Have you ever wondered where your trash ends up? I live in Downtown Boston, and twice-weekly a garbage truck comes through my North End neighborhood and picks up my trash. It magically disappears, but where does it go? Do you know where your trash goes? If you did know, would it change your behavior for how you handle your waste and recycling? What are the impacts on the environment – both inside and outside our cities?
Greenbuild’s Greening Committee wants to know the answers to these questions. Each year, Greenbuild challenges itself to walk the talk of sustainability. This year’s attendance goal of 30,000 means a lot of trash at our convention center in Boston, Massachusetts. How much trash will you put on the pile at Greenbuild 2017? USGBC plans to find out while also engaging student volunteers to provide program information, or “talking trash,” at each waste and recycling station on the convention trade show floor.
So, what kind of trash talk will be happening? In the months leading up to and at Greenbuild, our committee will be talking about WasteWise, a program developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. WasteWise helps organizations reduce their impact on global climate change through waste reduction. WasteWise also gives you a guide to tracking waste in EnergyStar Portfolio Manager. The WasteWise program will be the foundation for “talking trash” points at Greenbuild 2017.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is targeting a 30% reduction of trash by 2020 and 80% reduction by 2050 from a 2008 baseline. As of 2015, Massachusetts saw a 16% reduction. Like many other states across the U.S., Massachusetts is challenged with what do with its trash. The Commonwealth sends its waste to municipal landfills, incineration stations, and other states via waste-by-rail. On the bright side, recycling has been a tremendous success in the Commonwealth. Another great initiative is “waste to energy” programs. Expect to learn more about the Commonwealth’s waste and recycling programs from Greenbuild 2017’s “talking trash” initiative.
The City of Boston will play a critical role in the Commonwealth’s waste reduction goals. Greenovate is “Mayor Walsh’s initiative to get all Bostonians involved in eliminating pollution…” My first involvement with Greenovate was acting as the energy efficiency and renewable energy manager for the City of Boston. Waste diversion strategies live within Greenovate’s Climate Action Plan. The City of Boston’s waste and recycling programs will be “talking trash” points at Greenbuild 2017.
What is Greenbuild 2017’s plan for waste diversion and how can you participate? USGBC has a goal of moving Greenbuild towards a Zero Waste Event. In 2015, Greenbuild had an 84% waste diversion rate. This reached 90% in LA last year. How can we eliminate the last 10%? The Greening Committee believes the answers are education, innovation, and the will to do good for future generations. We’ll provide the education, you provide the innovation, and we will collaborate towards a waste-free future. Go ahead, talk some trash on @USGBCMA @USGBC @ToddIsherwood (Todd Isherwood LEED AP, Co-Chair of Greening Greenbuild 2017.)
Brooklyn’s First New Office and Production Development in over 40 years, Developed by Rubenstein Partners and Heritage Equity Partners, Achieves WiredScore’s Highest Certification
WiredScore, the company behind the world’s leading rating system for technological capacity in commercial buildings, together with developers Rubenstein Partners and Heritage Equity Partners, announced today that 25 Kent, an eight-story Class A office development, has achieved Wired Certified Platinum designation in recognition of its outstanding connectivity, technological infrastructure and readiness to adopt emerging technologies. 25 Kent will be the first ground-up development in Brooklyn to be Wired Certified Platinum, and the first property in Williamsburg to be Wired Certified at any level.
WiredScore is the pioneer behind the Wired Certification standard that evaluates and distinguishes best-in-class Internet connectivity in commercial buildings. The Wired Certification is a standard trusted by tenants internationally to verify that buildings have been independently evaluated and certified to provide the Internet infrastructure that businesses require to thrive.
25 Kent will feature ground-level retail, underground parking, and a rooftop green terrace in addition to outdoor terraces on each of its eight floors. Interiors will include multiple elevators, a 24/7 attended security desk, card access control system, and lifestyle amenities such as tenant bike storage, lockers, and on-site shower facilities. In addition to the Wired Certified Platinum designation, the property boasts LEED Gold certification.
On Friday, April 14th, EPMA partnered with the Northeastern University Energy Systems Society to host local students for a night of learning and networking. We discussed opportunities and challenges that arise as internet connected household technologies become commonplace.
Emerging Professionals committee members May Dussadeevutikul and Oliver Bautista gave an informative presentation, covering how innovations in connected household products present opportunities to enhance the interaction between buildings and people.
