LEED v4 is approved!

By Grey Lee

by Grey Lee
 

Photo credit: USGBC.org

Members of the USGBC accepted the next version of our flagship building rating system, LEEDv4, with 86% voting in favor. The new system will be officially launched at Greenbuild 2013 in Philadelphia. Changes to the GA/AP exam, documentation materials, and LEED Online will occur over the coming months with much timed to coordinate with Greenbuild. Our LEED Study Group program will continue to focus on fundamentals of green building and the LEED system, with information relating to v4 as that becomes available from USGBC National.  

 
With the approval of the new version, USGBC is soliciting entries of new projects to use the new system in a beta test of LEEDv4. If you register your project in the new system, you will benefit from hands-on support from USGBC and if your project attains Platinum, the fees could be waived.
 

Individuals from over 1200 USGBC Member firms joined the “consensus body” to be eligible to vote, and only 10% voted against LEEDv4 (with 4% abstentions). The USGBC benefited from gleaning comments from many voters and will be using those critical observations to improve the system as it is fine-tuned into implementation. LEEDv4 will help take the LEED brand global, simplify some aspects of project documentation, and enable the system to evaluate building design paths and products more quantitatively.

 

The current system of LEED, v2009, will be available for teams to register projects  with until the end of May, 2015. After 6/1/15, LEEDv4 will be the only system you can register projects with. 

 

If you are interested in reading more about the concerns of some of the naysayers, BuildingGreen posted a great article looking at the issue here.

 

We are looking forward to celebrating the first LEEDv4 registrant in Massachusetts – let us know if you are involved in a prospect!

Thank you USGBC National Members!

By Grey Lee

 

I recently sent out a note to all the USGBC National Members in the Commonwealth. It's a great group of almost 400 seriously green organizations!

Hello, I wanted to say thank you to your firm for being part of the USGBC. Together, we are a powerful force for the transformation of our built environment toward sustainability. Green buildings are making a positive difference in the health and welfare of our communities and the world around us.

I appreciate that you and your firm connect with our vision: “buildings and communities will regenerate and sustain the health and vitality of all life within a generation.” This is a big challenge! I'm glad we're working on this together.

I run the Massachusetts Chapter of the USGBC and we organize educational and networking events to improve the professional cadre in the green building industry. We foster a sense of community that continually grows our influence to advocate for market adoption and regulatory support of green buildings and sustainable design. We serve as a hub for information on the state of the industry and a 

connecting place for stakeholders. 
 
Thank you especially to your peer USGBC National member organizations who are among our Chapter Sponsors: AHA Consulting Engineers, Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, F.D. Sterritt Lumber Co., Nitsch Engineering and National Grid.
 
Many of your employees are LEED AP & GAs – over 5000 in the state! Many are members of the local Massachusetts Chapter of the USGBC. Firms join the National USGBC, while individuals join the local Chapter. We are a very active and dedicated group. We have a monthly networking meeting on Tuesday, 7/16 in Boston. 
 
I'm interested in learning how could I connect with more of your colleagues at your firm and let them know about more of our activities and events. I'm constantly trying to grow the connections in our community in order to strengthen our effectiveness toward our vision.
 
Let me know if you have an internal newsletter or announcement system, where you might be on social media, or otherwise. I hope we can cross-promote events, and I hope I can convince you and some of the people at your organization to engage with the USGBC MA Chapter.
 
Thank you again for your continued participation with the USGBC at the national level; I look forward to meeting you and/or your peers through activities in Massachusetts through the local Chapter.
 
All the best,
Grey Lee

LEED EBOM and NC helping ensure that all parts of state can benefit from green practices and policies

By Grey Lee

USGBC MA's Executive Director, Grey Lee, is a monthly contributor to the New England Real Estate Journal's Green Building Section. Their latest issue can be accessed here. Read Grey's article below!
 

