Ready for the Green Associate?

By Allison Maynard, Communications Associate


Are you serious about your dedication to sustainable building? Then you should definitely have your LEED Green Associate accreditation! And we'd be happy to help you prepare for your Green Associate Exam. In fact, we're hosting an exam preparation course which would be perfect for you next month! This is also the perfect opportunity because we will be transitioning to an updated version of LEED next year, and this will give you a better grasp of the updated certification information for the new version. 

Already a LEED Green Associate or Accredited Professional? Invite a friend or colleague who still needs their accreditation!

Register here!

 

The full day comprehensive course covers the following topics:

Chapter #1 – Introduction

This 1-hour chapter will explain the LEED Green Associate credentialing process and serve as an introduction to LEED, sustainability, the USGBC, the GBCI and the LEED rating system.

Chapter #2 – Location and Transportation / Sustainable Sites

This 1-hour chapter will focus on site issues such as connectivity, transportation, erosion, landscaping, and heat island effect.

Chapter #3 – Water Efficiency / Energy and Atmosphere

This 1-hour chapter will focus on water issues (plumbing efficiency, irrigation, process water, etc.) and energy and atmosphere issues (demand, efficiency, renewable energy, ozone depleting substances, etc.)

Chapter #4 – Materials and Resources

This 1-hour chapter will focus on procurement and waste diversion.

Chapter #5 – Indoor Environmental Quality

This 1-hour chapter will focus on indoor environmental quality issues such as indoor air quality, occupant comfort and green cleaning.

Chapter #6 – Innovation / Regional Priority / Certification Process

This 1-hour chapter will explain the LEED certification process and the Innovation and Regional Priority categories.

Chapter #7 – Exam Review

This 1-hour chapter will focus on exam format and registration and strategies to pass the exam.

Chapter #8 – Exam Review

This 1-hour chapter will focus on sample exam questions.

Meet our Members: Craig Foley

By Allison Maynard, Communications Associate


Craig Foley is the chief of energy solutions for RE/MAX Leading Edge, and a co-founder of inCharge Energy, LLC. Craig joined the RE/MAX Leading Edge team in January of 2012 as a Realtor® with 12 years of experience, and as a leading advocate for high-performance buildings in New England.

Craig’s combination of real estate and energy management skills give him a unique perspective about sustainable energy solutions. He is the author of the first reports on high-performance home market in Massachusetts in 2012 and 2013. He was named by RE/MAX New England as the “Realtor of the Month” for March 2013. Craig was one of five people in the United States to receive the EverGreen Award by the National Association of REALTORS® Green REsource Council in 2013 for his advocacy of the green real estate industry in 2013.

He worked with the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (MA DOER) on an initiative to create a continuing education course for real estate agents called High-Performance, Green Homes in Residential Real Estate. It was approved as a CE course for Massachusetts real estate agents as RE86R14 in July, 2014. The course was also approved for CE credits in New Hampshire and Vermont. Other consulting work includes a project to implement “auto-pop” capabilities of solar PV information into the multiple listing service (MLS) with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and several projects with Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships to assist real estate market participants with energy efficiency training and resources, including the Home Energy Labelling Information Exchange (HELIX) initiative.

Craig is also a public speaker and has been engaged by organizations such as the nationally syndicated “Real Estate Today” Radio, National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), Northeast Energy Efficiency Summit, Affordable Comfort, Inc (ACI), the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), ISO New England, Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), the Appraisal Institute, TEDxSomerville, and the National Association of Realtors®. He is also a Massachusetts certified real estate instructor.

Craig serves as the Advocacy Coordinator for the MA Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, for his work in 2013 the MA Chapter awarded him its “Advocacy Volunteer of the Year”. He led a group of stakeholders to recommend green data field updates for the regions predominant multiple listing service. The new data fields were implemented in January, 2015.

 

 

ICF International's Expertise in Education

By Allison Maynard, Communications Associate


At our Chapter we love to celebrate and share the wonderful work our members and partners are consistently doing. It is their hard work and dedication to sustainability in what they do which makes our Chapter such an amazing group of people. Our sponsoring partner ICF International certainly exemplifies this.

