Featured Activity: Cambridge Energy Benchmarking

By Sun Joung, USGBC Staff

By Sun Joung, USGBC Staff

Last July, the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts enacted a building energy use disclosure ordinance (1360) joining the ranks of cities throughout the United States in benchmarking efforts to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Energy use in buildings accounts for approximately 80% of GHG emissions in Cambridge. The ordinance requires owners of buildings to track and report annual energy use data to the city including: site and source energy use intensity (EUI), greenhouse gas emissions, and ENERGY STAR performance score. This performance data will be made publicly available online.

In addition to promoting transparency, and catalyzing citywide energy efficiency improvements, public disclosure allows potential property buyers, tenants, realtors, energy service providers and others to consider the actual energy and water performance of buildings when making choices. Similar to having access to the nutritional contents of a protein bar, individuals can now use this public data to influence decision-making. A prospective tenant, for example, could use such data to calculate what to expect in terms of utility bills.

Cambridge began its efforts by requiring municipal buildings greater than 10,000 square feet to report annual energy use. This data was reported using U.S. EPA’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tool.

A total of 38 municipal buildings participated in this first round of reporting, including schools, offices, recreational centers, libraries, fitness centers, fire/police stations, and water treatment/distribution centers. School facilities represented the highest percentage of energy usage, followed by water treatment, and recreational facilities. This dataset can be downloaded from the Cambridge Department of Public Works website and viewed on GBIG.

Going forward, Cambridge’s ordinance addresses energy and water use in commercial and institutional buildings that are greater than or equal to 25,000 square feet, including multi-family buildings that have 50 or more units. Following this initial year of reporting, data collected will be disclosed on an annual basis through a public city website.

Eversource commits to support 2015 Green Apple Day of Service

By Celis Brisbin, Programs Manager



 
 
 
 
We are pleased to announce that our friends at Eversource are committing to support our 2015 Green Apple Day of Service. Eversource has a longstanding relationship with communities in the Commonwealth and we are proud to be partnering with them again this year after their strong support in 2014.

Green Apple Day of Service 2015

One quarter of Americans pass through a school on a given school day. Here at the the USGBC MA we are committed to green buildings and the savings, health and financial benefits which come with green design. The Green Apple Day of Service, Sept. 26, 2015, will bring together thousands of students, teachers, parents and community leaders from around the globe to improve our school environments through service projects, education, community events and more. Our vast network of champions will demonstrate the strength and breadth of our movement, leaving a meaningful and lasting local impact on our world’s schools.

 

 


Past Projects Sponsored by Eversource (2014)

Last year the Chapter coordinated with 38 schools for the Day of Service. Of these schools, Eversource sponsored the following six schools allowing them to be most effective with their projects. Read below to see the impact!

Alighieri Montessori School- Constructed and planted a new garden to teach students how they can positively impact climate change by demonstrating the connection between farming locally in urban environments and the reduction of CO2 emissions and heat island effect.
Boston Green Academy- Insulated, installed water aerators and gardening taught these student how to care for the environment
Boston Latin School – Discussed international smog issues and how to implement energy efficiency and environmentally friendly products to help solve the global issue.
Manning Elementary School – Conducted a lighting and energy audit to determine places at the Manning school where we could use more efficient lighting (e.g., LEDs) or use daylighting more effectively. 
McKinley Middle School – Evaluated the school's current lighting usage, determine which areas had the highest impact when converted to more energy efficient lightly methods and implement new more energy efficient bulbs, as well as posted small signs next to light switches to encourage energy conservation.

Dallin School – Created an energy efficiency campaign for the Dallin School.

 

If your organization would like to join Eversource in supporting the Day of Service, please find more information here and email celis@usgbcma.org.

If you are interested in participating in the program, please find more information here and email celis@usgbcma.org.

 

 

 

 

 

Making it real: Levi + Wong Design Associates

By Allison Maynard, Communications Associate


At the Chapter, we are continuously impressed with the advances of the engineers, architects and construction firms behind the green buildings that are created each year. One firm in particular who is always advancing their standard for quality of life and design is Levi + Wong Design Associates.

Levi + Wong Design is a passionate group of Visionaries, Advisors, Designers, and Managers who believe the power of design can improve the quality of life in the communities where we live and work. Quality Design, Service, Innovation, Teamwork, and Sound Business are the foundation of their success. They are a client-centric firm led by working principals dedicated to design excellence.

Thank you to Evan Halstead and Inga Leonova, Chapter Members and regular participants in our activities. We look forward to following your progress as LWDA continues to innovate and excel!

Their markets are are centric to well-being and include Healthcare, Rehabilitation, Senior Care, Senior Living, and Landscape Architecture focused. Here are just a few of their projects that they have been working on:

HealthcareBoston Medical Center


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rehabilitation D'Youville Center for Advanced Therapy


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Senior CareSouth Cove Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Senior LivingGeer Village


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Landscape Architecture – Edgewood Retirement Community Memory Support Unit


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Technology Allows You to Order Your Green Building A La Carte

By Cherie Ching, Advocacy Fellow

Technology plays a key role in the creation of new, sustainable, and higher energy-efficient structures for future generations. Existing buildings can also be transformed to become greener and more energy efficient because of technological changes in monitoring how a building consumes energy, which affects how much energy is ultimately consumed.

Technology is ever-changing and so are the available options for choosing smarter alternatives for a greener future. We are proud to highlight some of our Chapter Sponsors and their efforts in promoting more green buildings through technology!

Excel Dryer– Aside from the important task of saving the trees, hand dryers also reduce the amount of energy and cost associated with drying your hands with paper towels. Paper towels cost about 1 cent per paper towel sheet compared to the .02 cents to .18 cents cost in electricity to run a hand dryer. Not only do you have to consider the energy used to produce the paper towels, but you must also factor in the energy consumption required to pack, ship, stock and dispose of the paper towels.

The Excel Dryer, XLERATOR uses 80% less energy than conventional hand dryers and saves 90-95% of cost from paper towel usage. XLERATOR has earned users qualification for LEED credits in Energy & Atmosphere (EA) Minimum Energy Performance and EA Optimize Energy Performance, a mandatory credit for all LEED certified facilities.

Excel was a proud sponsor last year for our annual Green Apple Day of Service (GADOS) event held on September 27, 2014. By teaming up with Boston Public Schools, Excel was able to install energy-efficient XLERATOR hand-dryers to reduce waste produced from paper towels and to promote education and awareness of the schools' carbon-footprint on the environment. Please read more on our upcoming GADOS held this year on September 26, 2015!

Nitsch Engineering– Green infrastructure and design highlight the importance of a “balanced holistic site design approach.” The location of a building and how it impacts the environment also define how green a building can be. Nitsch Engineering’s use of technology through laser scanning surveys allows them to safely survey building exteriors and interiors, roadways, bridges, power plants, and land to create a green building design.

Nitsch particularly specializes in managing storm water by integrating storm water with building and landscape systems “to promote the filtration, retention, evaporation, infiltration, and reuse of rainwater, instead of allowing it to run off into our harbors and streams.” Efforts for water conservation and management in buildings contribute to decreasing energy consumption for water use and higher efficiency for the total energy consumption of the building.

RDK Engineers– New projects should also incorporate energy efficiency plans and solutions to provide for more sustainable designs. RDK Engineers are dedicated to delivering services for higher energy-efficiency and greener (in the environment and their pocketbooks) results for their clients.

These advanced services include: Energy Modeling, Energy Audits, Green Building Support, LEED, Utility Bill Analysis, Energy Star Certification, BOMA 360, Measurement and Verification, Utility Program Support, Energy Code Consulting, Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA), PUE Benchmarking and Thermal Imaging Audits. 

Less is Better in Net Zero Energy Buildings (and Booths!)

By Cherie Ching, Advocacy Fellow

June 14, 2015

 

As USGBC MA forges ahead with one of our Chapter Advocacy Priorities, Net Zero Energy Building (NZEB), we are excited to see NZEB elements at more conferences. The “Net Zero Zone” is an exhibition space where booths are fully powered by a live on-site microgrid, a hybrid use of alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) power for generation, storage and distribution. It is a first of its kind in a major trade show and will return to the 2015 Greenbuild International Conference and Expo on November 18-19, 2015 at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The Net Zero Zone will highlight the efficiency, reliability and resiliency of hybrid microgrids, bringing alternative power generation to life and its ability to function with or without connecting to the local utility grid.

 

Successful NZEB efforts have also been taking place within Massachusetts: The Pathways to Zero Grant Program, an initiative by Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER). “These projects represent a range of locations, strategies, and building types: from science labs in Fall River to new homes in Lenox. Projects are utilizing energy best practices such as proper building orientations, well-insulated and air-tight building envelopes, solar PV, and heat pumps.” The Hitchcock Center for the Environment in Amherst, which is categorized as a commercial and institutional project was granted $330,000. The building will conform to net zero energy building standards that use renewable resources to produce the amount of energy they consume on-site over a year. The projected completion date is summer of 2016, complete with natural ventilation, roof-mounted solar panels, rainwater collection barrels, and composting toilets to achieve net zero energy and net zero water status, in addition to achieving the conditions of the Living Building Challenge.

Other projects include Northampton EcoVillage Duplex Homes and Laurel Street both by Transformations Inc. and are categorized as Residential Buildings. These project grants total to $156,000.

 

Greenbuild, owned and operated by Informa Exhibitions U.S., Construction & Real Estate and presented by USGBC, is the nation’s largest conference and expo dedicated to green building design and construction.  See article

 

Building Tech Spotlight: Mass Save

By Ryan Duffy, Communications Fellow


MassSave is one of the organizations that made our 1st-ever Building Tech Forum possible. The forum focused on sustainability, green building, and efficiency– all topics that the MassSave initiative promotes and encourages! 

Sponsored by Massachusetts’ natural gas and electric utilities and energy efficiency service providers, MassSave works closely to provide a wide range of energy efficiency services to help residents and businesses manage energy use and related costs.

