Last Call! LEED For Homes vs Passive House This Thursday!

By Alexander Landa


LEED for Homes and Passive House have quite a few similarities – as well as noticeable differences. For those who are still confused about how these two differ from one another, come to our morning session in Boston this Thursday, December 15th @8:30 AM until 10:00AM to learn more.

Register here!

About the event:

Come to our Passive House and LEED for Homes educational session led by Mike Duclos, regional expert and market leader in Passive House design and Mike Schofield, LEED Faculty and LEED for Homes Expert. We will be comparing and contrasting the two systems and also looking at the market response to each. We will ask the attendees to drive the conversation and allow this expert panel to reflect against each system.

We will take a deep dive into the residential market, what drives change and where we are seeing the most effective strategies for adopting green building. We will also have an opportunity to identify the overlap of the two systems, their philosophies and intents.

For those sustainability experts in the room, we should also be able to outline the value of each system as it relates to Scope 1,2 and 3 GHG calculations and which standard might be more effective for different market segments.

Speakers: Michael Schofield – Senior Project Manager Michael Schofield currently oversees projects across New England, supervising LEED certification and ENERGY STAR® (Homes and High-Rise) ratings of Clearesult’s new construction projects. He directs project managers on building methods and strategies to make improvements cost effective, to create more durable buildings, and to transform the market. Schofield’s work is focused primarily on multifamily and affordable projects. He is certified as LEED faculty and a trainer for ENERGY STAR Homes Version 3. From 2010 to the present, he is delivering trainings on the Energy Code and Smart Building Practices to code officials, builders, and design professionals across Massachusetts. Schofield holds a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts and an M.S. in Energy Analysis & Policy from the University of Wisconsin. He also holds a Massachusetts Construction Supervisor License, and is a Certified Building Commissioning Professional (CBCP).

Mike Duclos – A principal and founder of The DEAP Energy Group, LLC, a consultancy providing a wide variety of Deep Energy Retrofit, Zero Net Energy and Passive House related consulting services.

Mike is a HERS Rater with Mass. Residential New Construction Program, a Building Science Certified Infrared Thermographer, the PHIUS Certified Passive House Consultant responsible for the design and certification of the second certified Passive House in Massachusetts, holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from UMass Lowell, and two patents. He is responsible for two NESEA Building Energy Masters Series Passive House online courses on, and currently has three Passive House certification projects in process.

Register here!

Thursday, December 15th
8:30AM – 10:00AM
50 Milk St, 16th Floor, Edison Room
Boston, MA, 02109

Healthy Materials Sponsor Profile: Triumph Modular

By Alexander Landa


Even a month-and-a-half out of the Healthy Materials Summit, we're still full of momentum thanks to the focus on healthy materials! We're especially thankful for all of the sponsors who helped make the summit happen, and Triumph was a huge component of the event's success.

Triumph specializes in mobile and modular buildings throughout the Northeastern U.S., including projects ranging from temporary classrooms to permanent housing. We're especially appreciative of their devotion to green building, stating that they deeply consider what makes a building healthier, more energy efficient, its impact on the environment, and considerations for future sustainability.

Their designs feature many sustainable and eco-friendly components, such as focusing on natural lighting, improved air quality, and better acoustics. From the manufacturing standpoint, they use non-toxic and recycled materials and healthier processes. These modular buildings have improved water and energy conservation features, and the design elements align with LEED programs.

Thank you for being a sponsor! We look forward to working with you more in the future.

Interested in Becoming a Mentor or Mentee?

By Alexander Landa


For anyone considering making a larger impact in the green building community, consider becoming a mentor or mentee. Through our mentoring program, you can either help guide someone to unleash their potential, or learn from a distinguished professional yourself.

Established by the USGBC MA Emerging Professionals committee, we believe that these relationships can help connect anyone willing to make a difference in the built environment. 

A 2016 mentee, Katie, had this to say about her experience: The USGBC mentor program successfully brings together people from different professions and in different points in their careers, but with a shared interest in sustainability and green building. My own group consisted of a young professional working at a nonprofit, an experienced sustainability director for a local engineering company, and myself, a civil engineer. Meeting bimonthly gave us a chance to check in with each other, ask for advice, and see how we were all progressing with our professional goals. The support of my group was invaluable this past year, as I transitioned from an engineering career path to one specifically geared toward green building. I am grateful to my group for expanding my network, providing me with advice from an outside perspective, and increasing my self-confidence as a young professional.

If interested, please contact Rebecca Slocum (mentoring@usgbcma.org).

 

Getting to Net Positive: Environmental Advocacy Roundtable: Dec 8

By Grey Lee, Executive Director


Our collaborative Environmental Advocacy Roundtable convened Thursday morning at the BSA Space. Each quarter, the USGBC MA Advocacy Committee and the Boston Society of Architects Government Affairs Committee put together an agenda and host relevant stakeholders. The group synergizes expertise in building science and policy with champions of environmental advocacy. If we can get the buildings to be done the right way, we can respond to a lot of environmental and social challenges.

About 15 leaders at the intersection of green building and sustainability advocacy attended. Represented were: 

  • BSA Committee on the Environment (COTE)
  • USGBC MA
  • BSA Government Affairs Committee (GAC)
  • AIA Massachusetts
  • Sierra Club
  • The Nature Conservancy
  • Metropolitan Area Planning Council
  • Climate Action Business Association
  • Green Realtors
  • Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership

As a roundtable, the group shared the various priorities each organization is focused on for advocacy. This was quite a list – and great to know the breadth of work and how much overlap there is. These overlapping priorities are not really duplication of efforts, as each group is coming from a different angle, but help us to see where we could collaborate more.

Major areas for integrating our advocacy work include:

  • Carbon pricing

Legislation will be introduced on Beacon Hill to continue to advance this notion, starting with a low $10/ton price for carbon. Michael Green of CABA explained the situation. The revenue would be redistributed to taxpayers, though exactly how needs to be determined. Some advocate for larger transportation projects, others to return it at the municipal level. It is important to ensure social equity is balanced in the logistics of a carbon price, both morally and for the practical reason of assembling the political will from a wide variety of affected stakeholders. CABA models indicate it is somewhere between $70-$120M – thus not a huge sum to really fight over, nor to really consider for infrastructure projects. We discussed how environmental policy will shift focus to states and cities as the national arena becomes a no-fly zone for advancing sustainability.

  • Net zero policies and codes and zoning

While net zero legislation similar to last session's S.1771 will probably be introduced, it will also probably go nowhere. Kate Bubriski of the USGBC MA explained how our committee is pushing for municipal-level effort similar to Cambridge. Already, cities and towns like Newton, Lexington, Northampton and Concord have expressed an interest in developing a long-range net zero energy plan. How local efforts bump heads with the single statewide building code will be a problem. AIA MA is exploring “optional” components being added to the code which may help move sustainability improvements closer to requirement, but avoid knee-jerk opposition from the dominant trade groups and safety-focused entities which are the majority on the Board of Building Regulations & Standards. Roundtable members are concerned that this is a very slow process and want to work with municipalities to approach the net zero goal using incentives and zoning. Even micro-zoning.  

  • Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Planning (CAMP) – legislation vs executive order

While the CAMP legislation championed by Senator Pacheco did not make it through Beacon Hill this past session, it did result in the Executive Order 569 “Establishing an Integrated Climate Change Strategy for the Commonwealth.” Sam Milton of USGBC MA described the E.O. as a compromise in the spring during the energy omnibus bill negotiations. Pacheco will be re-introducing and continuing to push forward. The E.O. only applies to state agencies; it can't require any other party to do anything, nor does it authorize any new spending. It also would end whenever the Governor leaves office. We will continue to monitor this – supplying agencies with feedback as the E.O. asks, and to make way for the legislation.

  • Global Warming Solutions Act implementation and regulation promulgation

We analyzed how there are two major areas for advocacy – legislative and regulatory. The Chapter has generally focused on legislation, but AIA MA noted it can be easier to adjust things at the regulatory level. For the landmark Global Warming Solutions legislation, the SJC ruled the Commonwealth would have to get going with implementing regulations to attain the 80% redx of GHGs by 2050 (as per GWSA). The Implementation Advisory Council has formed to support the promulgation of new regs. Steve Long of the Nature Conservancy described how they will be arranging informal info sessions to help concerned parties learn about strategies to reduce GHGs such as natural carbon absorption (forestry and pasture management), resilience, and adaptation. The draft release of the regs, to take public comment, starts 12/16/16 – stay tuned!

