Welcome to Eversource

By Grey Lee

 

As of January, our favorite utility company, formerly known as NSTAR, has changed its name to Eversource Energy.

NSTAR provided natural gas and electricity to 1.4 million customers in eastern and central Massachusetts.  NSTAR's parent company, Northeast Utilities also owns the Public Service Co. of New Hampshire, Yankee Gas Services Co., Western Mass. Electric, as well as Connecticut Light and Power Co.

Under the new of Eversource, these companies will serve over 3.6 million customers in New England and the name change will help save money in the long run. The only difference customers will see is the name on the bill, so all automated payments will continue to process automatically. If you had stock in Northeast Utilities, you'll see it and a different stock ticker has changed from NU to ES.  Eversource Energy offers helpful tips on how to save energy year-round on their website and they also have a special section for fall and winter that can help you cut your heating bills by 10%!

 

$5600 in Mini Grants Available for Green Apple Day of Service Projects

By Grey Lee

MA logo
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

On September 27th, 2014, students, teachers, parents, and companies from around the world will come together in support of healthy, sustainable schools as part of Green Apple Day of Service. Through local service projects, we are bringing attention to the fact that “where we learn matters”.

 

Green Apple Day of Service (GADOS) is the Green Schools Committee's biggest program – and this year we have mini-grants available to support schools in their greening efforts! Please pass along this opportunity to your local school – even better, take advantage of this opportunity if you work for a school. Details about the mini-grant application process are below. The deadline is tight – August 25, 2014 – but if you are interested and need more time contact me directly – Steve Muzzy smuzzy@usgbcma.org

 
 
Green Apple Day of Service Mini-Grant Details
 

Thanks to the generous support of Capitol Waste ServicesTriumph ModularRe-Stream,ArrowstreetNational GridNSTAR, and Excel Dryer, the USGBC MA Chapter is providing a total of 14 grants of $400 each to help Massachusetts schools fund Green Apple Day of Service projects such as a recycling assembly, garden planting, waste free lunch, clutter cleanouts, etc.

 

In addition, local utilities National Grid and NSTAR have made an additional twelve mini grants of $400 available to schools that are in these respective service territories for ENERGY RELATED TOPICS. Note that National Grid has split their 6 grants and are offering 3 grants each to schools in MA and RI. To see which utility your school is under check the following links – NSTAR communities and National Grid communities. 

 

Grant Eligibility:
  1. Any K-12 school or college, university in the State of Massachusetts is eligible to apply for a USGBC MA Green Apple Day of Service mini grant.
  2. Schools applying for NSTAR or National Grid grants must be in these utility service territories. 
Grant Deliverables – if awarded the grant, you agree to the following:  
  1. Register your Green Apple Day of Service project at www.mygreenapple.org by September 1st, 2014. See current MA registered projects.
  2. Document your project/event by taking pictures and/or video and sharing them along with a 300-word blog post with USGBC MA.
  3. Share your event via social media and include the @usgbcma in your tweets.
  4. Provide USGBC MA with the total number of students, staff, and community members involved with your project, any leveraged funds and total cost of the project by October 1, 2014.
To apply for a GADOS Mini-Grant:  
 
Green Apple projects are held at schools on or around September 27th, 2014. Application deadline has been extended to August 25, 2014. Awards will be made in early September.
Contact USGBC MA Green Schools Program Manager, Steve Muzzy at 413-376-5078 or learn more on our website: http://www.usgbcma.org/MiniGrants
 
 
Thank you to our generous Green Apple Day of Service Mini Grant sponsors and their support of healthy, sustainable schools. 
Granny Smith 
 
National Grid
 
Eversource

 
Honey Crisp
 
Excel Dryer

 

 
 

EARTH DAY GALA

By Grey Lee

On Tuesday April 22nd, the USGBC MA hosted the 2014 Earth Day Gala & Green Building Awards at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Thank you again to Paul Gusmini of the Fed for contributing the venue. It was a great night had by all!
 

 
 

Congratulations to the winners of the Green Building Awards:
 

  • Green Building of the Year: One Beacon Street by CBRE-NE 
  • Green Innovation: Waltham Watch Factory rainwater management by Richard Burck Associates 
 
 
The team at CBRE-NE won Green Building of the Year (affectionately known as GBOTY) for their project at One Beacon Street in Boston. The judges thought this was a great example of something we should see more of. They thought it was commendable to set out to do LEED for Existing Buildings on a 1970s building and achieve LEED Platinum. They were impressed with the LEED recertification in 2013.

 

 
 

Philip Laird of ARC / Architectural Resources Cambridge was on hand to receive their Special Recognition for the Colby College Cogeneration Plant project – which they originally entered as a GBOTY project, but was really impressive as a Green Innovation. The judges were very impressed with the project’s innovative use of biomass as an efficient fuel source. Colby College is the fourth college nationwide to achieve carbon neutrality and the biomass plant is helping to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 70%. Nice!
 

 

Here's presenter Tracey Beckstrom with Green Innovation Special Recognition award winners from BH+A Ben Wilson and Adrienne Cali for their entry Factory 63 in Boston. The judges were very impressed with the level of energy performance in an historic building. They appreciated the densities the project achieved and how the smaller-sized “Innovation units”, which traded personal space for shared occupant spaces, helped to control energy use.  
 

Tim Mackey from Richard Burck Associates picked up the award for Green Innovation. The project was to manage rainwater at the Waltham Watch Factory. They have taken something as prosaic as roof drainage and reintegrated it into the site in a manner that is absolutely prevalent.  It is a perfect combination of innovation and experience.
 

 
 
Congratulations again to all the winners and to the many good folks who entered their projects into the 2014 Green Building Awards Contest — nice work!  Thank you for your work to advance the mission of green buildings for all within a generation. 
 
The evening was a great gathering of green building professionals and their guests, who no doubt are at least green building aficionados. We had a great cocktail reception on the roof deck of the Federal Reserve and then went in for dinner and speeches. We had posters of the many entries to the Green Building Awards in a gallery sponsored by RS Means / Reed Construction Data. 
 
 
The weather was just perfect – 68F and a light breeze. It was just fun to be up on that roof deck with the great views of the Fort Point Channel.
 
 
A lot of wonderful people came out – many familiar faces and it was great to reconnect with so many.  On the right, we have Mark Stafford representing the event's Platinum Sponsor, National Grid.
 

 
Thank you to John Picard (not pictured) for taking all these photos of the friendly attendees!
 
 
 

 

Then, inside, we had a great dinner.
 

 

No one minds a major-funder group selfie, right?
 

 
 
But let's recall why we were here for a moment – the Green Building Awards. Really good stuff all around!

 

 

 Nice work, Gold Event Sponsors, AHA Consulting Engineers!
 

 

And at the end of the evening, there were still a few Chapter stalwarts hanging out – just couldn't say goodnight. Thanks for always being ready to support this community. You guys rock!
The Late Show with John, Mark, Phoebe, Caitriona, Jim, Emily, Jenn and Suzanne!

 

Special Thanks to the many Event Sponsors of the 2014 USGBC MA Earth Day Gala: National Grid, Boston Properties, AHA Consulting Engineers, NStar, Structure Tone, SMMA, Columbia Construction, A Better City, DTZ, Chapman Construction, Robinson & Cole, Suffolk Construction, Entegra, WB Engineers, IRONWOOD Design, The Green Engineer, RS Means, as well as media sponsor NEREJ and venue sponsor The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston