Microsoft and Yale to Lead Panel on Carbon Pricing 3/15

By Derek Newberry, Advocacy Fellow

On March 15th from 4:00-5:30pm, the Boston Green Ribbon Commission and Boston University are sponsoring a panel of climate change experts to discuss carbon pricing. The talk is open to the public and will be at Boston University’s Metcalf Trustee Center on the 9th floor of 1 Silber Way (go past the large tapestry on the right to find the elevators).

Titled “Reducing Emissions by Pricing Carbon: How Microsoft and Yale are leading the charge,” the panel will include TJ DiCaprio, the Senior Director of Environmental Sustainability at Microsoft, Casey Pickett, the Director of Carbon Change at Yale, Kenneth Pucker, former COO of Timberland and Lecturer at the Questrom School of Business, and be moderated by Andrew Revkin, Senior Reporter on Climate Change at ProPublica and former environmental reporter at The New York Times.

Some of the topics will include the results of Yale’s 2015/2016 pilot climate pricing program and the impacts of Microsoft’s carbon pricing program on the company's culture, emissions, investment in renewable energy, and millions of people around the world.

Check out more on carbon pricing here and RSVP for the panel here! Seats are limited. 

USGBC MA Sponsored MED|Ed Session T21: VDC and Interdisciplinary Collaboration Achieve Sustainability Goals

By USGBC MA


For the upcoming Fourth Annual MED|Ed Facilities Conference and Expo in Boston, the USGBC Massachusetts Chapter will be sponsoring a number of sessions during the event's two days. The second session is T21: VDC and Interdisciplinary Collaboration Achieve Sustainability Goals, taught by Donal Lyons and Jennifer Taranto of Structure Tone, and Julia Rogers of Vanderweil Engineers.

More info:

The industry has touted BIM and VDC efforts as a ‘cure-all’ for the construction and design industry. When used correctly through preordination efforts with collaborative input from the both the design and construction teams your project can not only be produced more efficiently, but also perform more efficiently. This presentation will walk you through real-life examples and strategies being used throughout projects in the healthcare industry.

Tuesday, April 4th, 10:00am

Learn more and register here

USGBC Massachusetts Chapter to Hold Educational Sessions at MED|Ed in April

By USGBC MA


The USGBC Massachusetts Chapter is an educational partner of the upcoming – and 4th Annual – MED|Ed Facilities Conference and Exhibit at the Seaport World Trade Center Boston.

Participate in the dynamic educational programs featuring real-world, solutions-based case studies and management discussions relating to the planning, designing, construction, and facility management of medical and educational building types. Over 70 medical & educational facility planners, building science experts and many more share their insight and experience.

We're thrilled to be an educational partner of this event, alongside other organizations such as CSI Boston, FGI< and the Institute for Human Centered Design. In this two-day event, everyone involved will be aiming to make better strides in developing better healthcare facilities, so that everyone can worry less about the facility's environment, and focus more on the health of the individuals. 

Use the code USGBC for 20% off any of our sessions!

USGBC MA Sponsored Sessions

Tuesday, 4/4

T18: Living Building Challenge on your Campus – Shawn Hesse of emersion DESIGN
T21: VDC and Interdisciplinary Collaboration Achieve Sustainability Goals – Donal Lyons and Jennifer Taranto of Structure Tone, Julia Rogers of Vanderweil Engineers
T24: In a v4 Materials Quandary? Solutions Through Collaboration – Steven Burke of SMMA, Lisa Goodwin Robbins of Kalin Associates, Carrie Havey of The Green Engineer, and Conor McGuire of Columbia Construction
T27: FitWel – Blake Jackson of Tsoi/Kobus & Associates
T32: Getting to Zero: User Engagement in Achieving Net Zero Energy – Katherine Bubriski of Arrowstreet and Shannon Kaplan of In Posse
T35: Under Construction: Local LEED v4 Case Studies – Gary Brock of HMFH Architects, Cynie Linton of SMMA, Sarah Michelman of The Green Engineer, and Richard Moore of Richard Moore Environmental Consulting
T40: For Health: How Buildings Impact the Way We Think and Feel: Memo Cedeno, Erika Eitland, Piers MacNaughton, and August Williams of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Wednesday, 4/5

W17: Tackling the Challenge: The New MA Energy Code – Francis Boucher of National Grid and Martine Dion of SMMA
W22: Rising to the Challenge on Campus: An Owner's Perspective – Deborah Frieze of Old Oak Dojo, DiAnn Mroszczak of PCA, and Carl Weber of Hampshire College
W28: From Research to Specifications to Healthier Environments – Robin Dodson of Silent Sprint Institute, Heather Henriksen of Harvard University, Greta Eckhardt of Payette Associates, and Lisa Goodwin Robbins of Kalin Associates.
W38: Building a Healthy Campus: The WELL Building Standard – Sarah Welton of the International WELL Building Institute
W41: Designing for Net Positive Water and Energy – Jason Forney and Jason Jewhurst of Bruner/Cott Architects

Price Incentives Power Solar Market

By Darien Crimmin


Solar power experienced tremendous growth during the past decade in the United States and globally. The vast majority of solar applications utilize photovoltaic (PV) panels and inverters to create electricity from sunlight that is then fed into buildings or directly wired into the electricity grid. Many consumers, including apartment owners and residents, have benefited from the growth of solar PV, while others have just started exploring the potential benefits of renewable energy. The recent explosion in solar has been driven by many factors, with the two key drivers being incentives and price.

A 2016 midmarket report by the International Energy Agency cites sharp reductions in generation costs with record-low long-term prices, a trend that is expected to drive the demand for solar for years to come. A large apartment community can now install solar on its roof for below $2 per watt, a dramatic reduction from years past. The price drop reflects decreased manufacturing and equipment costs, as well as lower soft costs and improved installation delivery — all indicators of a maturing market.

The major federal incentive for renewable energy remains the federal investment tax credit, currently at 30 percent but scheduled to decrease after 2019 until it reaches 10 percent in 2022. The tax credit was renewed in late 2015, as part of a rare bipartisan agreement, which expanded the tax credit for renewables while simultaneously unlocking exports for domestic oil and gas. Solar power is increasingly popular, with a recent Pew Research study showing 9 out of 10 Americans favor expanding the use of solar power. Because the renewable energy tax credit is already in place and scheduled to be phased out, dismantling it prematurely may prove both unpopular and ineffective.

State incentives and policies work in conjunction with the federal tax credit to further drive growth in the solar industry. State solar incentives are often driven by direct incentives from utilities or through Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs) tied to state-mandated renewable energy portfolio standards, under which utilities must comply or pay a penalty. Solar incentives are available in multiple states and Washington, D.C., and have arguably driven as much growth in solar as the federal tax credits.

Apartment-Specific

Specifically related to apartment communities, certain state policies such as “Community Solar” or “Remote Net Metering” allow for offsite solar projects to produce electricity and then transfer monetary credits from those solar projects to a common area or resident paid electric accounts. Through this important mechanism, apartment communities and residents can directly benefit from community solar, even if the solar is not located on the apartment community itself.

For example, WinnCompanies estimates only 20 percent of its communities are good candidates for roof-mounted solar, due to building orientation, shading, roof age, structural concerns and space limitations from other equipment. Roof-mounted projects on apartment buildings also tend to be smaller and more expensive than larger ground mounted installations. Community solar projects provide apartment communities with the opportunity to overcome these challenges by siting solar in preferable locations and ensuring projects achieve economies of scale.

As the largest manager of affordable housing in the country, WinnCompanies is also a national leader bringing solar power to affordable housing. In the past few years, WinnCompanies developed several solar projects on building rooftops to reduce operating costs at its affordable housing communities. The management company formed a partnership with numerous third-party solar developers to utilize remote net metering from off-site solar fields to benefit affordable housing. Balancing the risk of long-term solar net metering contracts with clean energy benefits for communities and residents.

WinnCompanies’ ongoing work proves that the apartment industry can become active participants in the clean energy economy, in which property owners, management teams and apartment residents engage in policy discussions about solar power and affordable access to clean energy. The incoming administration’s efforts to promote renewable energy, and more broadly address climate change, are not 100 percent clear. Nevertheless, WinnCompanies and other apartment industry leaders in environmental sustainability are confident that the new administration will recognize that solar PV remains more accessible than ever and that the key ingredients for the rapid growth of solar PV have not changed.

Originally posted via NAAHG.

USGBC MA Sponsored MED|Ed Session T18: Living Building Challenge on your Campus

By USGBC MA


For the upcoming Fourth Annual MED|Ed Facilities Conference and Expo in Boston, the USGBC Massachusetts Chapter will be sponsoring a number of sessions during the event's two days. The first session is T18: Living Building Challenge on your Campus, as taught by Shawn Hesse, USGBC Chapter Board member and architect at emersion DESIGN.

More info:

The Living Building Challenge is the built environment's most rigorous performance standard. Participants will gain a basic understanding of the Living Building Challenge – a philosophy, advocacy tool and certification program that addresses development at all scales. To be certified, projects must meet a series of ambitious performance requirements, including Net Zero Energy, Waste and Water. Participants will learn to describe the key components of the program and discuss the rationale for restorative design principles.

Tuesday, April 4th, 8:00am

Learn more and register here.

Greenbuild 2017 Call for Tours Now Open

By USGBC


Green Building tours are one of Greenbuild's most popular and exciting features, providing the opportunity to explore green buildings ranging from government facilities to zoo exhibits. This year in Boston, Greenbuild tours will help attendees learn outside the convention center walls and will present the best of the area’s sustainable buildings and neighborhoods.

Tours are a critical means to expose conference attendees, as well as interested members of the general public, to the best examples of excellence in sustainability in our region, especially the most notable sites that demonstrate the greater metropolitan Boston area’s commitment to economic, social and environmental quality and innovation. Tours are also one of Greenbuild’s most popular and exciting features, providing the opportunity to explore green buildings in the greater Boston area. Off-site tours will be conducted in the days leading up to, and directly following, the conference (November 6, 10 & 11).

2017 Call for Tours
Green building tours are organized by Greenbuild's Host Committee, USGBC Massachusetts, who is currently seeking applications for 2017 tours. 

We are also seeing tour reviewers for these proposals. If interested in reviewing, please email tours@usgbcma.org for more information.

More information

 

Tour application (online form)

 

Here is a link to all the application questions, which you might want to review, prior to using the online form. It can be easier to consider all the questions and draft your response, and then proceed with the online form.

March 1st Morning Session – A LEED v4 Healthcare Saga

By Alexander Landa


This Session introduces integrative dynamics tools that green building stakeholders – owners, users, designers, builders – can use to strengthen collaborations and stimulate creativity.

Whether key stakeholders are focused on the design, delivery or operation of high-performance green buildings, a common theme is that there is need to navigate peer-to-peer relationships effectively and address situations with few single right answers.

Register here.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

  • Know how to set objectives, establish criteria and plan integrative processes to achieve effective project collaborations and advance LEEP IP aims.
  • Understand how common vocabulary helps to discover contrasting environmental, social and economic perspectives, identify stakeholder interests and support productive outcomes.
  • Activate self-awareness to recognize and manage personal emotional triggers that endanger or block integrative relationships.
  • Use collaboration-focused questions in the search for excellence in high-performance building design, delivery, and operations to produce healthy, enjoyable and inspiring green environments.


About the speaker: Peter Gorer is an architect, green building consultant, and mediator based in Somerville. He has undertaken complex building design and construction projects, both for public agencies and private design firms, and he has worked in the USA and internationally, in Asia and Europe. He understands green building professionals’ challenges through his own experiences. Peter regularly mediates cases in the Massachusetts Courts and he is a guest coach for MIT’s Conflict Management Training Program. He was a Co-chair of the Greenbuild 2011 International Forum Working Group, and Peter is a founding board member of the USGBC Massachusetts Chapter.

Want to Prepare for your LEED Green Associate Exam on a Saturday?

By Alexander Landa


We've been getting these requests for a while now – that you want to take a LEED Green Associate exam prep course on a weekend! We know it's difficult to break away on a Wednesday sometimes, so we hope that you'll join us on Saturday, March 4th and make further your career in sustainability. 

Register here.

The LEED exam prep course 

is a comprehensive course which will prepare attendees for the Green Associate and other specialty exams. The day-long curriculum is designed to cover the segments of the Green Associate Exam and to lightly cover the AP specialty exams. If you have specific questions regarding a specialty exam, feel free to bring these questions to class and have the instructor cover these identified areas.

Come join us for this session! We have only had positive feedback and success stories from previous classes.

About the Class

This is a fast-paced class for real estate professionals, architects, engineers, students and anyone else interested in green building practices and LEED. The majority of attendees have little previous knowledge of the LEED rating system, green building operations and green building construction. Upon completion of the class employees will be eligible to sit for the LEED Green Associate exam at a local testing center. Please note that the national office has lowered their student rate to 100 dollars, read more at usbgc.org. By passing the exam, employees will earn the LEED Green Associate credential. If interested in attending a LEED Green Associate Exam Prep class, please email celis@usgbcma.org, groups welcome.

 

Residential Green Building: 2/13/17

By Molly Cox and Mark Pignatelli

The Residential Green Building Committee met on February 13th, 2017. Although it was a smaller meeting, Kimberly reviewed some great upcoming USGBC events, and we had some exciting policy updates.  

Oren Richkin and Bill Womeldorf (members of the committee) have been doing some research around current legislative events including attending EEAC (Energy Efficiency Advisory Council), and they gave an overview of solar related news including the SREC (Solar Renewable Energy Certificate) program in MA. The DOER filed a change to the program in hopes of an extension and to keep incentives intact. The new SMART (Solar Massachusetts Renewable Energy Target) program is not expected to come online until January 2018 at the earliest (See HERE for the new tariff structure we can expect, which includes a declining block program). While we wait for SMART to kick off, the SREC II deadline has been extended to the beginning of January, 2018, but the compensation rate for the SREC will decrease from 80%, down to 70% of the SREC value. This extension gives solar customers assurance of compensation for new projects, and the SMART program will provide customers the confidence they need to predict ROI’s on any given project, and lock them in with rates from the beginning.

We have some exciting upcoming events! Join Craig Foley for Understanding the Legislative Process on March 14th. Register here. See you at the next RGBC meeting on March 13th!

Building Tech Forum 2017 Recap

By Alexander Landa


We can't believe that the Building Tech Forum has passed already – but it was worth all the work that went into it. Nothing makes us happier than seeing a packed room of technology and green building enthusiasts smiling, sharing drinks, exchanging business cards, and having a good time. 

These major events are the cumulation of the efforts of our entire community. Our staff, generous sponsors, energetic members and volunteers, and everyone else who wants a net-positive future for ourselves and generations to come make our dreams a reality, and for that, we can't thank you enough. 

As guests came in early in the evening, they enjoyed snacks and drinks while catching up with old and new friends in the innovative Fraunhofer building. After our Executive Director Grey Lee gave the opening remarks to kick off why we need to start planning for smart cities, Christian Hoepfner and Kurt Roth of Fraunhofer touched on what they're doing to make it all happen.

Afterward, we all made our way to Fraunhofer's open event space on the 5th floor where the real action was happening. Jaime Paris Boisvert from Siemens talked about their innovative development strategies, with Ryan Blackmon & Matt Barry representing Union Point and discussing their actual smart city just 12 miles south of Boston.

Our panel showcased how diverse the community behind smart cities really is – it's not just a concept of tech professionals or architects, rather it connects developers, academics, researchers, urban planners, and more all together to make it happen. Shoutout to Jascha Franklin-Hodge of the City of Boston, Jennie Stephens of Northeastern University, Gretchen Sweeney of the USGBC, Ryan Blackmon of Union Point, and Brycen Spencer of Siemens for educating us on all the hard work you're doing and why we need to start pushing for more smart cities!

After the panel, everyone continued networking and meeting old and new friends alike, sharing drinks, and deciding how we can make realistic strides to develop smarter infrastructure – and not just share pipe dreams of them. Special thanks also to Anne Williams of Fraunhofer for allowing us to host the event here! 

Thank you to everyone who came, and we look forward to seeing you at future events! More event pictures can be seen on our Flickr page.