MassSave's philosophy is that everyone has a role to play in creating more energy efficient communities: “When we make smart energy choices, we can manage our energy costs, enhance the value and comfort of our homes and businesses, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”  See more about the program on its website, and read about it in our blog!

Mass Save Program, featured by Residential Green Building Committee

By Celis Brisbin, Programs Manager


Will D’Arrigo and Alec Danaher from ICF International spoke to the committee on Monday, June 8th in Boston, MA. The informative presentation focused on Mass Save’s residential new construction program, and showed the attentive audience how smart and easy it is to leverage their incentives! Mass Save is an initiative sponsored by the Massachusetts Gas and Electric utilities and energy efficiency service providers, including Berkshire Gas, Cape Light Compact, Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, Liberty Utilities, National Grid, EVERSOURCE and Unitil. With ICF’s guidance, Will and Alec showed how the interconnected organizations can present builders with enormous savings through building green! These savings (and incentives) are determined by actual performance, or by prescriptive measures. 

Will spoke on the Low Rise single and multifamily new construction process, while Alec filled us in on the High-Rise multifamily process. After touching on all of the processes for low rise paths, Will showed us a fantastic example of savings through the process, in a new Salisbury, MA home. Alec guided us through the commercial high rise process, and showed how Cheriton Heights implemented the Mass Save program, and had incredible monetarily savings.  The meeting was incredibly informative as we are residents of Massachusetts, and some are looking to build. Thanks again guys for your time and knowledge!


Click here to see presentation. 

Going Above and Beyond Replacing Your Bulbs

By Cherie Ching, Advocacy Fellow

 

Renewable energy is the fastest-growing component of our economy's energy portfolio and buildings that generate the energy they need on-site are a wonderful new niche that is becoming bigger with each passing month. USGBC promotes the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system for the planning of design, construction, operation, and maintenance in green buildings. The Massachusetts Chapter supports Net Zero Energy Building (NZEB) legislation to increase the deployment of on-site renewables and to improve energy efficient construction, both residential and commercial, to attain net-zero energy capacity. NZEB goes beyond LEED, striving for 100% renewable energy generation for the building’s total energy consumption. This important step signifies a transformation toward a more sustainable and green market in the built environment. Financing options for NZEB are expanding at the State level, providing programs such as The Pathways to Zero Net Energy Program.  This $3.5 million initiative by the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) is designed to facilitate a transition to the next generation of high-performance buildings in Massachusetts. 

 

Bill S-1771 (Senator Eldridge) would advance building codes to reduce energy consumption from residential and commercial buildings. This bill designates the Board of Regulations and Standards (BBRS) to establish definitions of residential zero net-energy buildings and commercial zero net-energy buildings. In addition, Bill S-1632 (Senator Eldridge) would require new construction or major renovation projects in state buildings to measure the energy implications of all resources used and a total life cycle energy analysis of such buildings, including electricity, water, transportation, materials, heating and waste separate from the life cycle cost analysis. We are in anticipation of Massachusetts Net Zero Energy Building Council’s (Task Force) recommendations to move the Commonwealth toward NZEB construction by 2030.

Statewide net metering caps on renewable energy and distributed generation also pose a problem for developers and investors to commit to NZEB projects. With solar energy reaching regional state utility district limits for new projects to qualify to earn income from the net-metering scheme, investors are unable to commit to more solar projects. USGBC MA supports Bills S-1770/H-2852 that address the limitations of the current caps, particularly on solar.

 

The Chapter collaborates with organizations and companies who also support NZEB legislation, providing educational materials to chapter members, legislators and the public, and also preparing to testify, or organize testimony at legislative hearings. Net Zero Energy Building Code is one of the key advocacy priorities for 2015 and the Advocacy Committee continues to expand our network of support around this issue. Through education, collaboration, and advocacy, USGBC MA enables a socially responsible, healthy and prosperous environment by encouraging you to go beyond just replacing your bulbs.

 

Keep an eye out for some of the current NZEB Projects in Massachusetts:

North Shore Community College Health Professions and Student Services Building (open 2011)

Division of Fisheries & Wildlife HQ (open 2014)

Lowell Trial Court (under construction)

 

Making Energy Efficiency Visible in the Real Estate Market (Webinar)

By Celis Brisbin, Programs Manager


Making Energy Efficiency Visible in the Real Estate Market

To register for the webinar click here. 

Wednesday June 24, 2015

10am – 11am EST



As the brutal cold of winter 2015 fades to a memory, the question for an increasing number of potential home buyers is how to find a comfortable house that won't break the bank with high energy bills. 

Join NEEP on Wednesday June 24 from 10:00 to 11:00 EST for a webinar which will focus on the value of energy efficiency in the real estate market and provide a snapshot ofthe growing high-performance housing market.

RE/MAX's Chief of Energy Solutions, Craig Foley, will outline the importance of being able to recognize the energy efficient characteristics of homes. His presentation will provide resources that real estate professionals can use to stay up to date on the rapidly changing technologies that contribute to a comfortable, healthy, and affordable living environment.