Derek Stein

Lilypad: Material technology that makes your walls do more so your HVAC system can do less

Moisture is a costly and persistent problems in buildings—causing mold, structural damage, and health risks. As we make buildings more airtight, effective moisture control is becoming more critical than ever. Adept Materials addresses this challenge with a patented two-layer coating system—primer and topcoat—that actively regulates humidity, suppresses condensation, and draws moisture out of walls and ceilings. Inspired by natural processes in plants, the technology adapts to environmental conditions and enables directional vapor control, improving durability and reducing HVAC demand. This year, we’re launching Lilypad—a line of premium moisture control paints and primers for high-humidity spaces like bathrooms. Combining modern aesthetics with invisible protection, Lilypad helps prevent mold and water damage without costly renovations. Easy to apply in existing buildings, it’s a cost-effective solution that also looks great.

Aaron Baskerville-Bridges

Super-insulating transparent aerogels for energy efficient windows and retrofits

Windows are the least insulating part of the building envelope. According to the US DOE, thermal losses through windows account for up to 40% of heating and cooling energy, represent over 200 million tons of CO2 emissions per year, and cost home and building owners in the US over $40B every year. AeroShield Materials is an MIT spinout making the world’s most transparent silica aerogels to improve the performance of insulated glass. Aerogels are some of the most thermally insulating materials ever created, they are super-light, fire resistant, and have lower embodied carbon than glass. For the first time ever, AeroShield has developed aerogels with glass-like transparency. When bonded to glass, the aerogel can improve the U-Value of glass products by 65%.

This talk will explore how AeroShield incorporates aerogels into both products for new construction and aftermarket retrofits that can be applied to the existing glazing system.

Neal Lojek

Building better with thermal breaks

Thermal Bridging is a significant part of building energy losses. Thermal breaks significantly improve a building’s energy efficiency by reducing heat transfer through structural elements, especially in areas where materials like metal create thermal bridges. Without thermal breaks, heat easily escapes during winter and enters during summer, forcing HVAC systems to work harder and increasing energy consumption. By interrupting these pathways, thermal breaks maintain interior temperatures more effectively, leading to reduced heating and cooling demands. This not only lowers energy bills but also enhances occupant comfort and supports sustainability goals. In well-insulated buildings, thermal bridges can account for up to 30% of total heat loss, making thermal breaks a crucial design feature. They are commonly used in windows, curtain walls, and façade systems. Overall, incorporating thermal breaks is a cost-effective strategy for improving thermal performance, complying with energy regulations, and achieving certifications like LEED or Passive House. Their inclusion is essential for modern energy-conscious building design.

Kate Bubriski

Why Do I Need A Decarbonization Masterplan

Owners wonder where to start with decarbonizing their buildings. They don’t want to be faced with an HVAC system failure where they have to make quick decisions that don’t add to decarbonizing their building. A decarbonization masterplan allows owners to determine what building components need to be upgraded, costs and savings, and what to tackle in what order. A good decarb masterplan will look at all capital expenses for the next 10-20 years as well as the programming and utilization of the building. This creates a timeline of improvements that reduce costs, lower emissions, and boost marketability/use.

Decarbonizing a building is not just changing an HVAC system. The envelope, accessibility, building code, energy code, space utilization, unconnected repairs, and other factors need to be considered. Often plans do not include the necessary scope. This presentation will give best practices for soliciting services and expectations of results.

Luc Chabot

Strategies for Decarbonizing Building Portfolios – City of Cambridge

The City of Cambridge Municipal Facilities Improvement plan was developed to provide and maintain high-performing facilities for staff, occupants, the public, and the broader environment. The City of Cambridge and Arup developed strategies to implement energy conservation measures (ECMs), major renovations, and building electrification over the next few decades to support the City’s goal of decarbonization by 2050 and meet the BEUDO ordinance for city-owned buildings. This presentation will discuss the process of portfolio level building assessments, decarbonization, and project prioritization.

Lloyd Butcher, Alex Corsetti

Aeroseal and Passive House: Achieving Verified Airtightness and Stretch Code Compliance

Aeroseal is a powerful tool for sustainability professionals, engineers, architects, builders and developers pursuing PHIUS and Stretch Code compliance. By sealing ductwork from the inside, Aeroseal eliminates leaks in areas mastic can’t reach—cutting labor time by days and ensuring you hit duct leakage targets on the first try. It delivers verified CFM reduction reports to satisfy code officials, and its performance supports tighter HERS scores, better HVAC efficiency, and improved occupant comfort. In new construction, Aeroseal simplifies commissioning, reduces rework, and saves money—while helping your project meet both PHIUS standards and Massachusetts Stretch Code air sealing requirements with confidence.