LEED EBOM and NC helping ensure that all parts of state can benefit from green practices and policies

 

 

 

There is over 500 million s/f of existing commercial & institutional buildings in Mass. and we have certified about 50 million s/f. during the 15 years since LEED’s first version. There are about 2.8 million housing units in the state and we’ve certified only a few thousand…clearly we have work to do! Our mission is to see everyone work, live, play and study in green buildings within this generation. Thousands of building professionals are part of this work.
 
Using LEED, owners and occupiers can validate the effort they put into a building’s design and operation. The rating system is a useful tool to ensure all parties have made their best contribution to the achievement of a superior facility. Recently, more standing buildings have been certified using the Existing Building Operation & Maintenance (LEED EBOM) system than newly constructed buildings (LEED NC). EBOM ensures that the massive existing building stock has a pathway to improved performance.
 
The USGBC created the LEED building rating system to create a defined process that results in buildings that are more valuable and environmentally responsible than conventional peers. The system is managed by a democratic process, welcoming all stakeholders into a voting body that periodically reviews the system. The process has resulted in a strong, broadly-adopted and useful mechanism to evaluate buildings and improve the experience of building users.
 
The Mass. Chapter of the USGBC promotes the achievement of high-performing green buildings throughout the state. We convene the community of practitioners and stakeholders to advocate for market adoption and legislative support of green buildings, we educate the public about the advantages of green buildings and we provide service to our community to ensure all parts of the state can benefit from these practices and policies.
 

 

We will be hosting a LEED celebration in September and are actively seeking projects that have been certified in the past year to showcase LEED achievements and honor the work of the teams that have put these projects together. Please contact us if you have facility that can host 150 people in a recently certified LEED building! We also provide a lot of great networking opportunities: join us for our FREE “Summer Social” on July 16th at the Knoll (LEED Platinum) showroom in Boston. Details are on our website. We hope to see you there!

 

Cast your Ballot for LEEDV4 by June 30th!

By Jim Newman

 
 
Are you a member of the consensus body for LEED Version 4? Have you cast your ballot yet? What am I talking about? Remember, voting ends June 30th.
 
 
 
The process of affirming the next version of the LEED rating systems, known as LEED V4 for each of the current rating systems, is coming to it's conclusion. There have been 6 public comment periods, where USGBC members who joined the Consensus Body (as the group that was empowered to post comments was called) could comment directly on proposed credits and changes. Interested individuals could also post comments on special forums on LEEDuser.com which were shared with USGBC staff and the volunteer Technical Advisory Groups (TAGs) working on the new versions.
 
Now, the new rating systems are up for a vote; including the specialty systems in each of the following categories:
  • Building Design & Construction,
  • Interior Design & Construction,
  • Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance,
  • Neighborhood Development,  
  • Homes
In order to cast a vote, you need to work for a USGBC member organization, and have opted in to the voting consensus body for this ballot. If you have done this, then you can proceed to vote. Voting ends on June 30th, so NOW is the time.
 
Several great reviews of the important changes in the new rating systems are available. As usual, LEEDuser.com has some of the best information, including a review of key changes in BD&C and a review of LEED V4 EB: O+M.  LEEDuser also has a number of good discussions of the big issues in the new credits and language, such as Chemical Industry Attacks LEED.
 
USGBC also has some great resources for understanding the new rating systems under ballot. There are clearly written summaries of changes between LEED 2009 and LEED V4 rating systems on USGBC's website, webinars explaining each system, and new resource guides coming soon. So there is no reason to wait to learn about V4. 
 
And remember to vote by June 30th. 
 

Say Goodbye to the Incandescent Lamp – and perhaps the CFL?

By Grey Lee

by Chris Liston
 
Say goodbye to the incandescent lamp – and perhaps the CFL? As the federal government continues to phase-out A-type incandescent light bulbs, a price war between Cree Lighting and Philips Lighting has pushed the life-cycle cost of A-type LEDs below the life-cycle cost of A-type CFLs. 
                                            greensavingsco.com
 
The A-type light bulb is the most common type of lamp uses in Massachusetts homes. Under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), the 100-watt incandescent was phased-out in 2012, the 75-watt incandescent will be phased out in 2013 and the 40-watt and 60-watt incandescent will be phased out in 2014. Since EISA was announced, LED manufacturers have been scrambling to develop cost-effective alternatives. 
 
