The R3build Design Competition – from a Chapter Member's perspective

By Sebastian Downs, (EIT, LEED GA, Boston Green Schools Volunteer Management Coordinator)

My Experience with the R3build Design Competition
 
By Sebastian Downs, EIT, LEED GA, Boston Green Schools Volunteer Management Coordinator
 
The Competition
 

 
Last November, New York’s USGBC chapter Urban Green opened registration for their emerging professional design competition “R3build.” The design was for a new home on Breezy Point, NY, which was one of many communities devastated by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The objective of this competition was to design a home with a focus on resiliency, energy, environment, and economy in order to create an affordable, scalable, modular home that could be quickly built in coastal communities impacted by natural disasters; this home would be resilient enough to withstand extreme weather events. The design also had to meet all local codes and LEED v4 for Homes Gold standard.
 
When I decided to sign-up, I figured it would be a fun way to engage with some of my far-flung friends in architecture and engineering programs, get some good hands-on experience in working with a cross disciplinary team on a design project, and a chance to flex my newly accredited Green Associate skills. It proved to be all of those things and more.
 

 

The Design
 
 
 
Coordinating primarily via Google Drive and Hangout, we ended up with a design that was truly a melding of many individuals’ inputs. Our final design was inspired by the dynamic, yet resistant nature of the sand dune, which is simultaneously shaped by the ocean, and protects itself as well as the surrounding area from storm damage.
 
 
 
 
We used shipping containers as a primary building element since they are water and wind proof, highly durable, modular, and relatively inexpensive for the size and durability they provide. The roof system mimicked sand dunes in shapes and was lofted above the structural elements, which would reduce wind speeds, increase solar exposure for panels, and provide some cover for the upper deck level. The interior had an open layout that could be rearranged to suit the needs of the occupants, including a mobile kitchen island to distinguish the kitchen from living space. Even the landscaping resembled dunes with bio-swales infiltrating stormwater on site. The building systems provided resiliency through redundancy, such as integrating both solar hot water and an electric heating element, so if one system broke there would be a back up. We anticipated the design achieving 71 points on the LEED v4 for Homes, including all the potential regional priority credits.
 
The Results
 
On March 12th, two of my teammates and I attended the Urban Green spring reception as one of five finalist teams in the emerging professional design competition (working from Boston, upstate New York, and Rome, not every team member could make it in to NYC on a Wednesday night). As it turns out, we were the only finalist team with no professional architects or engineers. Although we did not rank in the top three, the design was noted by the judges for being the only in the competition to use shipping container architecture and bio-mimicry.
 
The winning design, a self-titled “Bayside Bunker,” came from an architecture duo out of Queensland, Australia.
 
You can learn more about the competition, and the winning design at http://www.urbangreencouncil.org/UGCInteraction?key=VuPr1ULj4D3YuIxaVgYqfA_3D_3D
 
 
 

Deep Energy Retrofits with Brian Butler and the Residential Green Building Committee

By Rose Brakesman

By Rose Brakesman
 
What better time to talk about Mass Save Deep Energy Retrofit than on a cold February evening with the Residential Green Building Committee. Brian Butler walked us through how Boston Green Building does a Deep Energy Retrofit (DER).
Some DER “rules of thumb”:
1.5 air changes per hour (ACH)
R5 windows
R10 basement slab
R20 foundation walls
R40 walls above foundation
R60 in the roof/attic
DER is documented and looks for a reduction in energy use between 50-90%, so the process starts with determining a baseline on energy use and a blower door test to document the number of air changes per hour (ACH) in an existing older house. Many of these houses are what Brian calls “gushers”, which are houses that leak air and energy at an alarming rate. One house that Boston Green Building is tackling for DER just went through a blower test and had 9 ACH. (DER is 1.5 ACH).  9 ACH is equivalent to leaving a two foot by two foot hole in the exterior wall year round! 
Jokes abounded… “Did you leave the bathroom window open during the test?” Nope, double checked. Many older houses are just that leaky from gaps around the windows and doors, leaks where the basement meets the frame, and so on. This is the kind of house that can most benefit from a Deep Energy Retrofit and there are many like this. 
Additionally, most of the current housing stock in Boston will still be here in 2050, so building better new homes won’t help nearly enough. Happily enough for Brian and his cohorts, it doesn’t look like they’ll run out of work anytime soon! Even nicer is the DER “guidebook”- the Mass Save Deep Energy Retrofit Builder Guide; this is more helpful than a long process of repeated submittal, revision, and re-submittal so that the guidebook streamlines the process. Hopefully more builders will jump on board and provide some DER competition!
 