Karin Santoni

Turning Buildings Into Net-Positive Assets: The Power of Real-Time Metering

The pressure to move from reactive to proactive management of energy has never been greater. Many buildings still lack real-time visibility into their actual consumption, relying on manual and fragmented data that slows decision-making and increases regulatory risks. Without accurate, timely insights, access to green financing is limited, and efforts to enhance occupant health and reduce environmental impact fall short. At JRG Lofts, Stoneweg US tackled these challenges by partnering with Attune to deploy a real-time whole-building metering system. This technology turns complex data into clear, actionable intelligence, enabling immediate energy savings, regulatory compliance, and improved asset value. In our presentation, attendees will learn how innovative infrastructure solutions can transform buildings into future-ready assets where sustainability, equity, and performance come together as standard practice, and how to implement these strategies to drive measurable ROI and benefits for both people and the planet.

Craig Stevenson

Connecting Design Technologies with Operational Technologies to Scale Building Decarbonization

AUROS Group developed the first technology pathway to integrate building science expertise into smart building infrastructure. Only when combining building science with data science can the built environment dramatically reduce investment risk in the decarbonization of existing buildings and portfolios of buildings.

Data scientists have been trying to deliver aggressive building performance improvements for years. Without building science expertise, building performance improvements, based on statistical analyses, can only achieve incremental improvements at best.

AUROS Insights, in the hands of building science experts, gets whole building, physics-based energy modeling into the data game as the proper context for holistic decarbonization planning and operational optimization. AUROS Insights provides building science experts with a portal into data layers and digital twin platforms.

Josh Doolittle PE, Gabrielle Bader PE

Low-Temp Heat-Pump Retrofit Turns a 1990s Middle School into a Carbon-Lean Classroom Hub

Problem: Middle-school HVAC plants built in the early 2000s lock districts into fossil‑fuel budgets and rising maintenance costs as equipment ages.

Approach: For Medford’s 104 kft² Andrews Middle School we compared (1) in‑kind boiler/chiller replacement with (2) a practical electrification path that converts the building to low‑temperature hot‑water and pairs air‑to‑water heat pumps with modular air‑source units. We created custom load‑matching spreadsheets and life‑cycle cost models, then brought a cost estimator on board to test financial realism.

What worked: Keeping existing distribution, pre‑purchasing major equipment, and limiting construction to a single summer trimmed projected downtime to near‑zero. What didn’t: 100% electrification through heat pumps due to associated deep mechanical and electrical infrastructure upgrades and associated costs.

Outcome: The City selected the hybrid-electrification option, and design wrapped in spring 2025, giving Medford a shovel‑ready project that meets its 2050 carbon‑neutral roadmap. Attendees will leave with a replicable decision‑tree for K‑12 retrofits.

Tammy Ngo

M&M Sweet Decarbonization for Existing Buildings

Decarbonization of commercial buildings, such as labs or campus can be as sweet as M&Ms. This session will unveil our M&M approach, from (M)etering to (M)easures, and what lies in between them to help projects reduce their carbon footprint. M&M also serve as the foundation to prepare your buildings to comply with local or statewide requirement of building emissions reporting/ reductions.

Brendan Kavanagh

Aerobarrier & Renovations

Air-sealing our existing drafty homes is key to making them comfortable, healthy, & energy efficient. Insulation & manual air-sealing work is incredibly effective but often difficult to get homes up to new construction air tightness levels without gutting the entire inside or outside of the building.

In our work pairing energy retrofit work with renovation projects, we typically are only gutting small portions of the living space which leaves a lot of the home untouched and leaky. In these partial renovation projects traditional methods frequently got us around a 50% reduction in air leakage, but when we’ve recently tried adding an AeroBarrier application we’ve gotten close to 90% total air leakage reduction!

Right now AeroBarrier is mostly used in new construction or gut renovation projects to comply with code required limits, but we feel it’s application in existing buildings could be a game changer in accelerating the energy transition.

Greg Hosselbarth

Intelligent Heat Pump Water Heating

Water heating is 19% of energy use in the home and the basic operating principle hasn’t changed in over 130 years. Most water heaters put heat in the tank when the water is cold. Intelligent water heating optimizes for comfort, cost, carbon, and coordination in the home by change when, how fast, and what temperature to heat water. Predictive controls (Hot water usage prediction, coordinating with solar and the grid) combined with a variable speed compressor and mixing valve allows heat pump water heaters to provide abundant hot water, save money, and cut emissions.

