Next Month: Our COP21 Unconference

By Ryan Duffy, Communications Fellow

Next March, the USGBC MA chapter will be hosting a special COP21 Paris Climate Talks Unconference, being put together by Advocacy Fellow Anthony Lucivero.  

This is a unique opportunity to discuss the historic 2015 United Nations Congress of the Parties (COP21), held this past December in Paris, France.  The provisions and commitments reached in the agreement have global implications for sustainability, climate change, and green building, and certainly warrant a closer examination, extensive analysis, and more discussion.

For this reason, we have put together a half-day event featuring a community of experts from a variety of organzations and firms. Panelists who attended the Paris climate talks will be present, with break-out groups led by local issue experts.


More about the Event:

More than 30 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions are buildings-related, and emissions could double
 by 2050 if we carry on business as 
usual. Inaction increases risks and vulnerability of countries, regions and local communities from climate change. Yet:

  • The buildings sector offers one of the most cost-effective and economically beneficial paths for reducing energy demand and associated emissions while at the same time supporting adaptation and resilience to climate change.
  • Many low-energy, renewable and deep- renovation solutions are available. Proven policy, finance and technology actions exist.
  • The economic, health, and social benefits of sustainable buildings are significant. Buildings provide shelter, places to live, work, learn and socialize, directly affecting our daily lives.
  • Buildings are long-term ventures. Today’s new buildings are tomorrow’s existing stock. Failure to act now will lock in growth in GHG emissions for decades.

Here is how the morning will pan out:

8:30 – 9 Registration and networking
9 – 9:15 Keynote and opening
9:15 – 10:30 Breakout (unconference)
10:30 – 10:40 Break + Networking
10:40 – 12:00 Paris Panel with questions from audience

Both the panel and breakout sessions will focus on the following topics and will provide perspectives from various professional backgrounds:

  • Value Chain Transformation: is the building sector capable of massive deployment of low emitting buildings and deep renovations? How will building sector stakeholders better work together to scale up solutions adapted to local circumstances?
  • Bridging the investment gap: how ready is the finance sector to increase investment in building efficiency?  How will we address the critical need to scale up the public and private financing of EE and sustainable buildings. We will explore how buildings and EE can contribute to realizing MA's carbon goals and how the financial sector can help support that.
  • Public Policies: what is the readiness to implement long term action plans to address the key role of local jurisdictions to organize and facilitate integrated policy packages and collaborative approaches that shift to a low carbon and resilient built environment. 
  • Building rating & reporting systems: how do they support the COP21 momentum?  

Please join us as a community of advocates and practitioners as we explore how to leverage the public awareness and policy momentum generated by COP21 to drive policy gains in Massachusetts.

Special Sponsor Profile: Linnean Solutions

By Ryan Duffy, Communications Fellow



Linnean Solutions
, a USGBC MA bronze-level sponsoring partner, was recently commissioned by the city of Boston to produce a report about how future climatic changes and weather-related ramifications will affect the city of Boston.  Most notable in the report is the focus on climate change-related effects and Boston's unique geographical and historical circumstances.

To help prepare Boston for the warmer climate of tomorrow, Linnean Solutions partnered with the Built Environmental Coalition and the Resilient Design Institute to produce Building Resilience in Boston: Best Practices for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience in Existing Buildings. The report is chock-full of interesting information and facts about Boston and delves into four vitally important contexts for getting resilience right in Boston: geography, the built environment, and natural hazards, and vulnerable populations. 

Boston is particularly susceptible to the effects of climate change since it is an older coastal city.  The report also highlights that this vulnerability will be amplified by the fact that the city transformed from a small isthmus into a vibrant metropolis via 19th-century landfill projects. The report then covers USGBC's favorite topic: buildings. The Building Resilience report outlines 11 building types, with small-scale housing of one to three stories—think those iconic triple-deckers—comprising almost a third of Boston’s square footage. Building resilience and city planning are two of the most crucial methods to adapt to new climatic patterns and storms. 

The report discusses the most likely natural hazards to affect Boston– high winds, thunderstorms, blizzards, and Nor'easters, and explains how their secondary effects (such as chemical spills and commodity shortages) will affect the city.  Lastly, it discusses the impact of climate change on Boston's population and various strata (since some populations have additional risks that call for consideration).

As climate change shapes the weather and world around us, Boston continues to prepare for the future. This report aims to support the city’s efforts through a deeper understanding of its land, built environment, the likely natural hazards, and the people most at risk. To learn more about these issues and the best resilience practices for Bostonians, check out the Linnean's website

Read more about Linnean in our blog

 

Coming Soon in Worcester: Green Roofs Costs & Benefits Webinar

By Ryan Duffy, Communications Fellow

Next monday (February the 15th) join as at 6 PM for a Green Roofs Costs and Benefits webinar!  This is a great opportunity to learn more about green roofs and their importance in green building.  Note that webinars are pre-recorded and must be attended in person to receive credit. 