Other areas explored included home energy assessments and scoring – perhaps creating a voluntary score registry to avoid the opposition of Mass. Association of Realtors, which feels requiring an assessment would compromise deal flow in the residential market. We discussed the alternative portfolio standard which requires utilities to source energy into the grid from a variety of types of generation, and this may be a way to advantage co-generation from biomass, facilitating renewable thermal energy solutions through the electricity grid. We heard about wood construction and how that could be a good thing for sustainability and conservation, but that it is a wood industry battle to fight against fire safety priorities, rather than the design community. As the technology and applications grow, we will see more reason to monitor this issue.

As we parted, after a fast two hours, we realized MAPC will be following C-PACE to ensure resilience gets into the picture, and CABA is following through on net metering. Sierra Club will continue to promote energy efficiency. AIA MA, among other things noted above, is also looking at zoning reform. You can review the USGBC MA's priorities here

I hope you will join our Advocacy Committee – our meetings are the third Thursday of each month at our headquarters in Boston.

Climate Ready Boston December 2016 Report

By Alexander Landa


Today on December 8th, 2016, the city of Boston government released their December 2016 Climate Ready Boston report. This report is designed to help residents of the city discover resilient solutions to adjust to climate change. Climate change has already affected Boston for the worse, with increased rain, snow, flooding, and extreme heat. CRB worked together with the Green Ribbon Commission and the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management to deliver these findings and analyses.

The results of this work and research have cumulated to address the challenges, leading to the creation of four components:

  • Updated Climate Projects: Examining the four climate factors of extreme temperatures, sea level rise, extreme precipitation, and storms.
  • Vulnerability Assessment: Looking at future risks such as extreme heat, stormwater flooding, and coastal & riverine flooding.
  • Focus Areas: Research focused on Charlestown, Charles River, Dorchester, Downtown, East Boston, Roxbury, South Boston, and South End.
  • Climate Resilience Initiatives: These future plans include updated climate projections, prepared and connected communities, protected shores, resilient infrastructure, and adapted buildings.

Read the full report here.

USGBC MA to Host Sessions at MED|Ed in April

By USGBC MA


We here at the USGBC MA are pleased to announce that we will be sponsoring events at MED|Ed April 4th & 5th at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston. Our sessions are expected to revolve around sustainable, high-performance, and net positive solutions for the built environment. 

Read excerpts from the full press release below: 

The exhibit area will provide opportunities for product manufacturers to display healthy products to the design and construction professionals who attend the event. Visitors will also be interested in sessions produced by USGBC MA which include:

  • LEED v4, Arc, and other USGBC rating and disclosure systems
  • International Living Future Institute (ILFI) – Living Building Challenge
  • Living Community Challenge, Living Product Challenge
  • Net Zero Energy Building Certification, Declare, Just and Reveal
  • Harvard’s LIVING LAB Initiatives
  • Northeastern University Energy Systems Society (NU-ESS)
  • Sustainable Performance Institute
  • WELL Building Standard; Resilient Design Institute
  • And more


Complete descriptions and additional sessions are available at http://www.mededboston.com. Grey Lee, Executive Director, describes USGBC MA activities for better buildings and corresponding environmental and social benefits. “We know buildings are better when they are certified through the LEED system, the WELL system, and when they achieve the Living Building Challenge and associated petal challenges. Utilization of the EPA's Energy Star system and other similar tools combine to improve building operations and management. Using various components of the broad matrix of building assessment processes leads to reduced energy use and corresponding greenhouse gas reductions, reduced water consumption, reduced toxicity and improved indoor environments for occupants. These environmental and social benefits are shared by many of our peer organizations, professional associations, and municipal and state jurisdictions, leading to sustainability for our communities.”

Richard Vendola, MED|Ed Facilities Boston Principal notes, “To support our goal to deliver high-performance green and sustainable building solutions to every member of the New England design and construction team, we are thrilled to expand our educational and product offerings in mechanical systems and engineering. USGBC MA is a front runner in educating the industry in this important area to improve the health of our planet. We are happy to have USGBC MA’s assistance in expanding the knowledge of our attendees in this discipline and directing them to healthy material resources.”

