Why You Should Care About Healthy Materials Summit 2016

By Blake Jackson


The green building industry is a complex machine with many components, most of them changing constantly. Through every twist and turn, every variable, and every innovation, there will be some consistency in the mix. The mission is always the same – to make the world healthier through the design and development of buildings that are green-conscious and make a positive impact on the environment. On October 26th, at Google's Cambridge HQ, you will find out at the Healthy Materials Summit why the physical building blocks of these designs are of constant importance in our industry.


The materials supply chain is complex – global. We all, through our purchasing power, share a responsibility for the collateral environmental impacts of these decisions, which are often invisible. Whether selecting what we chose to wear, eat, or even build with, all of these decisions not only impact our health and wellbeing, but they also impact air quality, biodiversity, pollution, and social issues – the list goes on. Solving these issues seems daunting, especially when considering we’re typically working project-by-project within our disciplines, while also considering products for their aesthetics, price, durability, etc.

Still, if we work together as an industry across disciplines, we can share this burden together, helping to elevate the ecosystem for healthier, more sustainable building procurement practices. This conference is an opportunity to gather with peers across the supply chain to begin this dialogue, share victories and challenges, and to focus on moving in the direction of the future industry we want to have and to together promote a call to action for transparency.

It isn't too late to attend the Healthy Materials Summit 2016. Participants in this summit will gain an opportunity to network with like-minded peers in various industries: design, construction, manufacturing, and real estate. They will also gain insight into the history of the “transparency” movement, as it relates to LEEDv4, WELL, and the Living Building Challenge, as well as get a survey of tools, disclosure documents, and other helpful information to aid participants in becoming informed and involved, regarding in the promotion and utilization “transparency” practices.

A multi-disciplinary panel of experts has been assembled to share stories and expertise in how manufacturing, non-profits, clients, designers, software developers, and others are working together to achieve the more stringent – often confusing – requirements of third-party ratings systems, their lessons learned, and what they see as the “state of the future” of this movement.

If your career, education, or passions in any way relate to green buildings or another environmentally-conscious industry, you owe it to yourself – and to your community – to attend the Healthy Materials Summit 2016 and to learn more about how everyone can make a difference. Whether you're designing a new building or taking another approach to helping our world, the process is the same – one building block at a time.

 

The Healthy Materials Summit
October 26th, 2016
8:00AM – 8:00PM
Google Cambridge HQ
5 Cambridge Center
Cambridge, MA, 02142

Learn about our speakers:
Barbra Batshalom
Monica Nakielski
Brent Ehrlich
Gregory Norris

See Grey's Thoughts on Healthy Materials Summit here.

Register and learn more here.

In Photos: Greenbuild 2016 In Los Angeles

By Alexander Landa, Outreach and Communications Manager

Now that all of us are back from Los Angeles from a successful, fun, engaging, and education Greenbuild 2016, it's time we all start to reflect on this year's event before we start the push for next year's Greenbuild right here in Boston. Before we get hit with a famous (or infamous) Boston winter – and pack up our shorts – let's relive our trip to the lovely 70-something degrees, sunny LA days with some photos from Greenbuild 2016.


Some of us got in a bit early on Sunday before the event. Luckily, we arrived on another great day to check out the surrounding area.


The calm before the storm.


We're already all in for next year!


Work hard, play hard. No reason we can't enjoy a networking session at night, while enjoying the LA skyline, right?


Monday morning, bright and early, coffees in hand. It's time to start the party.


(From left to right: Ben Myers, Jenn Taranto, Grey Lee, Abigail Charest, Adrian Charest, Judy Nitsch

For much of the week, we held the fort down at the Boston Host Committee booth. Constantly, people walked by, asking about next year's Greenbuild in Boston, learning about our city, and more.


Everyone flocking in Wednesday morning for the event's biggest day.


Tons to see in the expo hall.


View had a virtual reality simulation – this was really cool.


Because even the Dark side cares about proper lighting.


Even something as simple as a bike rack can make a huge difference on the environment.