Maria Schroeder

Adaptive Reuse of an Impenetrable Public Building to a Socially-equitable Private Building

The 22-story Brutalist courthouse tower, located among two- to three-story residences in East Cambridge, housed 16 courtrooms and four levels of incarceration facilities. Its 1971 design was driven by the security needs of its uses, featuring an unwelcoming, opaque base, no active edges, and one public entrance located above street level that compromised accessibility.

The building’s reinvention reused 92% of the existing structure for new retail, Class-A office space, and 48 affordable apartments. A new terra cotta façade features punched windows, courtrooms are transformed into day-lit office space, and energy-efficient equipment improves overall thermal performance. The design team engaged with the community for input on design decisions, resulting in reduced massing, street-level activation, programmed community space, and a 20,000-square-foot publicly accessible greenspace that creates a strong connection between the building and neighborhood. The building is LEED Gold certified and WELL Gold certification is pending.

Prathamesh Patil

Electrifying Chiller to Heat Pump in Multifamily Buildings

This work addresses the challenge of electrifying multifamily master-metered buildings by fully replacing fossil fuel-based systems for space heating and domestic hot water. Field experience has shown that replacing end-of-life equipment to cleaner alternatives presents a range of market and technical barriers that require innovative strategies to achieve meaningful decarbonization outcomes. Key challenges critical to a successful project execution include accommodating diverse building characteristics, navigating system sizing differences, managing electrical panel and service upgrades, understanding baseline energy use, optimizing backup heating, ensuring proper commissioning, and securing financial support and customer buy-in, while complying with evolving safety codes and standards. Through ongoing measurement and verification of early projects, we are gathering insights to inform develop in future program design. Therefore, these qualitative lessons will help shape utility incentives and implementation strategies that accelerate equitable and scalable electrification in the multifamily market segment, while supporting broader program decarbonization goals.

Sandy Curth

Shape optimization techniques for a better building

Forma Systems designs and engineers code-compliant shape-optimized reinforced concrete materials that use up to 72% less cement and up to 67% less steel than conventional flat concrete floor slabs using our proprietary optimization software and 3D-printed mold fabrication technologies. Our floors are designed and engineered to  allocate material only where required structurally, saving significant quantities of cement and steel and the resulting emissions – if deployed at scale today, globally, Forma floors could mitigate 1.86 Gt CO2e annually.

The technology that Forma uses today and plans to use in the future was developed over the course of a decade at MIT. We will share some of our initial findings and technology roadmap during this presentation as well as discuss how we hope to scale this technology for significant real-world impact.

Kurt Roth

Process Digitalization to Deliver and Scale Affordable, High-performance Wall Retrofits

Market-viable approaches to retrofit existing 1- to 4-family buildings with high levels of exterior wall insulation don’t exist. The state-of-the-art applies rigid-board insulation foam to the exterior wall, a time-intensive process requiring extensive high-skill labor, making it costly and not scalable. We have developed and prototyped an integrated process using prefabricated 4”-thick polyiso (~R-24), lightweight (<5 pounds) insulated Panel Blocks (PBs) with integral cladding to greatly reduce on-site labor and installed cost of high-performance wall retrofits.

Crucially, we have developed digital design, production, and delivery processes: 1) Laser scanning extracts building dimensions and accurately extract wall dimension; 2) Panelization algorithm determine the optimal PB set to clad each home’s walls, creating CAD drawings for each PB; 3) PB CAD files feed a CAM process that fabricates the custom PB set; and 4) augmented reality guides PB installation using AR headsets, empowering semi-skilled workers. Manufacturing cost modeling indicate profitability at an installed cost of $10.00/ft2, with installation in under a week.

Robin Cornell

Decarbonizing From the Ground Up with Foam Glass Gravel

It’s time to decarbonize the built environment from the ground up. Foam glass gravel is a lightweight, high performance aggregate made from 100% post-consumer recycled glass. For decades, subslab insulation has relied on petroleum-based foam insulation to insulate foundations. Foam glass gravel offers a low embodied carbon solution that significantly reduces carbon emissions in building foundations by eliminating foam-based insulation from the equation.

Glavel is a Vermont-based manufacturer of foam glass gravel. They electrified their kiln and manufacturing operations, unlocking the ability to use renewable energy throughout the process. The result is a low embodied carbon solution that supports circularity principles while addressing the urgency to decarbonize construction.

Chris Lewis

Practical, Scalable, Zero-Over-Time Decarbonization

Roughly 80% of the buildings that will exist in 2050 are already built—many facing capital constraints, aging systems, and tightening regulations like BERDO and BEUDO. Most weren’t designed with a net-zero future in mind. Decarbonizing the existing building stock is one of the most capital- and coordination-intensive challenges of our era, especially for nonprofit and mission-driven owners navigating operating costs, rising utility rates, deferred maintenance, and compliance with policies like BERDO and BEUDO.