About MED|Ed Facilities ®
MED|Ed Facilities is produced in collaboration with Tradeshow Management Services, Ltd. (TMS), a full-service tradeshow company specializing in conferences and tradeshows for the design, building and construction marketplace. TMS has been affiliated with leading events including AEC SYSTEMS, ArchitectureBoston Expo (ABX), Build Boston, Residential Design & Construction, Ecobuild America, Federal Construction Outlook Conference, BIM Expo, and Construction Technology. The event is held in cooperation with the Construction Specifications Institute Boston.

Healthy Materials Sponsor Profile: USG

By Alexander Landa


Following the Healthy Materials Summit in October, we're still thankful for all of our sponsors from this monumental event. USG deserves thanks not only for sponsoring HMS, but for their everyday devotion to healthy materials and sustainability

USG isn't tied to any one particular product, rather, they focus on anything from wallboard and ceiling suspension systems, to acoustic panels and more.

They're committed to sustainable products that are designed, manufactured, distributed, and used in a way that's meant to leave less of a footprint on the environment. As of writing, more than 200 of their products have Greenguard certification, with plenty more to come.

See more of their sustainability mission by watching their video here.

Thank you for an awesome Healthy Materials Summit! We look forward to working with you more.

Reminder: LEED Exam Prep Course One Week From Today

By Alexander Landa


Register now!

One week from today is our next LEED Green Associate exam prep course! The holiday are busy, sure, but furthering your career is timeless. Becoming LEED accredited gives you a massive advantage at your current role, or any future jobs you may be interested in. Our all-day training session covers everything you can expect during an AP exam, so you can go into testing day confident. 

Our LEED exam prep courses have always been incredibly successful. See for yourself with a recap of our October 2016 LEED exam prep course. We have proven success, as evident by testimonials by past attendees:

“I just wanted to say thank you again for organizing the LEED review session last week- it was extremely helpful. I took the GA exam this morning and passed without too much trouble! I look forward to attending more USGBC events in the future,” – C.A.

“Thank you very much for the training!  It was clear and informative–I am looking forward to taking the next steps.  It was also just nice to meet the other people in the training and to be in such a beautiful space. Thank you very much,” – L.S.

“My notes had things in them like 'be sure to know this' and 'expect questions about these numbers.' I focused on those items as I studied material, and they all turned out to be accurate.  Your practice exam questions, too, were very helpful and gave a good feel to what to expect,” – T.H.

Attend our next events and go into your exams prepared!

Register here!
Wednesday, December 14th, 2016
8:30AM – 5:00PM
50 Milk St, 17th Floor, Hercules Conference Room
Boston, MA, 02109

Announcing the inaugural Northeast Summit for a Sustainable Built Environment 4/28-4/29

By Alexander Landa


Coming up April 28th & 29th, 2017, will be the inaugural Northeast Summit for a Sustainable Built Environment (NESSBE). Coming to New Haven, CT, this unique event is a joint effort by the CTGBC, Yale University School of Forestry and Office of Sustainability, and the Living Building Challenge: Connecticut Collaborative. Other local regional green building organizations will be joining in as well!

For these two days, join in on the conversation about the connection between human health and sustainability. Topics will revolve around health & happiness, biophilia & biomimicry, energy & water, materials, and urban agriculture. 

This event will be in addition to other USGBC summits, though now this one is designed to work with the larger community of building professionals, academics, and owners. It is expected that this summit will travel to different locations each year.

If you're interested in presenting, find out more here. Sponsors can go here for more information.

Healthy Materials Sponsor Profile: Beachstone Sustainable Products

By Alexander Landa


To keep up our appreciation of organizations that support healthy materials, we want to thank those who sponsored the Healthy Materials Summit in October. One of these groups, Beachstone Sustainable Products, deserves recognition for their devotion to sustainability.

Beachstone really takes sustainability seriously, and uses recycled post-consumer materials such as glass and seashells to create residential and commercial products, most notably surfaces and countertops. Their products are 85% by weight recycled, and contributes to 6 LEED points. Beachstone works with designers to create custom pieces all from sustainable materials – they promote other groups becoming green too.

Thank you Beachstone for supporting us, and thank you for being loyal to a healthier environment!