Time to unwind Wednesday night!


Guest speaker Sebastian Junger delivered an awesome, intense, inspiring speech, connecting tribalism to our industry and how we need to work together to survive.


Rock stars like Rick Fedrizzi deserve a big entrance.


How many people can say they saw X Ambassadors and Aloe Blacc perform at their conference?

See our initial thoughts here, Grey's closing thoughts here, and more photos on our Flickr here.

Stay up to date with Greenbuild 2017 in Boston here.

October 2016 Event Note Recap

By Alexander Landa, Outreach and Communications Manager

Read the full events note here!

Greenbuild 2016 in Los Angeles was inspirational! Between all of the panels, speakers, workshops, events, and of course the beautiful LA weather, we're more energized than ever to host our upcoming autumn events. Join us next year when Greenbuild comes to Boston to have some fun, get educated, and support everything relating to green buildings.

Recap: Green Building Showcase

This week:

Thursday 12-5pm: DisruptCRE at Hatch Fenway, Boston 

Saturday 9am-5pm: Passive House Massachusetts Fall Symposium at District Hall, Boston 

Read the full events note here!

October is a busy month for us here at the USGBC Massachusetts Chapter! Next Tuesday, October 18th, we're holding a WELL AP exam prep course, on Wednesday the 19th we're holding a LEED workshop, and then on October 26th you can join us at Google's Cambridge HQ for Healthy Materials Summit 2016.

 

UMass Boston University Hall Building Tour Oct. 20

By Alexander Landa, Outreach and Communications Manager


On Thursday, October 20th 2016, you will have the chance to take a tour at the University of Massachusetts' Boston University Hall.

Come join your green building colleagues for a tour of the UMass Boston’s new University Hall. Located at the eastern edge of campus, the four story building had a phased opening to the community in beginning in January and fully opened for fall semester.

This building accommodates academic space needs, enhances campus and student life, and serves a large cross-representation of students, faculty, and staff. The building features state-of-the-art classrooms, specialized teaching spaces, as well as lounge and study spaces for the entire campus community – and it will also include new homes for several academic programs including performing arts, chemistry, computer science, and art departments.

In support of UMass Boston’s commitment to environmental sustainability, the design of University Hall incorporates several innovative sustainable features focusing on energy use reduction. The intent is for the facility to operate at 25% lower energy use than a baseline building and will achieve 105 kBtu/sf/yr. University Hall is designed to achieve LEED Silver certification, and is currently tracking LEED Gold.

University of Massachusetts Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, MA, 02125

Find more information and register here.

October is a busy month for us here at the USGBC Massachusetts Chapter! Next Tuesday, On Wednesday the 19th we're holding a LEED workshop, and then on October 26th you can join us at Google's Cambridge HQ for Healthy Materials Summit 2016.

Attend Our Next Presinar – Pathway to Zero Energy Buildings Oct. 19th

By Alexander Landa, Outreach and Communications Manager


Next Wednesday, October 19th, we will be holding a presinar titled “Pathway to Zero Energy Buildings” here at our Boston office. During this session devoted to ZeroNet Energy building design and construction, you will learn all about the topic from dream to design.

For those that attend, you will become familiar with what makes a new design a NetZero Energy Building. To further expand on this emerging topic, the presinar will discuss the difference between Site and Source Energy and impact on Net Zero. If you're interested in potentially designing a NetZero building, this session will discuss potential strategies to help facilitate a Net Zero Energy project. Lastly, this session will cover the cost impacts of going Net Zero on a project.

Neil Angus will be leading a discussion following this presinar. Come equipped with questions and be ready for a focused chat on NetZero!

October is a busy month for us here at the USGBC Massachusetts Chapter! On Wednesday the 19th we're holding a LEED workshop, and then on October 26th you can join us at Google's Cambridge HQ for Healthy Materials Summit 2016.

Wednesday, October 19th, 2016
50 Milk Street, 17th Floor
Hercules Conference Room
Boston, MA, 02109

Cost of attendance is $25.00, and you can register here.