GreenerU’s scalable Zero-Over-Time approach aligns long-term decarbonization goals with near-term operational realities. We help owners sequence building improvements over time to optimize cost per ton of carbon abated. Our planning integrates electrification, load reduction, compliance strategy, and energy procurement, while addressing deferred maintenance and occupant needs. This presentation shares actionable planning methods and implementation strategies for reducing emissions—without triggering capital shock. It’s a roadmap for owners seeking practical, equity-minded solutions that move their buildings to zero operational carbon.

Evan Smith

Snowflake Manufacturing for Envelope Retrofits

Highland Park Technologies (HPT) is advancing the future of building envelope solutions with a modular, high-performance facade system designed for speed, sustainability, and scalability.

Our proprietary kit-of-parts system features:
* Bio-based insulated cladding panels that boost R-value and support compliance with evolving energy codes
* Snap-fit components and precision field alignment methods that accelerate installation by 3–4x compared to traditional systems
* Customizable aesthetics, with panels that can be engraved with any pattern or texture to match design intent
* Design and engineering software allowing for rapid DFMA

The system is tailored to each building, enabling both retrofit and new construction applications. Testing has been completed in collaboration with national labs and third-party consultants, validating both performance and ease of deployment. We are funded by MassCEC, DOE, MassVentures, and Forge. We are supported by NYSERDA, Greentown Labs, Autodesk, Dassault Systems, and many others.

Akshay Ramani

Hydronic Shell – An Innovative Approach to Building Retrofits

Hydronic Shell Technologies,Inc (HST) is addressing one of the most critical challenges in the built environment: how to de-carbonize and modernize aging multifamily buildings—particularly affordable housing—without displacing residents or triggering unaffordable costs. Our solution is a prefabricated exterior wall system that integrates high-efficiency HVAC, insulation, and ventilation into a single modular retrofit unit. Installed almost entirely from the outside, it reduces energy use, improves indoor air quality, and cuts emissions, while minimizing tenant disruption. By targeting buildings constructed prior to 1980—many of which serve low- and moderate-income communities—Hydronic Shell advances both climate equity and public health. Our approach transforms retrofits from costly, fragmented construction projects into scalable, repeatable infrastructure upgrades, helping cities meet net-zero goals while improving lives in under-invested communities across North America. HST is piloting this solution with the Syracuse Housing Authority on a 7 storey, 52 apartment building built in 1954.

Kendra Halliwell

Modular Solutions: Redefining Infill Housing with Smart, Sustainable Design

This presentation will examine how modular construction can provide smart, efficient, and scalable solutions to urban infill affordable housing challenges. Centering on the transformation of South Holyoke, Massachusetts, this case study highlights a modular infill strategy to revitalize vacant city lots into high-quality, energy-efficient homes for first-time buyers. The session will detail how this approach achieved critical goals—cost reduction, construction speed, design flexibility, and sustainability. Attendees will gain insight into modular techniques to minimize waste, reduce site disturbance, and improve performance outcomes such as HERS scores. The presentation offers practical takeaways for architects, developers, planners, and municipal leaders seeking replicable strategies to deliver affordable housing that is both economically and environmentally responsible.

Griffin Teed

High-Rise, Low Carbon: Thermal Energy Networks from Waste Heat

Existing high-rise buildings are among the hardest to decarbonize, with limited roof space for heat pumps, strained electrical capacity, and significant perimeter heating demands. Our case study showcases a bold, innovative approach for a 2.4 million sq. ft., 40-story commercial tower—where electrification through conventional means wasn’t feasible. Instead of relying on expensive rooftop air source heat pumps, the project taps into a powerful internal resource: waste heat from the building’s 3.4 MW data center. This heat, traditionally rejected, is now being captured and injected into a new internal thermal network that serves the main heating loop. The system powers water-source heat pumps (WSHPs) to meet over 90% of the tower’s annual heating and domestic hot water loads without burning gas. Phase one alone reduces approximately 2,000 tCO₂e/year, with a total projected savings of more than 29,000 tons. This project redefines high-rise decarbonization by transforming waste heat into a clean, resilient energy source.

Ben Rocci

From Drone to Diagnosis: AI-Powered Building Envelope Insights

As buildings age and climate demands intensify, assessing and upgrading the performance of building envelopes is more critical than ever. Yet traditional inspection methods remain time-consuming, labor-intensive, and prone to human error. In this session, Norhan Bayomi—co-founder of Lamarr.AI—introduces a cutting-edge approach to façade and roof diagnostics that merges AI, thermal imaging, and drone-based data collection to rapidly identify heat loss, moisture intrusion, and envelope inefficiencies with precision.