After addressing the building envelope, there are typically additional complications and hazards that go along with “tightening things up.” One such issue is indoor air quality. In the original leaky building there’s a “stack effect” where supposedly “fresh” air starts in the basement (along with mold and mildew), then it moves upward through the house via temperature stratification. Once the building envelope is at 1.5 ACH or less, then there is no stack effect. Facilitated ventilation is required and that is a very good thing. Now stale air can be taken from one area of the house that will be moved through heat recovery ventilation (HRV). A high efficiency HRV unit is the best way to go and can have an efficiency of 90%, which means stale air at 72o is exhausted and fresh air is drawn in at around 65o.

In the end, Brian and Boston Green Building are “dragging poorly performing homes kicking and screaming into the 21st century and hopefully addressing all the issues to keep from killing the occupants.” Originally, only one utility company participated in Mass Save DER, but now there are six participating utilities. Conspicuously absent from the list is NStar….but there is some carbonated bottle shaking going on to hopefully bring them back on board.
 

See you at the next Residential Green Building Committee meeting on Monday, March 10th at 5:45pm at 281 Summer St, Boston!

The 2014 Massachusetts Green Building Awards

By Grey Lee

We want you! Actually…we want your buildings and your green building innovations!
 
We have streamlined the process as well as the categories of our event; also we hope to see dozens of entries in both the Green Building of the Year award and the Green Innovation Award. The contest will culminate with our Earth Day Gala on April 17th, 2014. We look forward to seeing you there!
 
Since 2008, USGBC Massachusetts has recognized the most innovative green buildings, products, processes and technologies in the Massachusetts real estate community. Past winners have demonstrated ingenuity, replicability, and scored well on the triple bottom line – an important concept in sustainability that considers the building’s overall impact on economic prosperity, environmental quality, and social equity.
 
This year’s entry deadline is March 15, 2014 and winners will be announced in April 2014.
 
2014 Entry Categories:
 
Why Should I Enter?
  • Local Recognition: submissions will be put on display at the Earth Day Gala as well as at various USGBC MA events. Award entrants will be highlighted on the USGBC MA website and in the media surrounding the Earth Day Gala.
  • Regional Recognition: one existing building will advance to a regional EBie competition held in NYC in June 2014
  • Feedback: the submissions will be judged by a panel of 3-5 judges and a summary of responses will be available to entrants upon request.
  • Inspiration: the awards are designed to highlight Massachusetts’ innovation in green design and operations. They recognize buildings that best live up to their green design potential and help raise the bar for future buildings.
 
What are the Entry Criteria?
Click here for the 2014 Massachusetts Green Building of the Year Award.
Click here for the 2014 Massachusetts Green Innovation Award.
 
If you have any questions after reading the criteria, please contact the Awards Committee.

MPG Ratings for Homes? They're coming!

By Michael Sigmon, Communications Coordinator for the Residential Green Building Committee

This entry written by Michael Sigmon, Communications Coordinator for the Residential Green Building Committee
Alissa Whiteman and Ben Pignatelli from the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (Mass. DOER) made a presentation to the Residential Green Building Committee on their pilot program on the Home MPG (Home score card). It was a well-attended meeting with over 20 people arriving to connect on the topic. As soon as the first slide was up, the rowdy bunch was firing off questions and making their own analyses of the project. Alissa and Ben were great, very able to handle the “shark tank” of residential energy efficiency sharpshooters in the room. All in all, it was a great discussion and everyone learned something new. Hopefully the group was able to provide some useful feedback as the DOER looks at expanding the program to other areas of the state.
 
