ABX A05 Speaker Bio: Sarah Welton

By USGBC MA Chapter


With ABX approaching next week, it's time to look into the speakers behind the sessions that the USGBC MA Chapter are sponsoring. For sessions A05: Good Medicine: the WELL Building Standard, Sarah Welton, WELL AP, Senior Associate of Technical Programs and Support International WELL Building Institute will present.

Sarah Welton's role on the International WELL Building Institute's Technical Programs and Support team draws upon her education and experience in real estate, public health and personal wellness. Sarah acts as the primary point of contact for prospective clients and registered projects, and serves as a subject matter expert for both external and internal constituents in support of the overall administration of the WELL Building Standard and the WELL Certification process. Previously a member of the product development team, she helped create the WELL Building Standard, as well as subsequent pilot standards.

Prior to joining IWBI, Sarah worked in commercial real estate finance for Wells Fargo Bank in Atlanta, where her clients were single family residential high net worth developers, as well as multifamily, retail and office real estate investment trusts across the southeast. She has also assisted in the development of community redevelopment strategies in both Atlanta and New York City. Sarah earned a dual master's degree in Public Health and Urban Planning from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. She earned her bachelor's degree in Finance from the University of Georgia's Terry School of Business.

Session A05 provides a deeper review of the WELL Building Standard and the certification process. The medical basis for the concept categories is explored along with design and construction strategies to create healthy buildings.

Register for A05: Good Medicine: The WELL Building Standard
Tuesday, November 15th, 2016
8:00AM – 9:30AM
Room 109A

 

Healthy Materials Sponsor: Cold Spring

By Alexander Landa


The Healthy Materials Summit on October 26th was an awesome event! We couldn't have put everything together without the help of a hosting committee, the volunteers, and especially our sponsors. We want to thank Coldspring for making the Summit a success!

Coldspring is one of the largest natural stone manufacturers, providing commercial, landscaping, memoralization, and residential customers with materials. Historically a granite-producing company, for many years Coldspring has evolved in the manufacturing and distribution of bronze memorials and signage, diamond tools, cemetery building consulting and construction services, and other materials such as marble, limestone, sandstone, and composites for specialized applications.

Coldspring has a devotion to sustainability, and will continue to innovate and promote a sustainable future. Their focus on stone allows their designs to stand the test of time better than many other materials – largely due to its incredible durability – and in turn, leading to the lowest embodied energy of any material.

Sustainability goes beyond just materials for them, and moves into process. Coldspring's foundry and other non-stone operations utilize sustainable practices.

Learn more about Coldspring at their website.

ABX, Networking, and Holiday Parties, oh my! November 2016 Events Note

By Alexander Landa


Read the full November 2016 Event Note here!

Last night was incredibly productive! We held our monthly USGBC MA Board meeting where we defined more goals for the remainder of 2016, and prepare for an exciting 2017. Before we start planning for next year, we have a few more big gatherings coming up soon this year.

Actually, few is an understatement. We have a lot going on in the near future. Here's what you can expect:

The Northeast's largest building industry expo is coming up next week, November 15th-17th!

We're sponsoring multiple panels, so please come attend these informative, innovative meetings. Join your peers to become stronger leaders in the industry.

We are collaborating with the Quebec Government to host a reception on the Wednesday evening 11/16, 6-7:30pm at the BCEC, to show off the winners of our recent Green Building Showcase. It will be a great gathering to see some awesome projects and to enjoy the best provisions and victuals from our neighbors of the Nord!

We invite you to join Amanda Sturgeon and ILFI's Boston Collaborative for drinks and appetizers at our pre-ABX reception at Skanska in the Seaport on Monday night, 11/14. Learn more and register here.

Standout ABX Sessions:

A05: Good Medicine: the WELL Building Standard, Tues 8am – 9:30am

A44: Beyond Inspiration: Implement a Successful Biophilic Project, Tues, 1pm – 2:30pm

B04: Living up to the Living Building Challenge, Tues, 8:00am – 930am

B44: Mapping the Materials Universe: Lessons and Strategies, Weds, 1pm – 2:30pm

B68: Designing for Net Positive Water and Energy, Weds, 3:30pm – 5:00pm

C21: How Green Building Make Your Clients Smarter: Harvard Study, Thurs, 10am – 11:30am

Also:

Read the full November 2016 Event Note here!

Healthy Materials Sponsor Profile: Sustainable Minds

By Alexander Landa


The Healthy Materials Summit on October 26th was an awesome event! We couldn't have put everything together without the help of a hosting committee, the volunteers, and especially our sponsors. We want to thank Sustainable Minds for helping to make this event the success it was!

Recently, they introduced the SM Transparency Catalog™ a simple, cloud-based catalog for AECs to easily find products with transparency information. With 350+ brands, representing hundreds of categories and thousands of products, the SM Transparency Catalog brings together all manufacturers who have made the commitment to product transparency – and presents their info in a simple, standardized and consistent way.

Our search is over. All brands with products for LEED v4 can be easily found here – for free and no login required. It is the only source to provide BOTH environmental and material health disclosures that qualify for LEED v4, Green Globes, Well Building Standard and the Living Building Challenge –- from all manufacturers, program operators & material disclosure rating systems.

This catalog will save AECs hundreds of hours in research, allowing us to easily find products with EPDs, HPDs and Declare labels, Cradle to Cradle® certification and more. To avoid further searching and busywork, when users find a product they're interested in, they are directed to the manufacturers' website. Convenient!

The larger goal of this catalog is to create a virtuous cycle of supply & demand for credibly greener & healthier products – in a ‘carrot’ kind of way. Rather than a letter writing campaign to impose a deadline, Sustainable Minds has provided an email link in all the ‘Freemium’ listings to contact the manufacturer and encourage them to add their products to the catalog to make it a better resource for all to use, and will better ensure their products will be found by people who care.

We hope you’ll select those brands and products you like and help get them listed in the Catalog!

Start using the SM Transparency Catalog and learn more about what Sustainable Minds is working to accomplish.


 

 

 

ABX 2016 is Next Week! Here's What You Need to Know

By Alexander Landa


2016 has been going by a little too fast we think. Halloween was last week, and Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away now. Before we get into the holiday season, we have a few more events going on this year, with our last major one for the year being ABX next week. For this architecture expo, we're sponsoring a group of panels relating to green building, LEED, WELL, and sustainability.

The full list of sessions we're sponsoring can be found here.

ABX is different from many other expos. For this event, you need to register for sessions a la carte, and you get discounts for registering for more than one.

If you want to have some fun outside of these sessions, and feel like handing out some business cards, we're also working with a few different orgs for some parties! On Monday the 14th, Amanda Sturgeon, FAIA, CEO of ILFI will be speaking at the ABX Pre-Mixer. Learn more and register here.

On Wednesday, we're also throwing the Quebec is Quality Reception + USGBC Project Showcase event. Learn more and register here.

Outside of ABX, we're throwing a few more parties and education sessions. See everything we're doing at our November 2016 newsletter.

YouthBuild Boston and the USGBC RGBC, MA Chapter 2016 Winterization Service Project

By USGBC MA


Come learn how to winterize your home by volunteering your Saturday to low-income elderly homeowners in need! On Saturday, November 19th, 2016, 24 volunteers from YouthBuild Boston and the USGBC MA Chapter will gather for a day of service in an effort to reduce heating costs and provide a warmer, healthier season for some of Boston’s most vulnerable citizens. The group of volunteers will winterize the home of 12 low-income elderly Boston residents in partnership with the Ecumenical Social Action Committee, who has referred several of their low-income senior clients for this project.

Register here!

The volunteers will gather at YBB’s main office at 27 Centre Street in Roxbury to kick-off the event with a welcome and light breakfast, then the group will be divided into small teams that will serve residents in Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, and Hyde Park. In addition to eliminating cold winter drafts, the winterization techniques that the group will implement have been proven to reduce a home’s energy costs by 20-30% annually. By volunteering alongside young people who participate in YouthBuild Boston’s vocational training programs, USGBC MA volunteers are helping YBB students bolster their classroom learning with field experience training.

It is expected that YBB students and volunteers will use these new skills to winterize their own homes and the homes of their friends and neighbors in need. All YBB students earn a community service certificate by engaging in meaningful service opportunities that promote leadership development and social responsibility. Participating in service events alongside volunteers from our corporate and community partners provides an opportunity for an inter-generational learning experience that benefits the entire group of volunteers. Please consider volunteering for this upcoming service event. We are asking volunteers to contribute $25-35 towards the cost of supplies. Breakfast and lunch will be provided.

Register here!

Saturday, November 19th, 2016
9:00am – 2:00pm
27 Centre St.
Boston, MA, 02119

Seattle is Pushing for More Living Buildings

By Alexander Landa


Seattle is proving once again why it's a city to be taken seriously in the green building industry.

October 7th marked the day that Ed Murray – the mayor of Seattle – signed legislation to continue the Living Building Pilot Program until 2025. This update will allow a total of twenty buildings to participate in this program in Seattle.

This all comes back to Capitol Hill's Bullitt Center – currently the only Living Building in Seattle. The city is pushing for more construction, and green building is making a stronger presence than before, now. 

City planners won't have to wonder why they haven't seen any more living buildings, as the pilot program has expanded. In addition to allowing more buildings, the legislation also proposed technical adjustments to 'better align city laws with recent changes in state laws to streamline city buildings codes.' These changes will involve things such as requiring high-efficiency heaters, being ready for solar panels, etc.

Living Buildings are awesome! This emerging topic is picking up a lot of steam now, and it's a good time for you to get involved as well. As part of ABX 2016 November 15th-17th, the USGBC MA Chapter is sponsoring a few sessions. One of these sessions, B04: Living up to the Living Building Challenge: The Owner's Perspective, will cover this topic in great detail. On a related note, we're also sponsoring B68: Designing for Net Positive Water and Energy – a topic that couples well with Living Buildings!

You can also see our full list of sessions we're sponsoring here.

Image and Source 1: Capitol Hill Seattle

Source 2: 3BL Media

Baking Gone Green? Clif Bar's New Idaho Bakery is a Prime Example of Biophilic Design!

By Alexander Landa


You know what goes well with green buildings? Natural snacks! (Hey they're both healthy…) 

Clif Bar, a dominant name is trail snacks, recently opened up a new bakery in Twin Falls, ID, that makes this company not only innovators for healthy eating, but for healthy, sustainable design.

This new location is 300,00 square feet of healthy, biophilic design that comes in a tasty wrapper of 200+ windows, vaulted skylights, and other elements leading to a design healthier for the environment, and for its inhabitants. The company will be leaving a much smaller carbon footprint now, and will be much more energy efficient. 

Delicious.

It keeps getting better. In part due to its biophilic design, Clif Bar's new bakery uses 37% less water and 21% less energy than the common bakery we see every day. Oh, and 100% of the electricity comes from green & renewable energy via Renewable Energy Credits.

This is only the beginning of what this building has to offer. To get the rest of the details, read the full story at Inhabitat – it's all really cool stuff.

Are you interested in implement your own biophilic design for one of your future projects? Check out our ABX sponsored session devoted learning about his popular and emerging topic. You can learn more about A44: Beyond Inspiration: Implement a Successful Biophilic Project here.

We're also sponsoring a bunch of other awesome sessions at ABX! See the full list of USGBC MA sponsored sessions here.

Source: Inhabitat.com

Let's Go All-In At Our Greenbuild 2017 Kick-Off Party December 15th

By Alexander Landa


Boston has embarked toward a defining moment in its green building story: Greenbuild 2017. Get pumped up at our year-long journey to next year's Greenbuild in Boston at our kick-off party December 15th.

In 2008, Boston made history with the largest Greenbuild to date. We intend to make this 2017 Greenbuild the largest on record, outdoing ourselves from our 2008 showing.

Come meet the committees and the leaders who are supporting them, and decide how you, or your firm, may want to take part. 

The Greenbuild effect will center the international discussion on green building on our market, building stock, and local talent – both in the materials, tech and design realms. Don't let this opportunity pass you by, get in on the ground floor. Come be a part of the collection of strategists who are on the Host Committee working to connect firms, orgs and professionals with this catalyst event. 

Light refreshments and snacks will be available. It will be a great mixer and meeting of the minds! Don't miss it!

Thursday, December 15th, 2016
5:30pm – 7:30pm
Nitsch Engineering
2 Center Plaza #430
Fourth Floor
Boston, MA 02108

Register here!

USGBC MA Sponsored ABX Session C21: How Green Building Make Your Clients Smarter – Harvard Study

By USGBC MA


Coming up November 15th to 17th will be ABX 2016! As part of the Northeast's largest building industry conference and tradeshow, Architecture Boston Expo, the USGBC MA Chapter will be sponsoring multiple panels this year. This year, we're hosting multiple panels, so let's take a look at Wednesday's panel. C21: How Green Building Make Your Clients Smarter – Harvard Study.

Green Buildings have measurable positive effects on brain function. The ability to provide data on how design impacts occupant productivity is key to moving client towards valuing and advocating for green building features. This presentation will share the key findings from the Harvard Cognitive Function study and will review outcomes of the industry transforming research where cognitive function scores were better in green building conditions compared to the conventional building conditions across multiple functional domains, including crisis response, strategy, and focused activity level. On average, cognitive scores were 101 percent higher in enhanced green building conditions. CO2, VOCs, and ventilation rate all had significant, independent impacts on cognitive function. Because this study was designed to reflect indoor environments encountered by large numbers of people every day, these findings have far ranging implications for worker productivity, student learning, and safety.

Speakers

Jose Guillermo Cedeno Laurent Researcher Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Jennifer Taranto LEED AP ID+C, BD+C, WELL AP Director of Sustainability Structure Tone, Inc.

Augusta Williams Researcher Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

C21: How Green Building Make Your Clients Smarter – Harvard Study
Thursday, 11/17
10:00am – 11:30am
Room 107A