Attendees will explore how Lamarr.AI automates exterior thermal inspections, maps thermal anomalies at scale, and delivers actionable retrofit recommendations backed by simulation and RSMeans-based cost analysis. Real-world case studies from municipal and healthcare buildings will illustrate how this technology enables early detection of thermal bridging, inadequate insulation, and envelope degradation—turning weeks of manual work into hours of automated insight.

Todd Bard and Tom Sottile

World Leading Thermal Storage Technologies

Sunamp is a leader in Thermal Storage Technologies using Phase Change materials. To mitigate climate change we must reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This means using renewables to generate our electricity to satisfy our energy needs. This will increase the imbalance between generation and consumption. Storage is a way to address this problem. Since 40% of the energy we consume is for thermal outputs, it makes sense to store the energy thermally. Especially considering that thermal storage is cheaper, it has a longer life cycle, it is made from sustainable supply chains that have a low environmental impact. Thermal storage units(batteries) also are non-toxic, non-flammable and a 100% recyclable. Sunamp is a manufacturer of thermal batteries to store energy for heating, cooling and DHW.

Chris Kluesener

The merits of vendor-owned EV charging amenities

This talk investigates how a vendor-owned EV charging model eliminates installation, operation, and maintenance expenses for property owners while advancing sustainable electricity use. Chris Kluesener, CEO of Matcha—an InnovateMass and ACT4All2 MassCEC grant award winner—details Matcha’s turnkey solution: free hardware, installation, software, and ongoing service at no cost to owners, and connected by software to the grid. By deploying smart load management and time‑of‑use optimization, the platform shifts charging to off‑peak hours, reducing grid stress and leveraging renewable integration. Owners avoid capital outlay and operational risks, unlocking cost avoidance and predictable leasing revenues. Renters benefit from universal EV access. Participants will uncover actionable insights to implement vendor‑owned charging, showcasing a replicable model that drives equitable, resilient electrification in multifamily and mixed use commercial property environments.

Sissi Liu

Beyond Ventilation: Smart Air Cleaning for Healthier, Greener Classrooms

As wildfire smoke and infectious disease risks rise, relying on outdoor air to maintain indoor air quality is no longer dependable—or safe. At the same time, energy-intensive ventilation drives up costs. In this session, we present results from a public school pilot using a ceiling-mounted autonomous air cleaning system that combines bioinspired materials, self-renewing technology, and sensors to reduce pollutants and pathogen exposure indoors. Deployed across classrooms in a Rhode Island middle school, this MassCEC-funded study compared the efficacy of traditional HVAC ventilation with that of the novel system in removing fine particles (PM1.0 and PM2.5) and volatile organic compounds during normal occupancy. The results indicate compliance pathways under ASHRAE 241 and 62.1, offering school districts and building operators a smarter approach to health, sustainability, and energy resilience. With air quality now a frontline issue for public health and climate adaptation, this talk offers data-driven insights for next-generation building strategies.

Evan Bissonnette

Hybrid VRF Heat Pumps – Replacing Refrigerants with Water

As the HVAC industry reckons with the ongoing transition to the next generation of refrigerants, Mitsubishi Electric has developed a new solution that uses hydronic heat exchangers to deliver simultaneous heating and cooling with heat pump efficiencies without running any refrigerant in occupied spaces. With a brand-new lineup of hydronic fan coils offering the same flexible options and efficiencies that VRF has become known for, Hybrid VRF (HVRF) is an innovative technology that expands the ways we approach building design by simplifying code compliance and future-proofing your building’s HVAC system. Green building designers tasked with navigating the changing building construction landscape now have a convenient tool for floorplans where updated refrigerant codes would make typical heat pump installations difficult. HVRF also simplifies maintenance by locating all service access points in a single location, eliminating occupant disruption and streamlining diagnostics and service.

Eileen Barrett

Designing for Savings: Unlocking Potential with MASS Save’s Commercial New Construction Program

What if you could future-proof your building and cut energy costs- before the first brick is even laid. I will discuss key offerings of the program while encouraging energy efficient design. I will also include a success story of one or two of National Grid’s Commercial New Construction and Major Renovation Program (the ground up NC projects would be most impressive, but I can discuss Major Reno projects if existing building is the highlight of the event).

Mark Vasu

Leveraging AI and Digital Technologies to Accelerate Building Envelope Retrofit Planning and Action

High-performing building envelopes are the most effective way to reduce the thermal needs of buildings, saving 30% or more of building energy. However, envelope retrofits are often delayed due to perceived high costs and a lack of actionable data. The inertia related to envelope retrofits represents a challenge in meeting pressing climate goals.