 
The pilot took place in the Springfield, Massachusetts area and surrounding towns. The data collection took place in conjunction with the free MASSAVE energy audit that all rate payers of public utilities can ask for. The pilot was funded by the U.S. DOE and is taking place in 9 geographic locations across the US. Read about the pilots across the country here.
 
 
 
The idea behind the pilot was to create a straightforward way for the average consumer to identify the important components of a home based concept on apples-to-apples comparison. Using a prescriptive method, the DOER identified HVAC systems, domestic hot water systems and envelope insulation values for formulating their scoring system. Their thought was that by using this metric, they could make a fair comparison across dwelling unit types. This also leads to consumer education that is crucial for good decision-making in selecting energy efficiency measures for a home.
 
 
After getting their audit and initial score card, the plan is to render a second score after weatherization and equipment upgrades have been completed. A part of the score card is a projection of a home’s carbon rating, which can inform the occupant even further about the impact of their house's energy performance.
 
 
 
Organizations that cooperated with the pilot are the Center for Eco Technology and the Pioneer Valley Planning Council.
 
The program results are for the Springfield area:
2116 Score cards
799 Retrofits
 
 
Thanks again Alissa and Ben!
 
 
 
The Residential Green Building Committee holds a meeting every month, usually on the second Monday, at the USGBC MA offices in Boston. Each meeting has a presentation on a relevant and timely subject from experts in the field.  Various aspects of committee business are then attended to ideas such as our advocacy work, communications, creating resources for the community at large, and other work that supports the Chapter's mission. Feel free to come check us out – our next meeting is Feb. 10th.

 

 

Welcome New Sponsoring Partner AtSite!

By Grey Lee

 

 
 
Thank you AtSite for becoming a Silver Chapter Sponsoring Partner!  We are thrilled to work with our new partner to help make more buildings go green. Coming to us from their base of operations in Washington DC, AtSite is committed to delivering building management expertise to enable facilities to embrace efficiency and sustainability.
 
 

AtSite guides building owners, occupiers and operators with the design, construction, operation and optimization of buildings and spaces. The company utilizes smart building technologies, energy management tactics, sustainable best practices and integrated buildings strategies; these ideas are aimed to deliver high quality, low cost and environmentally responsible buildings. By combining its talented building experts, open technology platforms and best-in-class global industry partners, AtSite delivers measurable results to building owners across many sectors such as healthcare, commercial, education, and a number of other uses.

 
 
AtSite has some great content on their website regarding building performance management and you can read about more of their work through their blog – take a look here
 
Thank you Davor Kapelina and Lisa West for reaching out!  We are eager to help you all build your presence in New England. There is a lot of opportunity for USGBC MA to support solution provision in the building management space. I believe Steve Black of AtSite will be at the Existing Buildings meeting on Friday – so we'll get cracking!

 
 

City’s Building Energy and Reporting Ordinance (BERDO) Moving Forward

By Grey Lee

I’m sure most of you are aware by now of the City of Boston’s Building Energy Reporting and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO), which was passed on May 8, 2013. BERDO will require all buildings or groups of buildings greater than 35,000 square feet to report on annual energy and water use, along with greenhouse gas emissions through the US EPA’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager. The requirement will be phased in over 5 years and will first apply to non-residential buildings 50,000 square feet or greater in 2014 and residential buildings with 50 or more units in 2015.  Ultimately, the requirement will apply to non-residential buildings 35,000 square feet or greater and residential buildings with 35 or more units.
 

 
While many organizations have been involved with BERDO’s public process over the past year, Boston-based business organization A Better City (ABC) has taken an active role in ensuring thorough input from the commercial real estate sector.  ABC has worked to educate owners on the ordinance and is soliciting feedback from the business community to help shape the final regulations.  During the course of the summer, ABC assisted building owners throughout the City on how to use Energy Star Portfolio Manager.
 
ABC provided free one-on-one training sessions with owners which involved: 1) determining which owners were already using portfolio manager and 2) sitting down & training owners how to use portfolio manager in order to work through any problems they were having.  
 
ABC has been involved in BERDO since May of 2012. While the ordinance was being written by the City, ABC held focus groups (organized by property types and representing Class A and B buildings) to provide direct feedback from owners and property managers.  These focus groups were attended by city staff and the feedback had a direct influence on the final ordinance.   Most building owners are starting to take steps to comply with the ordinance and are taking advantage of opportunities to learn more about Portfolio Manager.  
 