About This Event:

A Green Roof installation is a strategy that can contribute up to 20% of the total credits needed to attain LEED certification. Furthermore, a Green Roof can be on a partial portion of the roof and need not fully cover the available roof area. This course will provide you with thermal properties information and quantify the potential energy savings so that a cost/benefit analysis can be made. Rainwater quality and quantity measurements are provided as well. Course participants will gain valuable knowledge on the component parts of green roofs, and savings potential gained from installing a green roof.

The information provided will be useful to many of our members: contractors, investors, property owners, developers, businesses, commercial organizations, and all other LEED professionals.

Webinar Goals:

  1. Learn about the thermal properties of green roofs and the best climates and conditions that provide information for best practices when installing and maintaining a green roof.
  2. Learn about two case studies that quantify the energy savings potential and rainwater management properties of green roofs
  3. Learn about the multiple credit categories and amount of points that an installation of a green roof can contribute towards for LEED certification
  4. Learn about the green roof market and a green roof benefits and costs

The webinar will take place at Sustainability Hub, located at 912 South Main Street in Worcester. Register for the event here, and print your PARKING PASS here!

 

Upcoming Policy Podium for Net Metering!

By Anthony Lucivero, Advocacy Fellow


Greetings, USGBC MA community!

We are very excited for our new “Policy Podium” series of events.  Our first Policy Podium will be a meeting of minds about net metering in Massachusetts and how it can drive our communities towards sustainability. Items of discussion will include comparative solar project costs and financing, present and future cost impacts to ratepayers, grid modernization, and the costs of distributed generation solar. 

We will have four panelists leading the discussion:

  • David Colton, Easton Town Administrator
  • Charles Harak, National Consumer Law
  • Tim Roughan, National Grid
  • Matt Shortsleeve, Solect Energy

This event will be on Thursday, 2/25 at 50 Milk St, Boston, MA (room TBD) from 8:30am – 10:00am

Click here to visit our event page for more details and registration! Hurry, this event is sure to fill up! 

Thursday Night: Going out Sustainable!

By Grey Lee

It's that time again! Time to get together with colleagues to share a great meal and make new connections. Every year our emerging professionals organize a great evening out on the town.

 

Please join the USGBC on Thursday February 11th @6:30pm for our Annual Sustainable Dinner at the Commonwealth Restaurant; co-hosted with the Illuminating Engineers Society (IES).

 

We will enjoy a delicious & sustainable meal of the freshest locally sourced ingredients created by Chef Nookie; along with an educational presentation on the health effects of artificial lighting by our sponsor Jane Slade, RAB Lighting.

 


Welcoming our newly elected Board Members

By Grey Lee, Executive Director


Congratulations to our new directors:

Julie Conroy | Senior Environmental Planner, Metroploitan Area Planning Association (MAPC)— As Senior Environmental Planner at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), Julie develops policy documentation and regulations for environmental protection in numerous Massachusetts cities and towns.  

Darien Crimmin | Vice President of Energy & Sustainability, Winn Development— At WinnCompanies, Darien is responsible for managing a range of energy efficiency projects and sustainability programs across Winn’s residential portfolio. 

John Markowitz | Vice President- Infrastructure Finance at MassDevelopmentExperience– John currently works for MassDevelopment, the Commonwealth's Development Agency, financing infrastructure for large scale real estate development projects across the Commonwealth, including from project inception to stabilization and beyond.

Johanna JobinDirector, Global EHS & Sustainability at Biogen— Over the past 10 years, Johanna has supported and participated in a number of green building projects, including several projects that have achieved LEED Silver or higher, in the U.S. as well as Europe and India. 

Sarah BrylinskySustainability Manager, MIT Office of Sustainability— Sarah works in the MIT Office of Sustainability as a Sustainability Manager, where she is responsible for guiding the strategy of the campus. 

Steven Burke | Sustainability Manager, SMMA— Steven is a Sustainability Manager at SMMA, an integrated, multi-disciplinary design, engineering, and commissioning firm, where he guides green building certifications on projects of many different types and sizes.

Samira Ahmadi |  Director of Energy Services, AHA Consulting Engineers— Samira's practice at AHA Consulting Engineers, Inc. focuses on sustainability and energy performance analyses for new construction, pursuing LEED certification and energy-upgrades, and Life Cycle Cost Analyses of existing building retrofits for utility incentives and government founded initiatives.

You can read about each of our new directors on our Board page here!

Brownfields Redevelopment Training

By Celis Brisbin, Programs Manager



Join LISC for a LEED approved continuing education credit training sponsored by the Mel King Institute for Community Building!

The Mel King Institute for Community Building fosters vibrant and thriving Massachusetts communities by advancing the skills, knowledge and leadership ability of professional practitioners and volunteer leaders in the community development field. Mel King trainings focus on four topic areas: Community Organizing and Planning, Economic Development, Nonprofit Governance, and Real Estate Development. 

