Expanding Our Platform | Investing In Improving the Comfort and Quality of Life

By Louis Areniello

One of our sponsors Aircuity has launched a new 2.0 platform. Since its launch in 2000, Aircuity has been a leader in demand control ventilation and indoor environmental quality solutions. The new Aircuity 2.0 is made for a variety of commercial buildings to reduce energy costs, increase productivity for a smart building strategy. Aircuity 2.0 does include a new app called MyAircuity, which delivers insight and accountability to building owners and facility managers wanting controlled ventilation. This is one of the highest total return on investment energy conservation measures available today. Aircuity will also be working with their customers to migrate its portfolio, which is over 700 installations in 17 countries. The new Aircuity 2.0 was designed with migration as priority so the process takes as fast as 30 minutes per system. Aircuity 2.0 continues to show that Aircuity is the most effective and efficient airside solution available.

 

Committed To The Health Of One

By USGBC MA Communications

Committed to the health of one

 

Committed to the health of one” introduces a focus in our commitment to sustainability that centres around all aspects that concern your health, well-being and comfort in relation to our products and services, today as well as for future generations.

 

Health and safety

In safe indoor environments floors are non-toxic, low emitting and compliant to all international standards. On top of this, a safe floor is designed to prevent accidents,

guiding the visually impaired and comforting dementia patients, just as it creates a safe environment in cleanroom facilities and operating theatres.


 

 

 

 

 

 

Health & Hygiene

Hygienic flooring solutions are designed to be easy to clean, controlling fine dust in one environment and preventing allergies in another. Hygienic flooring solutions are specific to the application, whether it is a high tech clean room with sensitive equipment, a healthcare institution with a focus on infection control, or a day care centre where floors are a base for play and games. And do not forget perhaps the most important of all: quality entrance flooring systems that prevent dirt and dust from getting into the building in the first place.

 

Health & Well-Being


A state of well-being and comfort can be achieved by being in control of factors that stimulate the senses in the indoor environment. As such floors contribute to the acoustic quality, they play a part in the thermal comfort of the room as well as in enhancing the natural light sources available, or natural materials that contribute to the environment and reduce stress. Through their colour and design floors are capable of creating the atmosphere of an indoor space, making people feel relaxed and comfortable or vibrant and energetic. Above all we believe that natural and sustainable materials provide the best basis for long term health and well-being.

 

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School Building Tour

By Emily Kingston


Yesterday, approximately 40 professionals from the green building industry joined together to take a tour of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. School in Cambridge, MA. Led by Jana Silsby of ‎Perkins Eastman, the highlight of the tour was a very impressive solar PV system (pictured on the left). Although the school's budget couldn't allow for a net-zero design, the school itself is still 82% more energy efficient than the average elementary school, a remarkable accomplishment for Cambridge's green, net-zero effort.

Coupled with the solar PV system, the school also installed a multitude of energy efficiency initiatives including over 60 geothermal wells, daylight-harvesting windows, and a gray water storage system. Another impactful initiative Jana mentioned was that the students will be involved in learning about the importance of green building through their own school's design. The teachers plan to incorporate the buildings' water and energy consumption into the curriculum in order to assimilate the children into Cambridge's net zero way of thinking. In addition to the curriculum, students are also involved in the green effort through the school's garden, establishing a fascinating synergy between nature, the students, and their own city. 


Wayne J. Griffin Electric Inc., the contractor of the school's rebuilding, hired CivicSolar and Zapotec Energy to collaborate on the building's design, engineering, and construction, creating an environmental model that will definitely have an impact on future buildings, especially in Massachusetts. 

The USGBC MA sends a huge thank you to everyone who participated in this tour, both attendees and people involved in the project!

Arnold Arboretum Clean-Up Day: Love your Block

By Aminah McNulty


Thank you to our volunteers who came out to support the EPMA Arnold Arboretum Clean-Up Day: Love Your Block. We were joined by Nina Brown, President of the Arboretum Park Conservancy (APC), Ginnie Marcotte, Sally Muspratt, both APC board members, and a handful of other dedicated volunteers.

Nina Brown gave us a brief overview of the history of the Bussey Brook Meadow and Blackwell Footpath which connects the Forest Hills MBTA Station to the Arboretum’s original South Street Gate.

We split into two groups to tackle the clean-up. Group 1 collected trash from around the meadow, while Group 2 tackled the invasive species cluttering the slope abutting the MBTA Commuter Rail. We pulled mammoth vines of Oriental Bittersweet, a woody vine that can grow up to 60 feet long with up to 6 inches in diameter, away from the suffocating native oak and maple trees. With sharp clippers and prodigious upper body strength, we cut the vines at waist height to both untangle them moving up the tree and pull them up from the root. My favorite lesson from the Clean-Up was on using the orange weed wrench. We were able to pull roots that spanned over four feet into the ground!

After the satisfaction of our clean-up, we headed over to the main Arboretum path to enjoy the flowers and activities of Lilac Saturday. We look forward to seeing you at next year’s clean-up!

 

 

 

Facades+ Boston Conference on High-Performance Building Enclosures 6/6

By USGBC MA


Facades+ returns for the second time to Boston on June 6th, 2017 with an expanded day-long program. Facades+ brings together top professionals from the worlds of architecture, design, engineering, fabrication, and construction to consider how high-performance envelopes contribute to and are shaped by Boston’s unique architectural priorities. 

The morning forum features industry leaders speaking on topics such as utilizing urban and building data for responsive design, creating new high-profile buildings that transform both the skyline and streetscape. Leading practitioners will also speak on best practices for improving building performance in retrofits and historical preservation projects.

The afternoon workshops continue the dialogue in a more intimate setting with experts working through deep-diving case studies on Performance Facades, Integrating Digital Workflows, and Emerging Technologies in Additive Manufacturing for Architecture.

We're excited to be involved with this awesome conference. The Chair of our Board, Andrea Love of Payette, will be one of the presenters at the Modernist Performance Retrofits Panel.

Hosted by The Architect's Newspaper and Brad Prestbo of Sasaki Associates.
See the full program and register today at facadesplus.com.
 

Announcing the Second Round of Sponsors for the Green Building Showcase

By Alexander Landa


It's a great way to start a Monday morning – by announcing our second round of Sponsors for the 2017 Annual Green Building Showcase on June 15th! These groups help make the event happen, and we want to thank them for joining us. This event isn't just our biggest one of the year, but it's the one where we get to show-off everything that our community has done in the past year. Everyone involved deserves a fun night to celebrate their achievements, and the Showcase is our platform for that. 

Please welcome Millennium Partners as a Gold Sponsor, and Bruner/Cott, Vanderweil, and Mitsubishi as Bronze Sponsors. 

Special shoutout to LendLease, National Grid, and Eversource for joining as Platinum Sponsors! More info on these partnerships coming soon.

They join Gerding Edlen, AHA, The Green Engineer, Finegold Alexander, and Elkus Manfredi. 

For more on Showcase sponsors, see our Sponsor page, and the first round of sponsors here.

Platinum:



Gold:


Bronze:




 

Excel Dryer Leads The Way In Global Environmental Product Declarations

By Rebecca Collins

 


USGBC MA is proud to have such a diverse set of sponsoring partners committed to sustainability and transforming the green building industry. Excel Dryer, creator of the high-speed, energy-efficient hand dryer category, is one such partner. In August of last year, Excel Dryer published the industry’s first dry time and energy use results in compliance with the first global Product Category Rule (PCR) published by UL Environment (a business division of Underwriters’ Laboratories). This was the first step toward the development of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), type III, independently verified ecolabels that govern one or more product categories. Standardized evaluation guidelines and reporting such as this allows buyers to conduct a more ‘apples-to-apples’ comparison of hand dryers, and ultimately make a more informed decision, based on credible third-party testing and not false claims. 

