun 14, 2018 | Blog
Ethan Vonderheide
Hi, I’m Ethan Vonderheide from Maine. Though not born there, It’s where I have my earliest memories. The connection to the wilderness of the region was always clear to me, there was a respect for the land, much of it untouched and wild. “Breathe easy you’re in Maine” was in a way, the statement that best characterizes the state for me, even though it was about tobacco-free public space. I see environmental care in the state as the main accelerator for my career and studies in sustainable design. As early as high school I decided that focusing on sustainability was not an option, but was a requirement for my future. I recently graduated from Wentworth Institute of Technology with a Masters degree in Architecture. My thesis topic, ecoLOGICAL Habitat, looked at using the integration of urban and natural ecologies as the generator of architectural form to reconnect people to their environments. My lasting question from this study year was if architecture could have a formal expression that reveals its connection to the ecosystem? I look forward to my time with the USGBC MA chapter to understand how leadership in the field of green building in Massachusetts is making a difference and hope to add value to the regenerative design and zero waste movements in my time here.
Dan Pham
My name is Dan Pham and I am the new intern at the USGBCMA. Since taking a graphic design course in high school, I have always enjoyed the creative and visual aspects of design. With this mindset, I studied at Wentworth Institute of Technology where I pursued my undergraduate and my master’s degree in architecture. During my thesis studies, I looked into how diverse communities can be better connected to create moments that celebrate diversity. In addition to my architecture background, I have also gained new knowledge and passion for lighting design and have worked lighting design firms to create beautiful but efficient lighting environments. From both education and in practice, I understood the importance of sustainability and its improvements in the quality of life in the built environment. At the USGBCMA I am hoping to be able to utilize all of my experiences from the different fields to push for sustainability in building design and energy conservation. During my free time I enjoy tennis, photography and with my love for graphic design, pop culture, and video games, I am learning to become an illustrator.
Philmore Phillip II
First generation born & raised in Boston, MA. Majority of my family is from the island of Antigua located in the West Indies or the Caribbean including both parents. As an Intern for the USGBC MA Chapter, I support a wide range of tasks from Technical Support, Data Management, Research Analysis as well as Event Management. I was introduced to sustainability from a book that was read to me as a kid. It was about a man who lived in one of the first sustainable homes ever built in his era. He harvested his own rainwater, grew his own food and was completely independent of the grid. Ever since then the thought of paying utilities makes me chuckle. While having a heated discussion in my Engineering class which I was studying at the time I realized what I was really most passionate about; although the field of sustainability and renewable energy were so new and underdeveloped that it was way ahead of its time, I felt like I had finally found my calling. So I took a chance and decided to start all over. Some people say that I “threw myself to the wolves”, little did they know that I would eventually come out leading the pack. My background now is in the Research and Development of Green Buildings, Renewable Energy and Sustainability. I hold a certification in Energy & Sustainability Management and am currently finishing up my undergraduate’s degree in Environmental Science and Master’s in Urban Planning and Community Development. I enjoy helping others and improving the lives of the people within my community which ultimately is my goal.
Jun 11, 2018 | Blog
Written by Aliza Vaida
May 17, 2018 | Uncategorized
Presented by Joe O’Brien of View Inc.
View Dynamic Glass is a revolutionary building product that enhances the occupant experience of commercial buildings. View manufactures glass technology automatically tints through various shades, depending on the sun’s position and intensity. Tint 1 being the clearest state, Tint 4 being the darkest state. The glass works automatically to optimize natural light, but can also has an override feature that is controlled from a phone app or wall switch.
Occupants that sit and live behind View Dynamic Glass report reductions in headaches, drowsiness, and eyestrain, resulting in increased productivity. The technology is used in Office buildings, Hospitals, Airports, Higher Education, Multifamily, and other commercial buildings.
Fossil fuel independence is no longer a luxury for builders and homeowners with larger budgets. As Massachusetts continues to incentivize solar energy production, whether via community solar farms or a power plant on your roof, producing your own electricity is becoming more cost-effective each year. ReVision Energy is more than just a solar company, they are a “clean energy transition” company. ReVision can help not only reduce your electricity bill through solar, but also make your heating, cooling, hot water, transportation, and emergency power requirements energy efficient and renewable. In this presentation, the whole-home approach will be examined through the 15 years of experience and 7,000+ systems that ReVision has installed all throughout the Northeast, from projects like Dartmouth College’s 8 solar producing buildings to the many single family homes like the Hasselbeck’s in Rowley.
Presented by Beverly Craig of MassCEC
This presentation provides an overview of MassCEC programs as they relate to net positive buildings. We break down the Deployment and Innovation aspects of our mission to increase accessibility to clean energy and support the clean energy sector in Massachusetts. In this presentation, we will also touch on various rebate programs, including air source heat pumps, solar loan programs, solar hot water, and ground source heat pumps. Another program covered in this presentation will be MassCEC’s funding opportunities for clean energy startup companies.