The timeline for reporting energy and water data is going to be phased in over five years.  The first group that will have to comply will be non-residential buildings equal to or greater than 50,000 gsf or two or more buildings on the same parcel that equal or exceed 100,000 gsf.  The first report for this group will be due May 15, 2014.  Non-residential buildings between 35,000 gsf and 50,000 gsf will not have to report until May 15, 2016. There are roughly 1,900 commercial buildings that will fall under the ordinance (over 35,000 sq ft).   
 
The regulations for Boston’s Building Energy Reporting and Disclosure Ordinance were determined after examining several other cities that had successfully implemented a similar ordinance.  These cities include San Francisco, New York, Seattle, and Washington DC.
 
This fall there will be a release of the draft regulations, followed by stakeholder meetings and outreach to owners that will report in 2014. The Boston Air Pollution Control Commission (APCC) will then hold a public hearing on these draft regulations.
 
This information was gathered from an interview with Mihir Parikh at A Better City and the City of Boston’s website.  To learn more, go to: http://abettercity.org/environment/index.html    andhttp://www.cityofboston.gov/environmentalandenergy/conservation/berdo.asp

Building Energy Disclosure

By Grey Lee

The US Green Building Council Massachusetts Chapter supports the proposed building energy disclosure ordinance for the City of Boston. We have more information at our website here.
 
 

The Building Energy Reporting & Disclosure Ordinance is a Boston policy that could transform our city and make it possible to reach our climate change mitigation goals. Mayor Menino is calling for 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and the only way we're going to get there is if we can bring down the % of energy that our buildings consume. In Boston, it's a whopping 70% and most building owners don't have a great handle on their building's energy and water usage. The Building Disclosure Ordinance would require owners of buildings over 20,000 sq ft to report their energy usage in a free online EPA tool called Portfolio Manager that all sectors across the country use to manage energy.

Make your voice heard by making a phone call or sending an email to your City Councilor and/or to an at large City Councilor TOMORROW. (You have to have a City of Boston address). The Ordinance is up for vote by the City Council on Wednesday, May 8th.

If you want to send a letter, NRDC has put together an Action Page that has a pre-drafted (but editable) letter of support for activists to send to all Boston council members (supporters must have a Massachusetts address in order to send). Please feel free to push this link out in any way you can via mailing list, social media, etc:

https://secure.nrdconline.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=3055

Why BERDO is a good idea:
1) Tenants have a right to know. Without BERDO, prospective tenants and buyers can't get comparable information about the utility costs of buildings they're considering moving into. BERDO will help us avoid being stuck in cold, costly apartments. Community groups support BERDO.
 

2) More building owners will be motivated to improve their buildings. We have had years of a voluntary benchmarking program for building owners to know how efficient their buildings are and many owners/managers have benchmarked their buildings. Now we need a mandatory program to make sure that all tenants have the option of living in buildings that are as energy efficient as financially possible. Environmentalists and smart building owners support BERDO.
3) Jobs. When owners want to get their buildings insulated, they need to hire people here. These are jobs that can't be outsourced. Organized labor, including the Greater Boston Labor Council, supports BERDO.

4) Air Quality. Our neighborhoods are already plagued by high asthma rates and other illnesses associated with environmental exposures. More insulation means reduced demand for energy generated from dirty power plants — and that means we'll have cleaner air and improved health. Moms and kids support BERDO.

What BERDO is NOT:

1) No tenants will be forced to share their utility use information.
2) No tenant will be fined.
3) Does not apply to small buildings. Only the 1200 largest buildings in Boston will be required to measure their energy efficiency (25,000 square feet or larger).
4) We do not expect that building owners will have to spend a lot of time to do the energy reporting
5) City buildings are not exempt and will be the first to be measured.