 

The publication of the global hand dryer PCR was the culmination of more than a year long, data-driven and science-backed process and was the first testing method for hand dryers established through industry consensus. SGS, the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company, was selected by Excel Dryer to test the XLERATOR Hand Dryer models.  The original, patented, high-speed, energy-efficient XLERATOR® Hand Dryer recorded an 8 second dry time and 3.7 Wh of energy per use, while the XLERATOReco® Hand Dryer recorded 10 seconds, 1.7 Wh, respectively, making them the first-published in the industry. 

 

“We are proud to have initiated the development of the first-ever global PCR published by UL Environment,” said Vice President of Marketing at Excel Dryer, William Gagnon, who also served as Chairman of the PCR Project. “Excel Dryer recognized the need to standardize the way products are evaluated by the hand dryer industry on a global scale. This PCR includes testing guidelines established through industry consensus that specify how a hand dryer’s performance is tested for energy use and dry times, both key components to properly reporting their environmental impact. Third-party testing to these guidelines levels the playing field and ushers the hand dryer industry into a new ‘age of transparency.’”

 

“If we say something, we can back it up,” said Excel Dryer President, Denis Gagnon. “I’m proud to be an American manufacturer of quality products people enjoy using and can depend on. The publication of the first-ever global PCR allows companies to create EPDs which help people compare hand dryers accurately to make a better decision. We make the best hand dryers in the industry and these results prove it.”

 

The hand dryer market, like so many others, is inundated with knockoff products and manufacturers making unsubstantiated claims. Architects and specifiers may approve ‘or equal’ products that are not true equivalents. The same is true for buyers looking to compare and purchase the best product for their facilities. All products need to be evaluated by the same set of rules and reporting guidelines — for hand dryers, that rule is the new, global PCR from UL Environment.

 

For more information about Excel Dryer or its product line, visit exceldryer.com. To learn more about the new, global PCR visit exceldryer.com/pcr.

Meet Our Members: Blake Jackson

By Blake Jackson


I have been a chapter member since 2011, and over that time, I have been a regular participant in various networking events, the mentorship program, and have shown projects within the annual Green Building Showcase. In 2013, I attended GreenBuild – Philadelphia, and after attending their first a day-long summit on Healthy Materials, I was inspired to return and create a regional event in Boston on the same topic – pertinent given our critical mass of healthcare, research, and education institutions, as well as the pool of experts interested in pushing this ethos.

In 2014, I led our inaugural Healthy Materials Summit at Google – Cambridge. This event brought together all stakeholders (interiors, architects, owners, manufacturers, contractors, etc.) under one roof to discuss how each discipline could elevate their share of the materials procurement process within the built environment to better promote health, transparency, and sustainability. I am proud this has become an annual event and one of the chapter’s major fundraisers.

I also help the chapter through supporting professional education. I was one of the first WELL AP’s in MA and am a WELL Faculty, meaning I am a brand ambassador for the system. As such, I have led several WELL Exam Prep workshops where I blend in my personal experience from having worked on a WELL registered and certifying project to illustrate concepts within individual WELL Features.

I continue to endeavor in breaking down artificial barriers between organizations of similar focus, such as the Boston Society of Architects (BSA), in order to create shared events which promote all of our interests to broader, more diverse audiences. This is not only useful in work but is also a great outlet for making professional life fun!

I am an Associate with Stantec, where my title is Sustainability Design Leader. I am a shared northeast regional resource for projects where sustainability, wellness, and/or resiliency are paramount. Additionally, I am a prolific national speaker and author, am active within the BSA as co-chair of COTE and as VP of Advocacy, and I am an adjunct faculty at the Boston Architectural College (BAC) and at Mount Ida College. I am continually inspired by the density of passionate individuals who value sustainability, I am diligently preparing the next generation for more sustainable careers, and I am energized by the potential my new role holds within such a vast organization! To learn more, please refer to www.stantec.com for more information.

More Green For The Home Of The Boston Red Sox

By USGBC MA Communications


It’s not just the hot dogs you’ll be smelling at Fenway this season…

The Boston Globe just spread the word on the new green practices Fenway Park is applying to their stadium!

