Sustainable Landscape Networking Night on Cape Cod
By Adam Prince, ZeroEnergy Design
This year AHA Consulting Engineers completed a number of LEED certified projects, including the LEED Gold Certified Graduate Student Housing Project for Boston University. Developed by the Fallon Company, and designed by Beacon Architectural Associates, the 84,000 sf, 9-story project houses over 200 graduate students in 104 2-bedroom suites. Construction was finished in 2012 with a budget of $33 million, or around $390 per sf. This is the first phase in a larger development project on 1.7-acres adjacent to the Boston University Medical Center. The project includes a 12,000 sf park, and over 400,000 sf of development comprised of three buildings and parking facilities.
The building is 18% more energy efficient than required by code, thanks to high-efficiency building envelope, efficient heating and lighting, energy recovery, and regenerative-drive elevators. There are individual thermal controls in every space, including offices and commons space to help save energy when spaces are not in use. The building employs both natural and mechanical ventilation to meet ASHRAE requirements, which improves the indoor air quality while saving energy.
Other programs in the building include a gym, extensive bicycle storage in the basement, laundry, and the Little Sprouts child care and early childhood education center on the ground floor. All of these features combined make a great place for graduate students to live well while saving energy. The project earned a total of 60 points, you can see more details by checking out the LEED scorecard here.
Student volunteers from Smith hosted us, first greeting us at the end of a long and winding country road, and then to describe how the College uses the facility for a variety of purposes. It was funded by the S.D Bechtel Jr. Foundation, in case you were wondering.
Shawn Hesse, of emersionDESIGN, a new member of our Board of Directors and long-time Chapter volunteer, is also an Ambassador for the International Living Future Institute. He regularly provides trainings and outreach programs for the Living Building Challenge. The BEC (as it is known) is the fifth Living Building ever certified. We are proud that we can visit, right here in Massachusetts, the result of a lot of hard work under the auspices of the Living Building Challenge!
Below is a map of the area.
Attending the tour were over 30 people, including Chapter Programs Manager, Steve Muzzy. The place is set up so you have to take a five-minute stroll (longer in the snow) from the parking area to get to the building. Nice gaiters, Steve!
Shawn Hesse led the discussion – outlining the basic features of the Living Building Challenge and then going into detail on each of the petals.
Here we have the Smith College tour guides explaining how it came to be and how they use the place…including for ski weekend adventures and summer study sessions…
Here we have the speaking crew: Grey Lee, Emmett Wald, Brice Hereford, Julie Graham, & Shawn Hesse.
I got a chance to plug the Chapter and Brice gave the pitch for the visitors to become part of the West Branch. It was actually interesting how many people – perhaps a dozen – actually came out from the Boston area to see the place. Living Buildings have some real star power!
Part of the Living Building Challenge is its petals and one of them is Equity – quite an advanced subject actually, and unfortunate that we have to enshrine it in a reward system like LBC rather than it being a spontaneous manifestation of the built environment.
And here are the requisite solar panels which enable the facility to achieve net zero energy. Now here are things that manifest rather regularly in the built environment. More every day!
We anticipate returning to the BEC for a summer gathering – perhaps a solar-powered sustainable BBQ of some kind? I have a SolSource parabolic concentrator we could use for a giant pot of vegan chili!
At any rate, thank you to all the presenters, all the parties involved in the creation of this beautiful Living Building, and to all the attendees who made it through the rough roads and deep snow to visit and learn with us. We look forward to promoting the Living Building Challenge throughout Massachusetts and beyond.
See you next time!
Thank you for additional photos from Shawn Hesse, David Bliss and Chris Farley
In December of 2014, the USGBC submitted recommendations to the EPA supporting their Clean Power Plan, proposing that States be given flexibility in developing their individual compliance strategies. The USGBC also suggested that existing knowledge around evaluation, measurement and verification used in the LEED system be applied to tracking the reduction in emissions of power plants.