Call Your City Councilor
Here is the breakdown of Councilor contact info and how to identify which district you live in:
Verify your district: http://www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/districts.asp
Look up your city councilor: http://www.cityofboston.gov/myneighborhood/

Salvatore LaMattina – District 1 (Charlestown, East Boston, North End) 617.635.3200

Bill Linehan – District 2 (South Boston, Chinatown) – 617.635.3203

Frank Baker – District 3 (Dorchester) – 617.635.3455

Charles C. Yancey – District 4 (Dorchester) – 617.635.3131

Robert Consalvo – District 5 (Mattapan, Hyde Park, Roslindale) – 617.635.4210

Matt O'Malley – District 6 (Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury) – 617.635.4220

Tito Jackson – District 7- (Roxbury, SouthEnd, Fenway) 617.635.3510

Michael P. Ross – District 8 (West End, Mission Hill, Back Bay)- 617.635.4225

Mark Ciommo – District 9 (Allston, Brighton) – 617.635.3113

Felix G. Arroyo – At Large – 617.635.4205

Stephen J. Murphy – At large – 617.635.4376

John R. Connolly- At large – 617.635.3115

Ayanna Pressley – At large – 617.635.4217

Facts About the Proposed Boston Building Energy and Disclosure Ordinance

By Grey Lee

As a component of the City of Boston's Climate Action Plan

Photo credit: wikipedia.org

to meet the Mayor's greenhouse gas reduction goal of 25 percent by 2020, Mayor Thomas M. Menino filed the Building Energy Reporting and Disclosure Ordinance with the Boston City Council. This ordinance would require all large and medium-sized buildings to report their annual energy and water use to the City of Boston.

Here are some facts about the proposed ordinance:
1. All large and medium buildings or groups of buildings would be required to report annual energy use, ENERGY STAR rating (if applicable), water use, and greenhouse gas emissions through ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager or an equivalent mechanism.
2. The requirement would be phased in over 5 years and would ultimately apply to non-residential buildings 25,000 square feet or greater and residential buildings with 25 or more units.
3. Buildings with ENERGY STAR ratings below the 75th percentile and do not meet other exemption criteria (to be developed by the city, i.e. high performing buildings that do not qualify for any ENERGY STAR rating or that show continuous improvement) would be required to conduct energy audits or other evaluations every 5 years to identify opportunities for energy efficiency investment. Building owners would not be required to act on the audit.  

Celebrating Earth Day and Innovation in Green Design

By Grey Lee

Stunning! Fabulous! Classy!

 
 
We held a very impressive Earth Day celebration on the night of Wednesday, April 10th. Over 120 guests attended from a wide swath of the green building industry. We had six table sponsors: Vidaris, NStar, The Green Engineer, Robinson & Cole, Bergmeyer and National Grid.
 
The program started with a bit of networking. One of the great things about the USGBC is it connects people from all parts of the real estate industry – from architects & engineers to facility managers and product manufacturers. Energy modelers, sustainability consultants, and even lawyers! It's always a great mix and you never know who you might run into!
 
 
 

 
Special thanks to Rachel Zsembery and the Special Events Committee for putting it all together. Much applause to Rachel (below, with Carlos Alonso-Neimeyer) and the entire Committee! GE sponsored our table settings, providing a mix between spring flowers and LED lightbulbs that guests could take home!  More photos are available through our media sponsor, New England Real Estate Journal NEREJ's facebook page.
 
 
 
 
We were very thankful to our venue sponsor, the Chiofaro Companies, for letting us hold the event on the main floor of Two International Place in downtown Boston. We heard from owner Don Chiofaro, Jr. and from Bob Andrews of AHA Consulting Engineers, which is one of our Chapter Sponsoring Partners that discussed how the building had recently achieved LEED EB O&M Silver – a real achievement for a building that was designed and constructed in the go-go 80's.
 
 
 
 
 
A few of the members of the Chapter spoke, including myself, to give an overview of where we are as an organization.  People were in a good mood and I got the crowd to shout out “GREEN BUILDINGS!” whenever they heard something good from the stage. 
 
 
 
I'm happy to report we did indeed attain the goal of our membership drive: to bring in 100 new members by Earth Day. We have 108 new members since the beginning of the year. GREEN BUILDINGS!
 
