Thursday Night: Networking and Green Building Tour!

By USGBCMA Communications, More Green Buildings!

FREE for Members and $25 for Non-Members: a joint building tour and networking night!

Thursday, July 21 from 5:30pm to 8:00pm
75 State Street, Boston

Register here or below! Join dozens of green-thinking colleagues who have already registered!

During the tour, we’ll explore the building, including tenant spaces and the roof deck. After the event, we'll be discussing all things sustainable!

Schedule:

5:30 PM – Initial Gathering in Lobby
5:45 PM – Project Presentation
6:00 PM – Building Tour
7:30 PM – Chapter Networking

About the Venue:

75 State Street, Boston, MA (Brookfield Properties)
LEED O+M: Existing Buildings Gold Certification in 2009
LEED O+M: Existing Buildings Platinum Re-Certification in 2014

The building is also Energy Star Certified.

 

 

Stay Ahead of the Curve– Come to WELL Exam Prep!

By USGBCMA Communications, More Green Buildings!

NEXT WEEK: WELL is the newest building standard to arrive in the building industry! Stay ahead of the curve by getting your Accredited Professional (AP) certification. In this full-day course, we'll be going over topics you'll see on the AP exam, and you'll meet local professionals with whom you can form study groups.


We currently have two upcoming workshops scheduled– pick the one that works best with your schedule!

Thursday, July 28 from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm
Register here or below.

Thursday, August 18 from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm
Register here.

If neither of these work, check back on our Eventbrite page in a month or two!


Other helpful links:
WELL Intro + Discussion
What is WELL? What does it mean for the building industry? Is it worth your time? Get all your questions answered at our introductory session!

WELL AP Exam Registration

Learn more about WELL

 

 

Eco-Districts: Making Resilient, Sustainable, and Socially Just Neighborhoods

By USGBCMA Communications, More Green Buildings!

Join us for a workshop detailing how to transform existing neighborhoods into ones that are resilient, sustainable, and socially just.

Tuesday, August 16 from 8:30am to 10:30am
“Woolf” Room, 18th Floor, 50 Milk Street, Boston

Register here or below.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

  • discover a new process for bringing together community leaders, developers, architects and planners to develop sustainable neighborhoods
  • find ways to plan and incorporate district scale, net zero energy and water systems
  • develop a roadmap for planning goals, development targets and methods to galvanize support for your community

 

 

Image soource: http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/dumai/61765562/47662/47662_original.jpg

TWO More Days to Register for BREEAM!

By USGBCMA Communications, More Green Buildings!

LEED's British forebear, BREEAM, is starting to gain popularity in the States. Join us for an educational session that'll explain what the fuss is all about!

Register here or below.

Wednesday, July 20 from 8:30 AM to 10:00 AM
50 Milk Street, “Aristotle” Room

BREEAM is the world's leading sustainability assessment method for master planning projects, infrastructure and buildings. It addresses a number of lifecycle stages such as New Construction and Refurbishment with a special emphasis on In-Use structures.

With a focus on sustainable value and efficiency, BREEAM certified developments make attractive property investments and create environments that enhance the well-being of the people who live and work in them. The core technical standards and processes of BREEAM USA will be discussed as well as its comprehensive, scientific approach to building sustainability. 

BREEAM USA is a partnership between BuildingWise, the award-winning US-based LEED certification consultancy, and BRE Group, the international provider of robust, independent, third party certification of fire, security and environmental products and services.

 

Powered by Eventbrite

 

Tour a Zero Net Energy Lab Facility!

By USGBCMA Communications, More Green Buildings!

Join us to tour and learn about the recently completed John J. Sbrega, Health and Science Building at Bristol Community College (BCC) in Fall River, MA. 
 
August 4th 2016, 5:30 PM – 8 PM
John J. Sbrega, Health and Science Building (777 Elsbree Street, Fall River, MA 02720)
 
Agenda: 
5:30pm to 6:30pm – Social Hour 
6:30pm to 7:30pm – Building and Lab Tour 
7:30pm to 8:00pm – Networking 
 
Organized and hosted by I2SL New England.
The 50,000-sf building brings together currently disparate programs from across campus, including chemistry, biology and medical and dental education. It holds an energy-dense program, including 18 fume hoods, high plug loads and specific ventilation and lighting requirements. 
  
Initially designed to meet the statutory requirement of Massachusetts LEED Silver Plus, BCC doubled-down on their commitment to achieving carbon neutrality for their entire campus operations by the year 2050. This new campus goal encouraged Sasaki Architects and BR+A Consulting Engineers to develop a zero-net-energy (ZNE) design in parallel with the high-performance design. 
  
A synergistic combination of old and new technologies was chosen. The ZNE design relies on a hybrid ground-source/air-source heat pump system, 13 filtered fume hoods, enthalpy wheel heat recovery, central air quality monitoring, fan-coil units with EC motors, 50% lighting power density reduction, a high-performance envelope with thermally broken assemblies and natural ventilation systems. 
  
Come hear the challenges, lessons learned and outcome of this first ZNE lab design in the Northeast as the architects and engineers lead the tour! 
  
We look forward to seeing everyone!
 

Check out our July Events Note!