ICF's mission is to maximize beneficial impact—for people, businesses, and governments—in areas that matter. As trusted partners, they advise, execute, and innovate to provide lasting solutions to their clients' and society's most challenging issues. Their approach is comprised of three components: Passion—They have a passionate commitment to their work and to helping their clients achieve their objectives, Expertise—They bring together technical expertise, including deep program and industry knowledge, with world-class analytics, and Results—They have the capability to support their clients through the entire program lifecycle, from research and analysis through implementation and improvement, thereby helping their clients achieve compelling results.

Mass Save is just one of the programs that ICF implements. Mass Save® is an initiative sponsored by Massachusetts’ gas and electric utilities and energy efficiency service providers, including Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, The Berkshire Gas Company, Cape Light Compact, Eversource, National Grid, Liberty Utilities and Unitil. The Sponsors of Mass Save work closely with the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources to provide a wide range of services, incentives, trainings, and information promoting energy efficiency that help residents and businesses manage energy use and related costs.

 

 

 

 

November's New LEED Certified Buildings

By Allison Maynard, Communications Associate


 


 

 

The building at 1 Center Plaza in Boston was certified Gold for LEED-EB:OM v2009 on November 2nd. It is exciting to see this facility going through various improvements and embracing LEED to re-position itself as a downtown destination property. Our Chapter Sponsoring Partners Nitsch Engineering work there as well as our colleagues at BOMA and NAIOP!

 

 

 

 

 


 

In 2010, 33 Arch Street was awarded LEED Gold for EB:OM, and was recertified as LEED Gold on November 4th. The building was also designed by Chapter Sponsoring Partners Elkus|Manfredi Architects.

 


 

 

Wellington F14, a part of Atlantic Wharf in Boston was certified Gold for LEED-CI v2009 on November 4th. The Atlantic Wharf building itself was awarded LEED Platinum certification and recognized as Boston's first green skyscraper, developed by Chapter Sponsoring Partners Boston Properties.

 

 

 

 


160 Massachusetts Avenue belongs to the Berklee College of Music. The building received Gold certification for LEED-NC v2009 on November 4th and is Berklee’s first ground-up, custom-built facility which boasts 173 residence hall rooms for 369 students, 23 practice rooms, six two-story common areas, a fitness center, and a 400-seat dining hall that doubles as a performance space. 

 

Congratulations to everyone involved in these projects! If you have a project that has recently been certified or otherwise earned a distinction, please let us know so we can share the story with your peers in the industry.

Water You Doing This Friday?

By Allison Maynard, Communications Associate


…Joining us for our water-focused Green Breakfast, of course!

This Friday morning at 8:30 join us for a free breakfast and a discussion with Steven Grande, TOTO USA Northeast's Specification Manager and Sustainability Specialist.

During this LEED CE course we'll be diving into water efficiency and the role of sustainable plumbing. We’ll also discuss testing and standards, environmental technologies, product transparency and contributions to LEED certification.

Register here to let us know you're coming!

Learning to Save Energy With Mass Save

By Allison Maynard, Communications Associate


Over the next few months Mass Save is providing Energy Code Training sessions for code officials, builders, subcontractors, and design professionals to learn more specifics about Massachusetts residential and commercial Energy Codes. The Code topics that will be included are Envelope and Building Science, HVAC and Indoor Air Quality, and Mechanical Provisions.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are interested, you can register for these sessions here.

11/23 Advocacy Breakfast on Building a Clean Energy Future

By USGBC MA Chapter

Start off your Thanksgiving holiday week by filling up on GBCI credits. Come to our breakfast meeting to discuss the complexities of net-metering, the Acadia Center's solar policy framework for Massachusetts, and their plan for reaching 2020 greenhouse gas emission targets.

Join us at 50 Milk St. on Monday, November 23, 8:30-10:00am for a discussion about the legislature's hot-button net-metering issue. The Acadia Center's Tyler Soleau will discuss his organization's Next Generation Solar Policy Framework, which the USGBC MA Board endorsed this summer. Soleau, a former Beacon Hill staffer and lawyer, will share his inside views on how to best approach the legislation and lift these caps–and what other policy areas should be targeted.