When you enter Fenway Park, green dominates, from the Green Monster to the luxuriously manicured grass in the field. The home of the Red Sox is bathed in the springtime color.

This year something new — even more green — has become part of the ballpark. Fenway Farms is the new rooftop garden, where ingredients for salads and other dishes will be grown and used on menu items at the EMC Club, operated by Aramark Corp., which oversees the food concessions in the park. A small patch of roof above Yawkey Way behind the Fenway Park sign has been converted to a versatile growing area, which will turn out a variety of herbs and vegetables ranging from arugula to spinach.

Standing in the garden, even during a home game, you’d never know the park downstairs is crowded with cheering fans, aside from the aroma of sausages and onions from the street below. The sunbathed spot must be Fenway’s quietest, and it’s almost comically out of place. Fans in an upper level keep stopping to peek at what’s going on, take pictures, and ask questions about the project.

Adding something to a 1912 building can’t happen without serious planning. “We spent the last year exploring the opportunity,” says Chris Knight, manager of facilities, services, and planning. “We were trying to determine the best location, where would get the most sunlight, and our structural engineer had to determine if the roof could take the weight of the garden.”

According to Knight, it took a little over a month to put the project together after the location was finalized. Produce is grown in dozens of milk crates arranged by crop and watered with a piping system. Knight says two Somerville companies are integral to the project. Recover Green Roofs oversaw the garden’s design and construction; Green City Growers handles the planting and maintenance of the vegetables and herbs. Green City Growers visits the garden twice a week and will be there on May 1 for the first harvest.

Even after Boston’s brutal winter, some plants were shooting out of the soil just a week after the garden opened, and that has Ron Abell, Fenway Park executive chef, very excited. Abell says he changes his menu in the EMC Club with each series, so he’s looking forward to using the organic produce in a variety of ways. “I want to showcase the radishes, pea shoots, and young lettuces, and we’ll do kale salads and braised collard greens in the spring,” says the chef. The bulk of his fresh produce comes from Ward’s Berry Farm in Sharon, and that relationship will continue, but there are advantages to growing ingredients next to the kitchen. “The less miles [produce] has to travel, the less hands it has to go through, the better,” Abell says.

When picturing Fenway, it’s easy to imagine standard ballpark fare, and, says Abell, “We definitely have people that come in and eat sausage and hot dogs.” But the EMC Club features upscale cuisine like bouillabaisse and lobster rolls. “I like to cook as if people are coming for the food and not the game,” says Abell.

“Fans have responded very positively,” says Red Sox executive vice president of business affairs Jonathan Gilula. The Red Sox are owned by John Henry, who also owns the Globe.

The new garden will also serve as a teaching tool for area youth to learn about the benefits of sustainability and healthy eating. To that end, Knight has already received numerous requests from local schools.

Gilula explains that although Fenway Park is historic, management strives to improve it. Turning a previously vacant space into a productive garden is part of that plan. “We’re constantly looking for ways to make the building more fan friendly, sustainable, and operationally efficient,” he says.

Abell consulted with Green City Growers about what they would be planting, and he can’t wait for May 1, when he’ll begin using Fenway-grown ingredients. The space will harvest produce in spring, summer, and fall.

It’s that last season that Abell is most looking forward to. “I’ve already started planning my World Series menu,” he says.

 

The R. W. Kern Center receives AIA and the Committee on the Environment’s (COTE) Top Ten Awards

By Emily Kingston


AIA and the Committee on the Environment (COTE) announced this year’s recipients of the COTE Top Ten Awards, the industry’s premier program celebrating sustainable design excellence. Now in their 21st year, the Top Ten Awards highlight projects that exemplify the integration of great design and great performance. Submissions are required to demonstrate how the project aligns with COTE’s rigorous criteria for social, economic, and ecological value.
(Excerpted from AIA.org)

It was recently announced that the R. W. Kern Center has received AIA and the Committee on the Environment’s (COTE) Top Ten Awards. The R. W. Kern Center was designed by Bruner/Cott Architects of Boston, with construction management by Wright Builders. Congratulations to all.