The upcoming Brownfields Redevelopment training will dive into how to tackle the challenge of contaminated land that developers encounter. It is intended to give these developers the tools and information they need to move forward with identifying their options early in the process, selecting the appropriate professionals to assist them, identifying available financial resources, conducting an assessment of the sites, deciding whether and how to proceed with development, and remediation of the sites. This training will be led by expert:

  • Kerry Bowie (Mass Department of Environmental Protection)
  • Ambrose Donovan (McPhail Associates LLC)
  • Jeff Porter and Colin Van Dyke (Attorneys at Mintz Levin)
  • Russ Tanner (Madison Park Development Corporation)
  • Jane Carbone (Homeowner's Rehab, Inc.)
  • Aaron Wasserman (The Neighborhood Developers)

The event will take place on February 24th from 9:30am-2:30pm (9:00am registration start) at Mintz Levin, One Financial Center, 38th Floor, Boston, MA 02110.

  • $50 for MACDC members
  • $70 for non-members

To register, go to melkinginstitute.org/events/brownfields-redevelopment

To register for LEED CE credits, go to http://www.usgbc.org/education/sessions/brownfields-redevelopment-9987928

We hope to see you there!

LEED Green Associate, Join us in Feb!

By Celis Brisbin, Programs Manager


Come to our Green Associate course on Thursday, 2/18/16 in Boston!

Are you serious about your dedication to sustainable building? Then you should definitely have your LEED Green Associate accreditation! And we'd be happy to help you prepare for your Green Associate Exam. In fact, we're hosting an exam preparation course which would be perfect for you next month! This is also the perfect opportunity because we will be transitioning to an updated version of LEED next year, and this will give you a better grasp of the updated certification information for the new version. 

Already a LEED Green Associate or Accredited Professional? Invite a friend or colleague who still needs their accreditation!

Register here!

 

The full day comprehensive course covers the following topics:

Chapter #1 – Introduction

This 1-hour chapter will explain the LEED Green Associate credentialing process and serve as an introduction to LEED, sustainability, the USGBC, the GBCI and the LEED rating system.

Chapter #2 – Location and Transportation / Sustainable Sites

This 1-hour chapter will focus on site issues such as connectivity, transportation, erosion, landscaping, and heat island effect.

Chapter #3 – Water Efficiency / Energy and Atmosphere

This 1-hour chapter will focus on water issues (plumbing efficiency, irrigation, process water, etc.) and energy and atmosphere issues (demand, efficiency, renewable energy, ozone depleting substances, etc.)

Chapter #4 – Materials and Resources

This 1-hour chapter will focus on procurement and waste diversion.

Chapter #5 – Indoor Environmental Quality

This 1-hour chapter will focus on indoor environmental quality issues such as indoor air quality, occupant comfort and green cleaning.

Chapter #6 – Innovation / Regional Priority / Certification Process

This 1-hour chapter will explain the LEED certification process and the Innovation and Regional Priority categories.

Chapter #7 – Exam Review

This 1-hour chapter will focus on exam format and registration and strategies to pass the exam.

Chapter #8 – Exam Review

This 1-hour chapter will focus on sample exam questions.

Meet Our Members: Molly Cox

By Ryan Duffy, Communications Fellow


I recently joined the Residential Green Building Committee in January. I am very excited to be a part of such an active and motivated team! I will be the new Communications Coordinator for the group, and report on projects we are working on and any relevant events we host or attend.

 

As a recent college graduate from Colby College in Waterville, ME, I am thrilled to be working at CivicSolar, a full service distribution and design company. As an Account Manager, I assist installers with the design of their solar PV systems, and supply the materials for them. I first became interested in the solar industry during my time in Denmark, where I studied within the European Sustainability Program. This experience was invaluable, as it made me realize my passion for the solar industry. I realize now, more than ever, how important this field is.

 

I am dedicated to learning more about the residential green building space, and I am certain my work at CivicSolar will overlap with the Committee goals, as we explore topics such as Net Metering, PACE and Net Zero efforts.

A few seats left: Annual Sustainable Dinner

By Celis Brisbin, Programs Manager

Please join the USGBC on Thursday February 11th @6:30pm for our Annual Sustainable Dinner hosted by the Commonwealth Restaurant. We have a good group of green building practitioners already signed up, many from USGBC MA and IES. We guarentee table talk will be enlightening!

We will enjoy a delicious & sustainable meal with the freshest locally sourced ingredients created by Chef Nookie along with an educational presentation on artificial lighting by our sponsor Jane Slade, RAB Lighting https://www.rabweb.com/:  

Light & Health – Starving for Darkness

Since the industrial revolution and the invention of the electric lightbulb, we spend more and more time bathed in artificial light. How do the artificial light and lack of darkness impact our bodies, and how does the illumination of our exterior environment impact wildlife? 

 

REGISTER HERE

When:  February 11th, 2016 6:30 PM   through   8:00 PM
Location:  11 Broad Canal Way, Cambridge, MA 02142

Chapter Members $ 40.00
Non-Members $ 55.00