Digital technologies can be used to simplify, optimize, and accelerate the envelope retrofit planning process. Drones equipped with thermal and visual cameras can be used to collect thousands of data points related to the envelope in a scalable manner. Advanced AI systems and innovative image processing can then be used to efficiently pinpoint envelope issues down to inches and quantify energy loss. With such precise data, customized retrofit plans can be developed to detail solutions that maximize energy savings and ROI. By integrating digital technologies into the envelope audit process, the previously time consuming and expensive process of envelope retrofit planning and implementation becomes cost effective and efficient.

Greg Bossie

Scaling Carbon-Storing Buildings Through Collaboration

Buildings generate nearly 40% of global carbon emissions—but we can dramatically reduce this now using existing technology. The Seed Collaborative is accelerating the adoption of bio-based building materials through cooperative innovation to tackle the intertwined climate and housing crises. By using straw-insulated structural panels and wood fiber, our buildings become powerful “carbon batteries,” locking carbon away while providing healthy, resilient, and affordable housing. Our decentralized manufacturing model promotes ecological regeneration and human health by strengthening local agriculture, revitalizing regional economies, and enhancing community resilience. Moving away from extractive industry practices toward cooperative, regenerative systems helps achieve financial equity, social justice, and long-term sustainability. Open collaboration and knowledge-sharing rapidly scale these accessible technologies, empowering architects, builders, and communities to collectively create a healthier, more equitable, and climate-positive built environment.

Lucas Nahrgang

The Massachusetts Method: A Blueprint for Better Building Enclosures

This presentation advocates for the adoption of absolute metrics for building enclosure thermal performance, arguing that current energy codes, specifically the 2024 IECC and ASHRAE 90.1-2022, fall short in driving significant change. While these codes introduce component compliance alternatives and address thermal bridging, their reliance on relative performance methods often results in “de-rated” enclosure values. This contrasts sharply with the Massachusetts Stretch Energy Code, which sets far more stringent, absolute thermal performance targets. We will demonstrate how current code compliance paths allow for trade-offs that compromise building envelope integrity, ultimately hindering true energy efficiency. By highlighting the limitations of current approaches and showcasing the impact of robust, absolute enclosure metrics like those in Massachusetts, we aim to illustrate how a stronger focus on building thermal performance is essential to genuinely transform building practices and achieve ambitious climate goals.

Robert Blount

Buildings of the past, insulated for the future

ROCKWOOL Smartrock® is an innovative interior insulation solution that integrates stone wool with a smart vapor retarder, delivering a high-performance, continuous insulation system for exterior concrete and masonry wall assemblies. Designed to control thermal, vapor, and airflow in a single product, Smartrock simplifies installation and reduces jobsite complexity—ideal for both new construction and retrofit applications. Its dual-density stone wool core conforms to uneven substrates, ensuring a tight fit, while the integrated INTELLO® PLUS membrane adapts to humidity changes, allowing walls to dry in both directions and minimizing condensation risk. With a Class A fire rating, noncombustibility per IBC Section 703.3.1, and ICC-ES ESR-5374 approval, Smartrock offers code-compliant performance and durability. This tech talk will explore how Smartrock enhances energy efficiency, moisture control, and fire safety—providing a smarter, faster path to high-performance building envelopes.

Eshaan Mathew

Building X-Ray Vision: The Javits Center as a Scalable Strategy for Net Zero

At the Javits Center, that future is now. This 3.3-million-square-foot, 24/7 convention hub is being transformed into a digital and sustainability showcase through a partnership with Siemens—where augmented reality meets energy intelligence.

Using digital twin technology, facility teams gain X-ray vision into assets across their lifecycle: from real-time system health and predictive maintenance to commissioning and collaborative troubleshooting in AR. The result? Smarter decisions, faster fixes, and optimized use of every resource.

Nearly 3,000 solar panels generate over 2 million kWh annually, paired with a 3.5 MW battery system that enables island-mode resilience during grid stress. Siemens’ DEOP platform ties it all together, delivering live performance insights, CO₂ impact tracking, and a continuously optimizing building ecosystem.

This isn’t just a retrofit—it’s a blueprint. A model for how complex facilities can use digitalization and AR to meet net-zero targets, stay future-ready, and reimagine what building operations will be.