In March 2013, Cree Lighting shattered LED price points with a 9.5-watt A-type LED at a cost just under $15 and Philips responded by lowering the price point of its own A-type LED. As of June 2013 Home Depot locations in Massachusetts are carrying the Cree 9.5-watt LED (60-watt equivalent) for $12.97 and the Philips 12.5-watt LED (60-watt equivalent) for $10.97. Analysts expect these prices to fall below the $10 mark sometime before the end of the year. 
 
How is a $13 LED less expensive than a $5 CFL? The answer is in the life-cycle cost. Over a 25,000 hour period a 9.5-watt LED will cost approximately $51 in lamp costs and energy costs. Over the same period a 13-watt CFL will cost approximately $61 in lamp costs and energy costs. When Philips and Cree dropped below the $15 price point, LEDs became a better financial investment than CFLs. 
 
Life-cycle cost analysis remains a difficult sell for budget conscious consumers. When CFLs hit the market in the mid-1990s they retailed for $20-$30 and claimed a $40 savings over the life of the lamp, but by 1999 incandescent lamps still outsold CFLs 25-to-1. In a similar trend, analysts expect LED sales to surpass CFL sales sometime between 2018 and 2020.
 

Fun Networking at Knoll!

By Grey Lee

Last night we had the first in our new series of Networking Nights for the USGBC MA Chapter in Boston.

 
Knoll – furniture provisioner extraordinaire – provided their LEED Platinum showroom space and a full array of beverages and food for our community. It was a great night for making new connections – I came across the EDF, Spaulding Rehab, a neighbor from an office just upstairs from mine, and met a recent arrival who's only been in Boston two weeks but was part of another Chapter in the midwest and is ready to help out with our crew! Thanks!
 
And major thank you to Knoll, in particular Jamie Stuono, the Showroom Manager, for making everything come together, and to Andrea Coan, Arch. & Design Manager, for organizing the event and presenting about Knoll. It was great to learn about the features of the space and how the points all came together to earn the highest rating from the USGBC. 
 
I enjoyed speaking with Andrea about Knoll – how it started with a German refugee in 1939 – Hans Knoll – who brought the Bauhaus design approach to furniture, making a great impression in the US. He was part of a community of forward-thinking designers including the Eames and Eliel Saarinen. The firm started with furniture but expanded into interior design and now full office systems. They innovated in the business by not having designers in-house but rather contracting with the “creatives” to always have new ideas coming from outside the organization. 
 
She highlighted a favorite piece of hers: a table in the “antennae” product line. The design team had previously worked on subway systems – trains, gate-access systems (I would call them turnstiles but I know that's not really what they are anymore), but who Knoll pursued to work on a line of furniture. The table is classy and clean, but does not look anything like a subway train!
 
Below is our Green Schools Program Manager, Steve Muzzy, using his hands to explain how wonderful the Green Apple Day of Service is going to be, this September, and how everyone could get involved.

 
 

Thanks Knoll and everyone for coming out last night! We look forward to the next time – which will be our “Summer Social” on July 16th, again a Tuesday night at Knoll. 

 
See you there! More Green Buildings!
 
-Grey Lee
 

Platinum Tour of the UTEC in Lowell

By Grey Lee

In June 12th, the Emerging Professionals (EPMA) hosted a green building tour and networking night in Lowell.

United Teen Equality Center (UTEC) was the venue and provided a great opportunity to see a LEED Platinum facility. It is actually the oldest building to go through to LEED Platinum.

[more commentary is coming, but here are some pictures:]
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fraunhofer hosted the

By Grey Lee

Fraunhofer hosted the Climate, Mind & Behavior Program June gathering of the Garrison Institute's Boston Hub. We had about 25 people come out to their new facility at 5 Channel Center Street in the Innovation District. Fraunhofer performs a lot of research on buildings and building systems.
 