I also announced that we have hired a new staffer: Stephen Muzzy will start on May 6th as our Green Schools Program Manager to faciliate the green building project creation and completion at campuses across Massachusetts. GREEN BUILDINGS!
 
 
 
Dinner was a really good time – here we have the Green Engineer table (above) and the NStar table (below). Though many people found themselves not at the tables they were assigned to! 
 
 
During the dessert, we convened the Awards Committee to present our Massachusetts Green Building of the Year award and our Innovation in Green Design awards. National Grid served as the Award Sponsor with Mark Stafford presiding. The awards were organized by Paul Brown, Carrie Havey, and Chris Liston (not pictured below). The judges were Holly Wasilowski Samuelson of Harvard GSD, Mark Webster of SGH and Susan Buchanan of VFA. Jess Halvorson of Bank of America served as an alternate.
 
 
 
And the winners included: Homeowners Rehab, Inc. for the Massachusetts Green Building of the Year: their 95-97 Pine Street, Cambridge, LEED Platinum project. The judges saw this as an important model for other affordable housing projects.
 
 
Bergmeyer Associates also won for an Innovation in Green Design Award in the Building Category for their work on the Hosteling International Building on Stuart St. in Boston.
 
 
 

Other winners inlcuded:

Special Recognition:

Sherman Fairchild Laboratory Renovation for Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard University

Submitted by Payette. Notes: This project is an example of stellar energy performance in a lab.

Special Recognition:

One Boston Place

Submitted by CBRE.  Notes: The judges praised this project for its enthusiastic spirit of the approach to recertification under EB O&M.

Award Winning Entries – Innovation in Green Design

Winner – Product, System or Technology Category

Shady Hill School in Cambridge, MA

Submitted by Richard Burck Associates, Inc. Notes: This project skillfully handled water absorption and discharge to the aquifer.

 
It was a fun evening full of GREEN BUILDINGS!
 
-Grey Lee
 
 
 

Energy Disclosure Laws Gaining National Popularity

By Grey Lee

by Chris Liston
 
As the debate continues over Boston’s proposed energy disclosure ordinance, it has understandably shifted attention to those cities and states that have already enacted similar legislation.
 
To date, energy disclosure laws have been approved by lawmakers in Austin, California, the District of Columbia, Minneapolis, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington.  Lawmakers in Boston, Boulder, Cambridge, Chicago and Portland have expressed interest in energy disclosure legislation, but have not yet formalized their programs.
 
Three commonalities in these laws are 1) the use of ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager as a benchmarking tool 2) a focus on large buildings and 3) mandatory reporting with fines and/or penalties for those buildings that fail to disclose their data.  The definition of a “large” building differs by jurisdiction, but generally speaking the laws are focused on buildings with a minimum size of 10,000 SF to 50,000 SF.
 
Like the proposed Boston ordinance, most local energy disclosure laws have been phased in over a period of time.  The District of Columbia’s program was introduced in 2008; but per the District’s timeline, the only buildings to have their data disclosed have thus far been District-owned buildings.  New York City’s program was introduced in 2009 and energy data for NYC-owned buildings was first published in 2011, while energy data for privately-owned NYC buildings was first published in 2012.  Philadelphia’s law was just passed in 2012 and no energy data has yet been submitted or published.
 
The 2011 New York City Benchmarking Report, published in August 2012, was a groundbreaking study of private sector energy use spanning 1.7 billion square feet of space. The report found that energy use varies widely within the same category of building type.  For example, the least efficient NYC hotels use 3.2x as much energy as the most efficient NYC hotels.  Meanwhile, the least efficient NYC office buildings use 4.5x as much energy as the most efficient NYC office buildings and the least efficient NYC retail buildings use 7.9x as much energy as the most efficient NYC retail buildings.  In addition to the PDF report, NYC also released an Excel spreadsheet containing the name, address, energy utilization index, carbon emissions and ENERGY STAR rating for more than 4,000 privately-owned buildings.
 
You can download the 2011 New York City Benchmarking Report athttp://www.nyc.gov/html/gbee/downloads/pdf/nyc_ll84_benchmarking_report_2012.pdf.
 
You can download CBRE’s US guide to energy efficiency disclosure requirements at