Connect with us! We can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Flickr.

Greenbuild 2016 Celebrated Achievements In The Green Building Industry

By Grey Lee


Greenbuild!

What an amazing gathering. It's like a giant homecoming, a super-extended family reunion, holiday shopping on the trade show floor, and a semester of classes all crammed into one 4-day extravaganza. 

And networking filled the nights with sounds of laughter and exchanging of business cards.

If there's anywhere that is more about “More Green Buildings,” well, I'd like to find it! This year, the City of Angels showed its greenest face to about 20,000 attendees from all over the world. All gathered to celebrate, learn, and connect on the topic of sustainability in the built environment.

Everywhere you looked there were amazing green building people.

I spent most of my days at the Boston Host Committee Booth – yes, we had a designated area to promote the 2017 Greenbuild and get people excited about coming to Massachusetts. We handed out save-the-date cards, maps of where hotels are in downtown Boston, and little red lobster “weepuls” that were a real hit.

​We had a lot of ​visitors that are excited to go “All-In” for Greenbuild next year. Many of our Massachusetts Chapter regulars came through. Our Boston 2017 Host Committee met with our counterparts from the LA Host Committee and made connections to help each other in the coming months. I shadowed the national staff and my counterpart, LA's executive director, to delve into the details on event production and outreach.

There were a lot of exciting educational opportunities – the regular sessions, the tours, the plenaries, and even in the expo hall – lots of lectures, demos and engagement. I probably should have tried to get more CEUs, but I figured I can do that outside of the conference, and instead I used the time to learn more about how to maximize the coming of Greenbuild.

I should mention that it was really great but somewhat funny to spend time with folks from Massachusetts at the social gatherings. Sometimes it really takes traveling to another city in order to find the time to really sit back and connect with your local colleagues. Thank you to all who were there to express our community. It was great to meet new people but no one is as wicked green as the Massachusetts people we met up with.

I hope the power, the spirit, and the energy of Greenbuild as seen this past week has gotten you excited about it coming to Boston. We are going to enjoy a “Road to Greenbuild” over the next 13 months. Stay tuned to find a way to join us!

Thank you and I hope to see you soon,

Grey

See all of our photos and get jealous of the wicked LA weather here.

Healthy Materials Summit 2016 Speaker Bio: Barbra Batshalom

By Alexander Landa, Outreach and Communications Manager

With the Healthy Materials Summit 2016 later this month, it's time to get to know the speakers. This professional gathering event held at Google's Kendall Square HQ in Cambridge, MA, covers all grounds for understanding healthy materials in the construction process, and why you should care about it. The ultimate goal of the Healthy Materials Summit is to bring the issues relating to building materials into light, in hopes to inspire commercial leaders, designers, and builders, and manufacturers and product vendors to increase their supply and demand of transparent, healthy building materials and products.

Barbra is a social entrepreneur, educator, and change agent working with a variety of governmental, institutional, and private sector organizations to help them institutionalize sustainability and achieve portfolio-wide measurable improvements in performance and profitability. With a diverse background of fine arts, social psychology, and 20+ years in architecture and sustainability consulting, she brings a variety of skills to her work and a unique perspective engaging the human dynamics of decision-making and creative collaboration to technical work. Her work focuses on the intersection of systems, processes, and culture. Barbra has been working on building products issues since her first collaboration with Healthy Building Network in 1998, through the NEXUS Green Building Resource Center programs and now with the soon-to-be BuildingEase.com site, making it easy to specify best-in-class products.

It isn't too late to register for the Healthy Materials Summit 2016! You can find more info here.

Wednesday, October 26th, 2016
8:00 AM – 8:00 PM
Google Cambridge Headquarters
5 Cambridge Center
Cambridge, MA, 02142

Residential Green Building: 10/3/16

By Molly Cox, Residential Green Building Committee


The Residential Green Building Committee met on October 3rd, 2016. We heard from speaker Emily Fabel from RecyclingWorks, a statewide initiative in MA funded by MassDEP, to encourage reuse of Construction and Demolition (C&D) materials.