Bruce Dike

SMART SOLAR Split Heat Pump Water Heaters

As they electrify homes and buildings, owners are looking for efficient all-electric domestic hot water systems. For single family homes, integrated “hybrid” heat pump water heaters (HPWHs) are an affordable option, but in cold climates like New England, they present challenges:
1. Integrated HPWHs steal heat from the interior environment, thus making space heating systems work harder and dramatically reducing net efficiency.
2. Integrated HPWHs utilize a fan- creating noise and discomfort and they require filters and condensate management.
3. Integrated HPWHs are tall with heat pump equipment placed on top of the storage tank. Thus, they do not fit in many smaller existing New England homes.

The SMART SOLAR “split” system design eliminates all these challenges. An outdoor evaporator panel is utilized to move heat from outside the building envelope, there are no fans or filters to maintain, and the heat pump unit is separated from the tank, allowing more flexible installations for challenging sites.

After hundreds of successful installations at single and low-rise multi-family sites, SMART SOLAR heat pump water heaters have proven to be a great option. SMART SOLAR systems have no impact on interior air volume or temperature- thus a good choice for smaller tighter moderate-income homes and buildings. This has been demonstrated in a recent project funded by the MassCEC Innovate Mass program. Thanks to generous federal tax credits and state and utility rebates, SMART SOLAR is an affordable option either for new construction or as a retrofit for existing buildings.

Martine Dion and Melissa Russell

Scaling Decarbonization Planning – Lessons Learned from the ongoing MassCEC BETA Program

The MassCEC Building Electrification & Transformation Accelerator (BETA): Commercial Buildings Pilot Program was established to develop decarbonization planning and assessment protocols, based on actual existing buildings decarbonization analysis, to be used statewide and further streamline the State of Massachusetts road to net zero by 2050. The BETA assessments identify the most effective decarbonization planning approach towards full building electrification, while maintaining occupant comfort and reducing GHG emissions and peak demand, with a goal for economically feasible implementation and operational costs through a comprehensive LCCA (Life Cycle Cost Analysis). The BETA program’s holistic approach seeks to provide replicable decarbonization planning and implementation strategies such as energy efficiency, load reduction and electrification of heating systems, encouraging owners to start planning today to get to zero GHG emissions reduction 2050. This presentation will provide an overview of the program’s decarbonization assessment and planning process, including early case studies’ outcomes.

Sanjeev Kalyanaraman

Cooling Without Energy for Future Ready Buildings

HVAC systems account for nearly 40% of a building’s energy use, driving emissions, increasing costs, and exacerbating urban heat. SolarMantle offers a novel innovation by providing a passive daytime radiative cooling (PDRC) material that reduces building surface temperatures by up to 15°F (8°C) without using electricity or water. Our material is a thin film that can be integrated into roofs, facades and HVAC systems. SolarMantle’s film reflects solar radiation while efficiently releasing heat back into space, cutting cooling energy demand by up to 25%. This lowers peak loads, extends building material lifespan, and improves occupant comfort, particularly in underserved communities. By reducing energy dependence and mitigating the urban heat island effect, SolarMantle advances financial equity, ecological health, and human well-being. Architects and designers can now incorporate our material into their design to create high-performance, net-positive buildings that actively cool cities, while reducing energy consumption.

Cody Belton

Thermal Bridge Free External Fixed Shade Connection: Pathway to Thinner External Walls

Akira Shade Connection – an external fixed shading solution offering climate resilience without degrading thermal resistance at opaque walls. Innovative shading solutions for punched windows are needed to meet current challenges to mitigate overheating from excessive solar heat gain enhancing occupants perceived comfort.

Stantec’s cutting-edge research on an external fixed shade connection eliminates thermal bridging. Energy savings borne from this alternative connection method can help reduce wall thickness, embodied carbon emissions, and meet Passive House performance targets. Incorporating external shade to control heat gain means that Passive House buildings may be able to use smaller mechanical heating/cooling systems, reducing their associated emissions even further while lowering construction cost. Unveiling secondary structure analysis and 3-D thermal simulation results for Akira Shade Connection at a split insulated wall.

Sarah Michelman and Carrie Havey

LEED v5 Strategies for Success

The LEEDv5 rating system is officially out, and firms are considering how they will adapt to meet the new requirements. The goal of this presentation is to provide insights and understanding on how to set your project teams up for success.

LEEDv5 has been re-envisioned: it now centers around three specific global impact areas: ecological conservation and restoration, quality of life, and decarbonization. A significant component of this new approach includes changes to the Integrative Process credit category, expanding it to include the three identified impact areas. LEEDv5 requires an assessment be performed early in design for climate resilience, human impact, and carbon. In this presentation we will provide our recommendations on how to best approach the prerequisites, and why understanding them is crucial to identifying a feasible project pathway to LEED certification. Presenters may share a few case studies along with templates for teams to use.