Sensors, cameras, and connected products give users the power to monitor and control their homes for a highly personalized experience. A variety of modern gadgets can communicate with each other and their surroundings to create a seamless hi-tech home environment.
Students questioned the advantages to energy efficiency, accessibility, and security, as well as challenges that are likely to arise with emerging technologies. After the presentation, the conversation continued regarding expectations and predictions for the smart homes industry, and the potential impact of the Internet of Things on the environmental performance of buildings.
The Residential Green Building Committee met on April 10th, 2017. We had a guest presentation from Dan Arons, co-founder of Architerra, speak on the challenges and obsessions related to the project cycle of green buildings. Dan has more than 25 years of experience as an architect, and he is also a founder of the USGBC Education Committee. Architerra is an architecture firm based in Boston, MA, focused on sustainable design.
Dan presented 10 key elements to focus on during a project cycle, based on his experience as an architect:
Integration from start to finish: How do the desires of the end customers, architecture firm, and all other players come together
Define boundaries loosely: You will discover new paths to reach your end goal along the way, even if they weren’t obvious from the start. Be open to changing directions mid-way through
Energy and Occupancy Modeling: Dan says the biggest challenge of green buildings, is understanding how people are going to use the building (how often and how many people)
Mock-up for Constructability: “Try it before you buy it”
Test the Mock-up: Primarily for the performance. Dan says they air test all their mock-ups
Define Building Envelope Intent: Ensure the end customer’s goals are set from the beginning
Coordinate Continuously: Communicating with all parties involved
Commission with Full Team: Always best, so everyone is on the same page on how the building will operate
Address Economics of Renewable Sources: Renewables may be the golden ticket to get a building to Net Zero
Opportunity to Act Locally or Nationally: Get involved on the local level, keep fighting the good fight
These steps are essential, as Dan emphasized the challenges with coordination and sequencing during project cycles. The committee asked some great questions after the presentation and learned some more about specific projects Dan has completed.
We continued our discussion around internal projects we are working on, and encourage more folks to join our next committee meeting to learn about what we are up to! Join us on May 8th!
USGBC National recently contributed to UN Habitat's Building Sustainability Assessment and Benchmarking report. This report covers the impacts of buildings on the environment, especially in regards to climate emissions, discusses the benefits of benchmarking through systems such as LEED, and the political, social, and economic factors impacting the development of building sustainability around the world. Successfully reducing emissions from and creating accurate assessment tools for the built environment will be critical in achieving international climate change mitigation agreements including the Paris Agreement
USGBC has worked diligently to expand LEED awareness and advocate for a safer and cleaner world. At the end of 2016, USGBC released a list of the top countries and regions with total LEED certification outside of the US. This showed that outside of North America, China and Southeast Asia have the most LEED projects followed by Europe, Russia, and Latin America. Northern Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia have the next most and leed certified space and Sub-Saharan African, Australia and Oceania make up the rear. China recently surpassed an impressive milestone by certifying over 1,000 LEED buildings and continues to build more. Mahesh Ramanujam, president and CEO of USGBC and GBCI recently expressed the impressive impact of LEED around the globe and the ever growing number of opportunities for climate change mitigation and sustainable building.
Overall, USGBC continues to promote and advocate for LEED and sustainable building practices at a global level. It supports the UN Habitat’s mission and believes in expanding equitable sustainability throughout communities and societies around the world. Taking a more holistic approach in the over 160 countries with LEED will not only accelerate progress on initiatives like net zero buildings, carbon pricing policies, and climate adaptation, but it will further global understanding of environmental protection and understanding for such policies' lifelong benefits.
What makes a building tic? How much goes into designing a high-end, sustainable apartment complex? The Eddy in Boston is a state-of-the-art building in East Boston and it's proof that apartments can be both beautiful and good for the environment.
Join us for a tour of Gerding Edlen's innovative, 250-unit residential complex with direct access to LoPresti Park, a city green space where residents and their families gather to relax, engage in water activities as well as enjoy the unmatched views of the city skyline. The Eddy has a state of the art co-generation plant on site which generates the electricity and hot water for the building.
The tour will circuit the mechanical rooms, co-gen plant, common spaces as well as the roof deck.
Speaking of the roof deck, once the tour concludes, Gerding Edlen will host an outdoors networking gathering with food, drinks, and plenty of fun!for 20%
Use the code MAEarthWeek20 for 20% off any ticket type.