RecyclingWorks wants to funnel all the best practices for reuse and recycling in the state to one centralized resource, making it easy for users. Their mission can be broken down into a couple major objectives, first focusing on reuse, along with on-site separation which saves money and time before materials go on to their end locations. They connect with key stakeholders such as contractors, architects, building inspectors, and local entities to see what can be salvaged and try to attract certain audiences, like homeowners or commercial customers, to appeal to. For example, they partner with Boston Buildings Resources as an outlet to resell materials.

Matthew St. Onge and Paul Kiefer from Boston Buildings Resources presented to us, and spoke further about their work as a non-profit. They accept materials people no longer have a use for which can be dropped off at their location, or picked up on site. Materials are then inventoried and assigned monetary value for reselling. Boston Buildings Resources also teaches “hands on” workshops so people can adopt a Do-It-Yourself lifestyle. Their location is open to anyone on Monday-Saturday for anyone who wants to shop around.

We were very excited to have Emily at the Committee meeting, and RecyclingWorks has some events coming up, so email or call for details at info@RecyclingWorksMA.com or 888-254-5525

After the presentation, we continued to talk about the upcoming building tours we are planning, and reviewed some advocacy updates from Craig.

We have a building tour coming up on November 8th at 5:30, see more details HERE. PassiveHouse MA Symposium is happening October 15th, Saturday, and our own Craig Foley will be speaking. Come join us for our next Committee meeting on November 14th!

Presentations from the event can be found here:

BBR Donations Overview

RecyclingWorks in MA


 

Healthy Materials Summit 2016 Speaker Bio: Monica Nakielski

By Alexander Landa, Outreach and Communications Manager


With the Healthy Materials Summit 2016 later this month, it's time to get to know the speakers. This professional gathering event held at Google's Kendall Square HQ in Cambridge, MA, covers all grounds for understanding healthy materials in the construction process, and why you should care about it. The ultimate goal of the Healthy Materials Summit is to bring the issues relating to building materials into light, in hopes to inspire commercial leaders, designers, and builders, and manufacturers and product vendors to increase their supply and demand of transparent, healthy building materials and products.

Monica Nakielski of Partners HealthCare is one of the professionals responsible for providing vision and leadership in the development and implementation of the Partners sustainability strategy encompassing energy, waste, chemical, product supply chain and food. Nakielski earned her MBA from the Simmons School of Management and a B.S. in Medical Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Prior to Partners HealthCare, she led a management consulting firm specialized in sustainability. She was a management consultant and lead for sustainability at Palladium with doctors. Kaplan and Norton, developers of the Balanced Scorecard management system where Nakielski partnered with Fortune 1000 clients to make the link between sustainability principles and strategy, planning and alignment, performance management, and communications and reporting.

It isn't too late to register for the Healthy Materials Summit 2016! You can find more info here.

Wednesday, October 26th, 2016
8:00 AM – 8:00 PM
Google Cambridge Headquarters
5 Cambridge Center
Cambridge, MA, 02142

Thanks To Our Sponsors For A Successful Green Building Showcase 2016!

By Alexander Landa, Outreach and Communications Manager


Simply put, we can't thank our sponsors enough for helping us put together our biggest and best Green Building Showcase yet! Without all of your generous help, this event wouldn't have been the success that it was. This year's event was made possible by the following generous sponsoring firms:

Platinum
Boston Properties
National Grid
Eversource

Silver
View Glass
AHA Consulting Engineers
Turner
Arup
Elkus Manfredi
Ellenzweig|Aircuity|BR+A|Erlab

Bronze
Menck Windows
HDR Engineering
The Green Engineer, Inc.
Gerding Edlen
Finegold Alexander
Suffolk Construction
WaterGrip

If you enjoyed this event and want to see more of what we're up to, our next big event is the Healthy Materials Summit at Google's Cambridge office October 26th. Tickets are available, and we'd love for you to join us!

You can see all of our photo coverage here.