Jim Walton

AI-Driven Building Management: Efficiency, Cost Savings, and Sustainability

In an era where efficiency and carbon reduction are crucial, AI offers transformative solutions for building management. Advanced AI technologies optimize building systems 24/7 without human intervention, continuously observing and analyzing data to identify and implement energy-saving opportunities in real-time. By considering energy usage patterns, weather, and occupancy predictions, AI ensures optimal performance and comfort. This presentation will demonstrate how AI can significantly reduce HVAC energy costs and carbon footprints, delivering measurable results including up to a 25% reduction in HVAC energy costs and a 20-40% decrease in carbon footprint. Learn how this scalable, cloud-based service can transform your building portfolio, delivering tangible ROI and advancing a sustainable built environment.

Edmund Post

It’s Not The Heat, It’s The Humidity: Using Desiccant DOAS to Save Costs, Reduce Emissions, While Increasing Comfort

In hot and humid climates, managing latent heat loads represents one of the most significant challenges for commercial building energy efficiency. Conventional HVAC systems often struggle with humidity control, leading to excessive energy consumption and compromised indoor air quality. Transaera is introducing an innovative approach using electric heat pump dedicated outdoor air systems (DOAS) with proprietary novel desiccant materials, which reduces HVAC energy consumption by approximately 40% in commercial buildings compared to conventional equipment.

By separating dehumidification from cooling processes, these systems address one of the most energy and emissions-intensive aspects of building operations, with around 50% of cooling energy being used for dehumidifying outdoor air.

Attendees will learn the technical principles behind this innovative humidity management approach, understand the practical considerations for both new construction integration and retrofit applications in buildings, and gain insights into implementation strategies for various building types, leading to significant savings and increased building value.

Christopher Sidwa

Bottles to Buildings: a circular solution for decarbonizing concrete using waste glass

At Urban Mining Industries, our mission is to use society’s waste to both decarbonize and increase the performance of concrete. Concrete is the most used man-made resource on earth, and as such, decarbonization solutions need to be large scale to have an impact. And they need to be brought to market fast to limit the ongoing emissions impact of the built environment. Glass is a useful material, but due to a lack of end users, the US still landfills over 2/3 of all consumer packaging, and even more plate, solar and other glass. Urban Mining has a unique, circular solution that keeps unwanted glass out of landfills turning it into a cement replacement in concrete that produces stronger, more resilient concrete while preserving landfill space and saving society money on disposal. Let us show you how we improve concrete on a scale to service the largest construction projects while maximizing ecological and climate outcomes.

Monique Owens

PERFORM: A Tool for Portfolio-Wide Sustainability Goals

Explore how USGBC’s PERFORM empowers real estate portfolios to set and verify sustainability targets across existing buildings. The tool enables users to set and track customized goals for emissions, energy, water, and more, using user-defined benchmarks that align with their unique priorities.

Annissa Flickinger

Gund Hall

Harvard University’s Gund Hall, celebrated for its innovative design and significance in architectural education, recently underwent a comprehensive renovation to modernize its aging infrastructure while addressing critical environmental inefficiencies. As part of this transformation, Vitro Architectural Glass played a central role in enhancing the building’s energy performance, interior comfort and aesthetic appeal. The renovation featured advanced glass technologies, including VacuMax™ Vacuum Insulating Glass (VIG), Solarban® solar control low-e coatings, Acuity® low-iron glass and Solargray® tinted glass by Vitro.

Together, these high-performance products significantly improved thermal insulation, reduced energy consumption and optimized interior light quality—all without compromising the building’s distinctive character. Gund Hall has long been an architectural icon, and this upgrade sets a new benchmark for sustainable renovations in academic spaces. By seamlessly blending functionality, sustainability and design integrity, this project exemplifies how modern materials can breathe new life into historic structures while preparing them for a more energy-efficient future.

Roselin Osser and Axel Jeremie

NYU’s Rubin Hall Decarbonization

New York University (NYU)’s Rubin Hall is a 155,000 sf, 17 story building with 255 residential units that serve undergraduate students, originally constructed in 1925. This presentation describes the renovation of Rubin Hall to achieve Passive House for retrofit applications (EnerPHit), while meeting requirements of both Local Law 97 and the Landmarks Preservation Commission with an all-electric HVAC design. Originally lacking both cooling and mechanical ventilation, the design team overcame many challenges including space limitations and historical requirements to achieve energy efficient full conditioning, with excellent thermal comfort and indoor air quality. In partnership with aggressive improvements in envelope thermal performance and airtightness, the HVAC system was designed as a centralized air to water heat pump plant and water to water domestic hot water heat pump. Throughout the decarbonization planning process, energy modeling was used to inform design choices.