Learn about Acadia Center's EnergyVision and Next Generation Solar Policy Framework. Developing more renewable energy is key for building a clean energy future. Come understand and join our Chapter's push for lifting the state's net-metering caps to support the sustainability of the solar industry

Questions for discussion at this presentation include:

  • What is the real obstacle to net-metering reform?
  • How can we ensure the most vigorous continued growth of the solar industry and other renewables?
  • Can we identify new synergies to ensure that Massachusetts gets the most sustainable grid possible?
  • What policy reforms are necessary to reach the state's greenhouse gas emission reduction targets?

This comprehensive outline for the state will help preserve and sustain the solar industry in Massachusetts. Read more about the Acadia Center's Framework on our website, and learn why our Chapter supports this comprehensive policy approach, and the lifting of the net-metering caps, in our recent blog post.


Although Speaker DeLeo said that he intends for the legislature to resolve net-metering by November 18, this coalition needs to plan next steps to ensure the sustainability and growth of the solar industry. Moreover, members of the green building industry and our Chapter's peer organizations are instrumental in advancing renewable, energy efficient policies in the state. Come learn about these issues and what role you and your company can take in helping the state reach these important goals.

Register for the Nov. 23 breakfast here. See you soon!

About the Speaker

Tyler Soleau is Acadia Center’s Energy and Climate Outreach Director. He came to Acadia Center from the Massachusetts House of Representatives where he served most immediately as Staff Director and Counsel for the House Committee on Climate Change. Tyler holds a JD magna cum laude from Vermont Law School and BA from Hamilton College.

East Village Exploration

By Allison Maynard, Communications Associate

Last week the Emerging Professionals Committee organized a tour of The East Village at Northeastern University along with representatives from Northeastern and the architectural firm DiMella Shaffer.

The East Village is the newest residence hall at Northeastern University. Standing at 17 floors, it is the second tallest building on campus. It was developed on a Brownfield site, which was cleaned up and will provide a better environment for the area. The building can house over 700 students, and contains suites and apartment style rooms for the students. The building also contains a bike room, classrooms and an event space on the top floor. One of the main features of the building is the destination dispatch elevators.

Thanks very much to Suffolk Construction for sponsoring the tour!



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2nd Annual New England Healthy Materials Summit!

By Allison Maynard, Communications Associate


Building on the success of 2014's first event at Google-Cambridge, the 2nd Annual New England Healthy Materials Summit is returning to Boston's ABX Conference on Tuesday, November 17th, 2015. The first Summit brought together 130+ businesses, institutions, designers, contractors, spec writers and manufacturers to discuss how they together could leverage their roles as makers of the built environment to elevate the “ecosystem” of “healthy” materials locally. This can be achieved through creating demand for “healthier” products by Owners, specifying competitive, “healthier” products as designers and by supplying demand as a manufacturer. The first Summit emphasized this through panel discussions by six industry experts: two non-profit experts (Health Product Declaration Collaborative and BuildingGreen), two manufacturers promoting supply chain optimization through disclosure (Forbo Flooring Systems and ASSA ABLOY) and two large institutions implementing practices promoting “healthy” materials (Harvard University and Dana Farber Cancer Institute).

After the first Summit's success, the steering committee decided to take the Summit to a larger, more diverse audience at ABX 2015 with a totally new agenda with new ideas, tool and practices emerging since 2014.This promises to be another exciting, unique event and one which is relevant for the area to all involved with the making of the built environment – particularly members in ABC's Challenge for Sustainability!

You can register for the ABX2015 Conference here, and find more details about the Healthy Materials Summit workshops here!

TOMORROW: LEED v4 Master Class!

By Allison Maynard, Communications Associate


You may be a LEED AP, but how much time have you spent learning about Environmental Product Declarations, Life Cycle Assessment and Building Envelope Commissioning? Where are you digging into the versions of LEED specifically designed for Data Centers, Warehouses, and Hotels? These are just a few of the new things in LEED version 4, the first top to bottom update of the LEED Rating system since it was introduced in 2000 by the USGBC.

To help you prepare for this update, we're offering a LEED v4 Master Class that will take a deep dive into LEED. The class is designed to provide the information needed for high level architects, engineers, and designers to use the updated v4 system and to ask any questions on the subject during instruction.

We'll cover all the improvements to the LEED BD&C and IDC ratings systems including new credits, reference standards, and adaptations. This session assumes some familiarity with LEED and green building concepts so LEED AP status or equivalent is recommended for attendees. 

Register and find more information here!