By USGBCMA Communications, More Green Buildings!

What exciting events do we have lined up? For images and helpful descriptions, read the full newsletter here!

Educational Sessions on Building Standards!

WELL Intro + Discussion (Tues, 7/19, morning)

BREEAM in the USA (Wed, 7/20, morning)

LEED GA Exam Prep (Wed, 7/27, full day)

WELL AP Exam Prep (Thurs, 7/28, full day)

 

Tours and Networking Opportunities!

75 State Street Building Tour + Networking Night (Thurs, 7/21, evening)

Old Oak Dojo Tour (Sun, 7/24, afternoon)

Legislative Celebration BBQ (Thurs, 7/28, evening)

 

» Green Building Showcase!! (Thurs, 9/22, evening)

 

Coming up in August, September, and October are some other events to check out!

Zero Net Energy Tour: Bristol Community College Lab Facility (Thurs, 8/4, evening)

Living Building Challenge Tour: Hampshire College + Hitchcock Center (Fri, 8/12, afternoon)

Workshop: Eco-Districts and Urban Re-Generation (Tues, 8/16, morning)

Workshop: New Approaches to Designing Net Zero Buildings (Wed, 8/17, morning)

» Greenfest!! (Fri 8/19 – Sun 8/21) (FREE)

Living Product Expo (Tues 9/13 – Thurs 9/15)

» Boston's Climate Symposium!! (Thurs, 9/15, morning)

» Greenbuild 2016!! (Wed 10/5 – Fri 10/7)

 


Want images and helpful descriptions? Read the full newsletter here!

Residential Green Building: 7/11/16

By Molly Cox

The Residential Green Building Committee (RGBC) met on July 11th, 2016. We are taking a hard look at our goals for the 3rd quarter and the rest of the year. As we reflect on the first half of 2016, we are setting new goals and really trying to dig into the expertise of each individual in our committee. We are excited for the speaker lineup we have for the upcoming months, along with the building tours, service events, advocacy efforts, and networking we are planning!

For starters, we are happy to see the increase of LEED homes that came online in the first half of the year. See Gbig.org to track LEED homes in your neck of the woods!  

On the advocacy front, the energy omnibus bill S.2400 is in the works, as both the Senate and House bills are under review. This Senate bill required the DOER to create a home energy rating system that the seller of a home would need to perform before putting their house up for sale. This transparency will help the buyer understand the full value of the home they are investing in. However, this was not present in the House bill. Now we will wait for the final outcome, before presented to Governor Baker to sign.

Keep an eye out for some events coming up, including a Building Tour and Networking Night at 75 State Street on July 21st, 2016 (Sign up HERE). Also, be sure to sign up for the Living Building Challenge: Old Oak Dojo on July 24th in Jamaica Plain (Sign up HERE). We also have the MA Chapter Networking Night and Summer BBQ on July 28th (Sign up HERE).

Another reminder that GreenBuild is coming up in October! You can sign up HERE and get discounted pricing if you register before August 1st.

Our next Committee meeting will be on August 8th. Stay tuned!

Come to Our BBQ!

By USGBCMA Communications, More Green Buildings!

Join friends from the Climate Action Business Association (CABA) and the US Green Building Council (MA Chapter) as we come together to celebrate legislative and regulatory progress on a variety of issues! (Energy Policy, Net Metering reform, Building Codes, Flame Retardants, and more!)

Thursday, July 28 from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm
Old West Church: 131 Cambridge Street, Boston

Register here or below.
$15 for Members, $25 for everyone else!

 

 

 

 

Change is in the Wind: New York Leads the Way

By Ritchie Lafaille, Office Fellow

The lower costs and increased acceptance of distributed generation, storage, and energy efficiency are changing the hundred-year-old relationship between utilities and their customers. Throughout the last century, utilities generated and distributed power to their customers. The utility was granted a franchise area and an authorized return on any investments in exchange for the obligation to provide power to each customer within the franchise area.wind turbine

 

Rapid changes in technology are turning that arrangement on its head. Customers now have the ability to generate and store their own power, often at a lower cost than purchasing power from the utility. Customers are also becoming more efficient in their use of power and may actually sell excess power back to the utility. This has led utility regulators to question whether the regulations of the last hundred years are still appropriate, or whether a new approach is required that allows utilities to generate revenues and profits from services other than traditional investments in generation, transmission, and distribution facilities. The New York Public Service Commission’s Reforming the Energy Vision proceeding is showing how it can be done.

You too can become a WELL AP!

By USGBCMA Communications, More Green Buildings!

WELL is the newest building standard to arrive in the building industry! Get ahead of the curve by getting your Accredited Professional (AP) certification. In this full-day course, we'll be going over topics you'll see on the AP exam, and you'll meet local professionals with whom you can form study groups.


We currently have two upcoming workshops scheduled– pick the one that works best with your schedule!

Thursday, July 28 from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm
Register here or below.

Thursday, August 18 from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm
Register here.

If neither of these work, check back on our Eventbrite page in a month or two!


Other helpful links:
WELL Intro + Discussion
What is WELL? What does it mean for the building industry? Is it worth your time? Get all your questions answered at our introductory session!

WELL AP Exam Registration

Learn more about WELL