 
 
Kurt Roth, Fraunhofer's Director of Building Energy Systems Research Group, presented on the “moral licensing” effect of water conservation efforts on electricity use. In their study, an apartment complex where an outreach effort to reduce water was successful, unfortunately, electricity use increased. 
 
 
Dallase Scott, Sustainability Programs Manager at GreenerU, showed us research they have done at a university to show that comprehensive outreach efforts do indeed help students embrace new behavior patterns. She described the opportunity in the first semester, to engage with students who are in the process of redefining themselves. The new habits, esp. around energy conservation, they can create then will last a lifetime. 
 
 
The group discussed the science of behavior change and outreach and had a lot of good things to share with each other. Thank you to Fraunhofer for hosting us and to the Garrison Institute for providing refreshments.
 
 
 
The Climate, Mind & Behavior Boston Hub will continue: we are hosting our next program on September 25th – hold the date! We welcome suggestions of future presentations. We want to hear from researchers who can answer the following questions –
 
o   What is the thesis statement?
o   How did you test it?
o   What were the outcomes?
§  What worked
§  What didn’t
o   What are your disclaimers ?
o   What would you have added/what is still missing?
o   How would results from this study be integrated into the field?
 
Below: Local organizers: Kurt Roth, Bonnie Bentzin, Dallase Scott, Grey Lee and Ed Connelly
 
Please contact Adam Meier (program coordinator) at adamm@garrisoninstitute.org if you are interested in presenting. Thank you!
 
From Kurt Roth:
“For better or for worse? Empirical evidence of moral licensing in a behavioral energy conservation campaign”
 
Environmental campaigns focusing on target behaviors are rolled out to millions of households. Yet it is not clear if these programs lead to adoption of additional environment-friendly behaviors (positive spillover) or reduced engagement in other environmental domains. We conducted a controlled field study to determine if positive or unintended contrary side effects dominate by evaluating the impact of a water conservation campaign on electricity consumption. We use daily water and weekly electricity consumption data of 154 apartments in a multifamily residential building. The results show that residents who received weekly feedback on their water consumption lowered their water use, but increased their electricity consumption by 5.6% relative to the control group. Our findings are consistent with moral licensing behavior. In the future, we recommend taking a more comprehensive view in environmental program design/evaluation to attempt to mitigate such unintended effects.
 
 
From Dallase Scott:
“Knowing the Full Story: The Process for Effective Program Evaluation”
 
This presentation will provide participants with an overview of a year-long study that evaluated the effectiveness of a behavior campaign to reduce energy use in dorms. In this study  four dorms at Brown University received dorm efficiency and control upgrades. Only students in two of the dorms received a targeted behavior campaign  along with the new upgrades. Building energy use, window opening behaviors and awareness and attitudes were examined  between the control and targeted dorms.  During this presentation, we will review the process of 1-Choosing a short term objective to be examined. 2-Choosing an appropriate research design, given constraints and capacities. 3- Determining measurable indicators of success for project objectives. 4-Collecting and analyzing information to identify program impacts.

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

Networking Nights are Back!

By Grey Lee

It's time to connect. Join your fellow Green Building professionals and enthusiasts for an informal evening of networking on June 18th. Don't miss this chance to re-launch our energizing series of monthly gatherings designed to bring you together with others who are as passionate about sustainability as you are.

Chapter Silver Partner Knoll has generously agreed to sponsor our networking sessions and host us at their showroom space in the Innovation District of Boston. This month, Andrea Coan will speak briefly at 6:00 to give us highlights of the LEED Platinum space. Appetizers and drinks will be provided.
 

The Knoll Offices and Showroom at 281 Summer Street, Boston, MA was awarded LEED Platinum certification in 2012

Doors open at 5:30 and stay open until 7:00. This is an informal gathering so please come and go as you please. No worries if you are late or have to leave early.

Register now through the Chapter web site. We look forward to seeing you there!