The EPA Clean Power Plan proposes 4 building blocks for states to achieve reduced power plant emissions, 1) power plant efficiency improvements 2) dispatching to cleaner natural gas combined cycle plants 3) renewable energy and 4) energy efficiency. The fourth building block presents an opportunity for Massachusetts professionals to leverage their leadership and expertise in green building practices to help the Commonwealth achieve these important goals.
As of January, our favorite utility company, formerly known as NSTAR, has changed its name to Eversource Energy.
NSTAR provided natural gas and electricity to 1.4 million customers in eastern and central Massachusetts. NSTAR's parent company, Northeast Utilities also owns the Public Service Co. of New Hampshire, Yankee Gas Services Co., Western Mass. Electric, as well as Connecticut Light and Power Co.
Under the new of Eversource, these companies will serve over 3.6 million customers in New England and the name change will help save money in the long run. The only difference customers will see is the name on the bill, so all automated payments will continue to process automatically. If you had stock in Northeast Utilities, you'll see it and a different stock ticker has changed from NU to ES. Eversource Energy offers helpful tips on how to save energy year-round on their website and they also have a special section for fall and winter that can help you cut your heating bills by 10%!
Sharon Bort, Communications Associate
Sharon Bort is thrilled to be joining the USGBC MA Chapter this spring as the Communications Associate. In May of 2014, she graduated from Clark University with a degree in Global Environmental Studies as well as Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Other than her work with USGBC MA, Sharon works as the Sustainability Coordinator at Wellesley College. At Wellesley, she tackles all things sustainability, including Wellesley's own bike share, food and water, compost and recycling, energy reduction, behavior change, student advising, and much, much more! She is excited to be learning more about LEED with USGBC as a recent LEED Green Associate and share the many great events the Chapter offers as the Communications Associate. During her spare time, Sharon loves to experiment in the kitchen, ride her bike around Boston, travel the world, and tackle DIY projects.
Ethan Lay-Sleeper, Advocacy Fellow
Ethan Lay-Sleeper is joining the USGBC MA Chapter as our inaugural Advocacy Fellow – in an internship funded by the MassCEC. He is finishing his final semester of graduate school in the Master of City Planning Program at MIT. At MIT, Ethan has studied green supply chain management, carbon foot printing, and the economics of electricity & the environment. Last summer he traveled to Taiyuan, China and worked with students from Tsinghua University to design for increased energy-efficiency and density in an existing neighborhood, while improving the community’s public amenities. Ethan comes from an architectural background and has experience working on a number of LEED certified projects; he is excited to participate in the Chapter’s mission of promoting a network of Green Buildings as well as the legislation that supports them.
Barbra Batshalom, Sustainable Performance Institute
Tiffany King, Commodore Construction
Now a Project Manager at Commodore Builders, Tiffany was previously at E.M Harris Construction Company and Paric Corporation. Through her experience in commercial and residential construction management, she has demonstrated superb collaboration skills and a passion for sustainable and high-efficiency design.
Wentworth Institute of Technology hosted us for our 2015 Annual Meeting – it was great to meet many of their students, professors and staff. Over 100 people came out to join us – we had presentations, awards, election results and GAME NIGHT!
Giant Jenga (not its real name) was a hit during the Game Night portion of the evening – though of course with all the high-achieving creative types in attendance it morphed into a “how tall can you build a tower out of loose blocks” exercise.
Don't forget that Wentworth Co-ops – students – are ready to work for your firm!
A big part of the night was our Volunteer Recognition Ceremony. Below we have the “Charging Champions of the Chapter” – up-and-coming all-star volunteers Kate Bubriski – co-chair of our Advocacy Committee, Shawn Hesse – new to our Board and a Living Building Ambassador, and Kimberly Le – new chair for our Residential Green Building Committee.
Earning our “Continuing Stalwarts of the Chapter” awards were Adrian Charest – chair of our Outreach Team (formerly Membership) and Neil Angus – our Vice Chair, and guiding light of our Education Committee (and “and Sustainable Communities” Ensurer).
A lot of folks enjoyed the paper airplane launching: