Residential Green Building: 9/12/16 with Presentation from LISC's Mike Davis

By Molly Cox


The Residential Green Building Committee met on September 12th, 2016, featuring a guest presentation from Mike Davis, Senior Program Officer at  (Local Initiatives Support Corporation) in Boston. Mike is also on the board of USGBC MA! LISC works across a plethora of fields, promoting affordable housing, economic development, energy savings, and safety for low-income neighborhoods across the country. While LISC has been around since the ‘80’s, Mike spoke to us about a recent initiative he is working on in MA (See presentation attached below).

One of the programs Mike manages includes the Green Retrofit Initiative in MA, which started in 2010, with the mission of working with building owners of multifamily housing units, and providing the funding they need. The program is funded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Barr Foundation (LISC was only 1 of 12 organizations to get the grant from HUD). In partnership with New Ecology, an organization that promotes environmental quality in buildings, LISC was able to rehabilitate buildings to increase energy savings for residents, and establish a healthy living environment. So far, the Initiative has helped 50 multifamily affordable housing owners in MA, and this number will continue to grow. Mike showed us some examples of electric and gas usage savings as well, and we saw at least 20% across the board in savings for residents.


With their recent MA Clean Energy Center grant, LISC wants to prioritize energy audits for projects that are nearing their time for rehabilitation. With this grant, they hope to join the efforts of all players involved, including owners, lenders, utilities, state agencies, to ensure they are all taking advantage of the potential savings. Retrocommissioning is also a priority to ensure the maintenance of renewable energy systems is readily available, once they are installed. The end goal with this initiative is to inspire and promote positive policy on the state level.

We then moved onto our Committee updates, and reflected on the legislative session that recently ended, and look forward to the next 2-year session. We also reviewed our initiatives within the Committee, including an exciting resource Bill and Dana are compiling for homeowners. We are planning a service event on November 19th with YouthBuild Boston, stay tuned for more details!

Some events coming up include the Green Building Showcase on September 22nd, 2016 (Register HERE), and GreenBuild in Los Angeles starting October 5th (Register HERE). Come join us for our next Committee meeting on October 3rd!

Find the presentation here.

Facade Engineering Newsletter: How Is a Stadium Like a Bicycle?

By Ritchie Lafaille, Office Fellow

Thornton Tomasetti provided detailed design for the façade and structure of a new 52,500-seat stadium that will be home to the A.S. Roma football team. The Stadio della Roma’s modern design includes echoes of the Colosseum.

The new stadium’s fabric membrane roof was inspired by the velarium, the ancient Roman amphitheater’s awning system. The Stadio della Roma’s roof is based on the principle of a bicycle wheel. A compression ring on the outer edge is connected by radial cable trusses to two sets (upper and lower) of tension rings that surround the inner opening. The “bicycle wheel” solution is much lighter and more elegant than a traditional steel-truss system.


The ultramodern glass and metal façade of the Stadio della Roma will be wrapped in a floating screen of travertine quarried from the same region as the stone of its ancient predecessor. Each piece of stone, arranged to suggest the arches of the Colosseum, will be backed by carbon-fiber mesh and supported via an innovative aluminum fixing system that transfers the loads to a floating steel structure of piers and lintels.

Privately funded by the club, the Stadio della Roma is scheduled to be ready for the 2019 season.

 

Are you curious about what other projects Thornton Tomasetti is working on? Visit their website or read about them in our blog!

 

USGBC's Founder Re: Human/Planetary Loss and Opportunity Costs of Environmental Degradation

By Ryan Duffy, Communications Fellow

The following is an excerpt from Chapter 6– Sustainable Development– of Greenthink: How Profit can Save the Planet, by USGBC's co-founder and current CEO, Rick Fedrizzi. The preceding section of the chapter discussed China's unilateral turn to cleaner energy as well as the historic climate announcement between President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping. This section discusses environmental damage in different parts of the developing world.


Global environmental devastation is upending the macroeconomic fundamentals not only in China, but also throughout the developing world. It's easy to see why. Just like in China, pollution now has a measurable impact on the economies in developing nations.


In India, for example, 80 percent of the country's sewage flows right into its rivers, including its main sources of drinking water.  Air pollution in India is 6 times worse than it was in 2000, and it kills an estimated 620,000 people each year. Researchers at the World Bank estimate that the environmental damage cost India about $80 billion in 2009, the equivalent of 5.7 percent of its GDP.

As you might imagine, the situation is just as dire elsewhere.  Throughout the 2000s, the World Bank published a series of Country Environmental Analyses (CEAs), each of which looked to quantify the effect of environmental devastation on an individual country's economy.  And while the data comes from all around the world, and came across multiple years, the results are shockingly–horrifyingly–similar. 

A 2006 report states, “In Colombia, lack of access to clean water, poor or nonexistent sanitation services, and indoor air pollution are among the principal causes of illness and death, predominantly for children and women in poor households.  The effects of these principal causes of environmental degradation are estimated to cost more than 3.7 percent of Colombia's GDP.” 

Meanwhile, that same year, Pakistan's CEA reported, “Conservative estimates presented in this report suggest that environmental degradation costs the country at least 6 percent of its GDP.”

The following year, the CEA for Ghana stated, “Recent estimates of the cost of natural resource and environmental degradation suggest that the equivalent of 9.6 percent of GDP is lost annually through unsustainable management of the country's forest and land resources and through health costs related to water supply and sanitation, and indoor and outdoor air pollution.” 

The 2008 Nepal CEA reads: “these environmental risk factors have resulted in premature death and disease, especially among the poor and vulnerable groups, and are placing increased health costs and a significant economic burden on the country, estimated at close to US$258 million or nearly 3.5 percent of the country's GDP.” 


I could keep going, but you get the idea. Pollution is directly impacting prosperity in parts of the world where prosperity is desperately needed. And the scale of the impact is terrifying.  There are nearly 200 countries in the world. Imagine adding up the global cost of pollution and environmental devastation–an analysis that, to my surprise, no one has yet performed.  We can easily guess the outcome.  The tally would be trillions of dollars–dollars that are literally going up in smoke. 

It's clear that the old model of economic growth is no longer viable. In fact, in aggregate, the old model is a measurable drag on growth that essentially amounts to a global environmental depression

But imagine for a moment that these costs don't exist.  Imagine that we've eliminated millions of unnecessary, pre-mature deaths. Imagine that black smoke and yellow smog became clear blue sky, that industrial chemicals are cleansed from the water, that a century of carbon emissions are sucked out of the air. Imagine a world in which bull markets can throw off the yoke of pollution and run even faster. Imagine that people around the world can breathe clean air and drink clean water, not just some days, but every day. Imagine how these people–no longer being poisoned and sometimes killed by pollution– will need goods and services and jobs and businesses to provide all three.  Never mind the environmental transformation.  Think about the human transformation. Think about the economic transformation: trillions of dollars of economic stimulus, just by eliminating pollution

A world without pollution is a world in which opportunity is our must abundant natural resource– a world in which everything is going full speed because the light is always green. A decade ago, this might have been a fantasy, a pipe dream. But not anymore.  The world is changing.  And while a pollution-free future is a long way off, a significantly cleaner, healthier, and even more profitable future is not. 

Developing countries have every right to grow, to prosper, and to meet the urgent needs of their citizens. Pollution has been the by-product of this growth–an acceptable by-product, you might argue, considering that growth wouldn't have existed without it.  Today, however, the equation is shifting. Pollution is increasingly a barrier to growth in the developing world.  Sure enough, political leaders in developing countries are slowly awakening to the fact that profit and the planet are no longer mutually exclusive– that they're symbiotic, part of the same ecosystem. 


In the wake of COP21, and with sustainable and energy efficient technologies becoming rapidly more cost-effective, scalable, and profitable, this is a particuarly prescient and confident statement.  You can buy the book on Amazon new for $12.99. Fun fact: each copy of the book is made after the order is placed so as to reduce waste and ineffiency!

Winning the gold: New Condo First to Achieve LEED Gold Certification in Boston

By Ritchie Lafaille, Office Fellow

A new condominium project developed by Urban Spaces of Cambridge has been
LEED Gold
certified by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), making it the first Boston condominium project to achieve this level of green building certification.

The Lancaster, located at 1501 Commonwealth Avenue between Boston University and Boston College in Boston’s Brighton neighborhood, has 55 units and sits adjacent to the MBTA’s Green Line. LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, buildings use less water and energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, among many more benefits to the people who live there, the community and the environment.

“The Lancaster’s LEED Gold Certification demonstrates tremendous green building leadership,” said Rick Fedrizzi, the CEO and Founding Chair of the USGBC. “The urgency of USGBC’s mission has challenged the industry to move faster and reach further than ever before. Given the extraordinary importance of climate protection and the central role of the building industry in that effort, Urban Spaces demonstrates their leadership through their LEED certification of The Lancaster. With The Lancaster, Urban Spaces serves as a prime example of just how much can be accomplished.”

“We are honored to receive the LEED Gold Certification for The Lancaster,” said Paul Ognibene, the founder and CEO of Urban Spaces. “The Lancaster has been a labor of love for us. And now to know that The Lancaster is the very first condominium in Boston to receive the Gold designation makes this project even more special for all of us who worked on it.”

“It is comforting to know that the families who call The Lancaster their home will benefit from lower energy and water bills and better air quality while leaving a smaller environmental footprint behind for many generations to come,” Ognibene said.

“The Lancaster achieved LEED Gold Certification because of a number of factors such as location and high performance mechanical systems—without sacrificing occupant comfort and satisfaction,” said Taza Vercruysse, project manager at CLEAResult, the consulting and verification services firm and LEED Green Rater for this project. “Urban Spaces has built a resource-efficient multi-family building that reduced waste during construction, maximizes performance, conserves energy, and is easy on the environment due to such features as its close proximity to public transportation.”

About Urban Spaces
The Lancaster was developed by Urban Spaces, a Cambridge-based real estate company which develops mid-sized residential and commercial projects in growing neighborhoods. Founded in 2004, Urban Spaces focuses on properties in close proximity to public transportation, universities, hospitals, and employment hubs.

About CLEAResult
CLEAResult is the largest provider of energy efficiency programs and services in North America. Through proven strategies tailored to clients’ unique needs and market dynamics, the combined strength of experienced energy experts and technology-enabled service offerings help CLEAResult change the way people use energy for hundreds of utility and business partners. Founded in 2003, CLEAResult is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and has close to 3,000 employees in more than 70 cities across the U.S. and Canada. CLEAResult is a portfolio company of General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm. For more information, visit clearesult.com.

Come to Greenbuild in Los Angeles! Flights are $275

By Grey Lee, Executive Director


Come on out to California next month for GREENBUILD in LA!

 

Oct. 5-6-7 with a world of green building advocates and professionals.

 

If you are a STUDENT, you can attend for free if you register to volunteer with the host committee

 

If you need a place to stay, we have rented a house two blocks from the convention center.


 

Let's get ready to connect, learn, get inspired, and grow the movement for MORE GREEN BUILDINGS!

 


 

The Mission of Levi Wong Design Associates

By Ritchie Lafaille, Office Fellow



Levi + Wong Design is a passionate group of professionals 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 our success.  We are a client-centric firm led by working principals dedicated to design excellence.

As a full-service design firm comprised of architects, interior designers, landscape architects and planners, we each bring specialized skills and knowledge to the firm’s collaborative design style.  Our modest size–just over 30 employees- belies the depth and breadth of the service we offer in planning, design, and project management.  


Our experienced working principals, collaborative style, proactive approach and interactive Client / Architect Virtual Design Process allows us to creatively and innovatively design projects that respond to client needs.  Foremost to our clients we are Visionaries, Advisors, Designers, and Managers.

 

Learn more about Levi & Wong Design on their website and our blog.

Award Projects at the Green Building Showcase will be presented at ABX!

By Celis Brisbin, Programs Manager




Looking to get your projects viewed by the Real Estate and Design communities in Massachusetts? Sign up for an Award at the Showcase. The USGBC Massachusetts Chapter will have an exclusive gallery at ABX for Green Building of the Year and Market Leadership Award Participants. Have your project be seen by hundreds if not thousands! Register your projects today: register here or learn more here!

If you haven't heard about the Green Building Showcase by now, then you have no idea what you've been missing out on. We provided you with a video testimonal from our Board to get you excited about the upcoming event- and don't worry if you're already up to date on all things Showcase then get inspired and go buy your ticket! Ticket discounts are ending this Friday!

Firstly, a little Showcase Recap (just in case you're one of those stealthy people who have immpresively been able to avoid it)

Why do you want to go?

  • Check out Boston Properties fancy new- and highly sustainable, LEED certified building at 888 Boylston St. 
  • To celebrate Green Buildings!

Why do you NEED to go? 

  • Open Bar. Do I need to say more?
  • Network- We assemble a large collection of green building professionals, so come and make some business connections! 
  • Your work has the potential to inspire others, and keep the conversation about green building happening.
  • Recognition- Your project could be good enough to earn an award, and as an attendee you can vote for other incredible and innovative projects.

When will it be?

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2016
5:30 – 8:00 PM

Where will it be?

Address: 888 Boylston Street, Back Bay, Boston, MA 02116

For more information and details check our Showcase page, and get moving! Early Bird Discounts will soon be over! 

 

 

Thinking of taking the LEED Exam, join us!

By Celis Brisbin, Programs Manager

We are offering an Exam Prep Course for the LEED Green Associate Exam!

Tuesday, September 13 from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm
50 Milk Street, Boston, Massachusetts

Register here or below.

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.

The Green Associate preparation course will cover most of the material on the LEED Green Associate exam. You should plan to spend an additional 10-20 hours of study time outside of this class. This time will be best spent reviewing the reading materials listed below while paying particular attention to concepts and terminology. The LEED Green Associate Handbook references hundreds of pages of reading materials, while this class will focus primarily on the 106-page LEED Core Concepts Guide.  As part of this fast-tracked course, we will skim some reading materials and skip other reading materials.  

Students who have passed the exam have reported that local study partners and/or study groups have been very helpful. This is your chance to meet local professionals in the same boat as you!

Hope to see you there. LEED on!

 

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Renewable Generation

By Ritchie Lafaille, Office Fellow

Today, the majority of New England's electricity is generated using fossil fuels like natural gas, oil, and coal. This balance will shift in the coming years as the state and the region invest in carbon-free and renewable resources to meet environmental policies and consumers' desire for cleaner electricity.

Renewable energy options hold great promise for our future and with rebates and incentives offered through state and federal programs, more customers are becoming interested in getting involved. 

Eversource owns and operates a fleet of renewable generation sources that includes:

Northern Wood Power – a 50 MW biomass facility fueled by wood chips in Portsmouth, NH producing clean, renewable electricity for approximately 50,000 homes. The facility replaced a coal-burning boiler at Schiller Station – reducing air emissions by more than 400,000 tons annually. The facility also created a new wood ship market for New Hampshire's forest industry.

Nine hydroelectric power plants throughout New Hampshire, several of which are over a century old and still operating. These energy resources are 100-percent renewable, and combine to produce a total of 70.5 MW of electricity.

 
A 51 kW solar array at our Energy Park facility in Manchester, NH. The 183 photovoltaic panel array is one of the largest in New Hampshire and offsets more than 100,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

Silver Lake Solar facility – An eight acre, 1.8 MW solar facility located in Pittsfield, MA. Since opening in October 2010, the facility has won two awards: The Photovoltaic Projects of Distinction Award from the Solar Electric Power Association and the John A.S. McGlennon Environmental Award of Corporate Leadership from the Environmental Business Council of New England.

A 12 acre solar facility in the Indian Orchard neighborhood of Springfield, MA. The facility contains 8,200 solar panels producing 2.3 MW of electricity – enough to power about 500 homes.

Eversource's newest solar generation facility is a 3.9 MW facility located on Cottage Street in Springfield, MA. This generation facility occupies 22 acres of land on top of a capped landfill, contains 12,980 solar panels and can supply electricity to 850 average-size homes.

 

Read more about Eversource on their website and in our blog!

SGH Employees Author Civil Engineering Article on Hoover Mason Trestle Project

By Ritchie Lafaille, Office Fellow

Civil Engineering magazine featured the reinvented Hoover Mason Trestle walkway at the historic Bethlehem Steel plant in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in its April 2016 issue. Simpson Gumpertz & Heger (SGH) employees Matthew Johnson and Eric Twomey, and Charlotte Bouvier of Hoyle, Tanner & Associates 


(formerly of SGH), wrote the article “Connecting Past and Present,” which describes how the project team transformed a trestle that once carried iron ore to the steel plant into an elevated pedestrian walkway connecting a new casino and entertainment complex. SGH served as the structural engineer on the project.

The authors describe the design considerations and challenges of the project, and review changes made by the team during construction to reduce project costs. “The project provides an important resource for pedestrian connectivity at the multifunctional community site and a window into an ‘archaeological’ site that symbolizes and celebrates the rich industrial history of the Lehigh Valley,” they conclude. 

It is wonderful to know our Chapter Sponsoring Partner, SGH, as a top-notch green building capacity making great buildings and projects come together. Keep up the great work!

Read the article (starting on page 68, ASCE membership required)
Read more about the project 

Visit our blog to learn more about Simpson Gumpertz & Heger (SGH)