450 Kendall St. Building Tour Recap

By Jessie Miller, Outreach Committee Chair


On Thursday, March 24th, a group of green building enthusiasts toured 450 Kendall, a laboratory and office building, in Cambridge. This LEED Gold certified building joins the other five LEED certified buildings in BioMed Realty’s Kendall Square portfolio. 

Sponsored and facilitated by Arrowstreet, AHA Consulting Engineers, and BioMed Realty, the tour kicked off with an overview of 450 Kendall and the LEED Certification process. Some of the sustainable features of the building include faceted glass, which refracts the light of the sky and surroundings, and sunshade systems that limit solar heat gains while creating visual interest.


The building exemplifies Kendall Square’s energy, from the giant neuron sculpture in the plaza to the detailed synapse wall graphics in the common space. In particular, the Innovation Clock literally captures real time innovative thinking. This device tracks and highlights tweets related to innovation in the Kendall Square area and adjusts exterior lighting as the number tweets fluctuate in volume. The tour also showcased the building’s partnership with Art in Giving, an organization focused on funding pediatric cancer research through the lease and sale of art. 

The group toured the building from the penthouse down, observing tenant’s systems in the penthouse to the tenant spaces. After the tour, the group headed across the street to Commonwealth for drinks and appetizers organized by the USGBCMA Chapter Outreach Committee. It was a great evening of learning and networking!

If you'd like to learn more about our socializing activities, please email us at outreach@usgbcma.org – thank you!

Last Minute (Tomorrow): Building Tour at 450 Kendall Street!

By Ryan Duffy, Communications Fellow


Join us tomorrow, March 24th, from 5:30 to 8:30 PM for a tour of 450 Kendall, led by our sponsoring partners AHA and Arrowstreet. The facility has achieved LEED Gold, making all six of the buildings in BioMed Realty’s Kendall Square LEED certified. Kendall Square was a pioneer: this development received a special permit as a Planned Unit Developent (PUD) in 1999, before LEED certification was a requirement of special permits. There is only one parcel remaining to be developed, and that lot is currently zoned for a planned performing arts center.


Though there isn’t much land remaining in the area, the City of Cambridge is taking measures to ensure new developments are sustainably designed. The city is working on updating and amending the regulations within the Volpe Transportation Center’s existing PUD district in preparation for its highly anticipated sale and redevelopment. Located just across Third Street from BioMed’s development, the city is proposing requiring a minimum of LEED Gold standard design.


These recent efforts by the city are in line with our design for 450 Kendall; the building received +4 points out of 5 for Innovation in Design on the USGBC LEED scorecard. Some of the sustainable features of the building include faceted glass, which refracts the light of the sky and surroundings, and sunshade systems that limit solar heat gains while creating visual interest.

There will be a networking segment planned in the later half of the agenda, planned by the USGBC's Outreach Committee. 

Register here!

The event is tomorrow, March 24th, 5:30 through 8:00 PM, at Biomed Realty– 451 Kendall St., Cambridge, MA 02142.

We would like to thank Arrowstreet (and photographer Ed Wonsek) for the permission to use their photos for this posting.

Our Building Tech Forum is April 21st, Save the Date!

By Ryan Duffy, Communications Fellow

Building Tech:

Buildings are fundamentally about technology. Innovation in the building sector is driving improvements in performance and enhancements to the user experience.

Join us April 21st for this exciting investigation in to the intersection of buildings and innovative technology. 

Pathways to Involvement:

The Origins of the Event:

Building tech is the intersection of the innovation economy and real estate. The green building industry is right here in the middle of it – creating new ways to increase the value of real estate and improve the sustainability of our building stock and our communities in general. Buildings are responsible for 30% of greenhouse gases globally, and approximately 40% in the US. Recently, at the COP21 negotiations, the UN convened a “Buildings Day” to explore the ways the real estate sector can support improved environmental performance through better buildings. USGBC is committed to the creation of 5 billion square feet of certified green buildings in the next five years: this will require deployment of technology on a massive scale. The results will be better buildings, healthier occupants, more vibrant communities and a thriving industry connecting technology to real estate. 

 

We at the Massachusetts Chapter are here to champion that effort in our Commonwealth and we need to bring all the parties together.  You can read more about the ambitions of global leaders and recent agreements here. It is an exciting time to be a part of the high performance segment of the building industry!

Be involved with the Building Tech Forum 2016

Join us for the Building Tech Forum to connect on the local level to these important trends for sustainability in real estate.

We want you to come to our networking event to bring together practitioners in the green building sector – owners, builders, designers and operators – with innovators on the cutting edge of technological innovation.

Let's bring together the users and the providers who are are delivering the next solutions to the challenges of building design and facility management.

Who better to partner with for this interactive experience than Greentown Labs, the world's largest tech incubator, right here in Massachusetts.

Agenda:

5:30 – Orienting Remarks

6:00 – First Program begins; Keynote & Industry Observations

6:20 – First Program ends; games ensue

7:20 – Second Program begins: Panel

7:40 – Second Program ends

8:15 – Final Remarks and Appreciations

8:30 – End

At the Building Tech Forum you will:

  • meet people who will help you on your next high performance building project
  • encounter inspiring new technologies and solution strategies
  • hear from industry leaders about where things are going
  • connect your business to the innovations going on in the building sector

We look forward to having you with us!

  • High-quality colleagial interactions!
  • Food and drinks throughout the evening!
  • Special demonstrations and interactive challenges!

​The event will fill up quick, so register now!

Marching Forward with More Green Buildings!

By Grey Lee


Below is the intro section of the March Prospect – our monthly forward-looking newsletter.

Link to the full edition here.

Thanks for reading!

 

 

Gearing Up For a Busy March

Hello Force of Green-ness!
The first two months of 2016 have flown by for us here at USGBC MA, but we don't have time to stop and take a breath because we have a jam-packed and exciting schedule coming up with tons of events and opportunities in the next few months!

I was at a breakfast program this morning, run by another org, linking Sustainability & Property Management. There were great panels moderated by Chapter colleagues Mike Davis and Luka Matutinovic. It is fascinating to note how far our community of practitioners has come in the last 15 years. I remember pitching LEED in about 2003 and developers and owners just could not get their heads around it. Now, we see developers talking about how they only build out LEED space for their commercial projects; how they report in to GRESB because their big money investors like J.P. Morgan want to know; how high-end apartment developers are incorporating sustainability and wellness into their projects because their residents (and not just millennials!) are asking for these features. It is an exciting time – and yet – many projects forego a systematic approach to sustainability and leave money on the table.

It's sometimes unbelievable that we still have so much work to do, but it's awesome that in the global struggle to put an end to wasteful buildings, we are winning! Thanks for participating in this mission and marching together as a community for improved ROI and improved sustainability in our communities. 

On that note, we have a CALL FOR ACTION to support our Advocacy priorities. We are approaching a critical deadline to support Net Metering legislation. We need your help to secure a renewable energy future for the Commonwealth. Please click here to see more in the Advocacy Update.

We have big events coming up: our COP21 Buildings Day Unconference on 3/29; The Building Tech Forum on 4/21/16 and a Resilience Expo in July. Let me know if you like the subjects and want to be involved.

Next week we have two big gatherings for our green building pros: NESEA's “BuildingEnergy16” in the Seaport of Boston. If you need a deep dive on LEED v4 or to explore LEED ND – sessions are Tuesday, 3/8, for your educational needs. Also, hosted by our sponsoring partner National Grid, the Association of Energy Engineers' “GLOBALCON” in Boston's Back Bay.

I hope to see you at one of these upcoming events. It is always good to re-connect with comrades on the trail to More Green Buildings!

Thank you,
Grey, and Celis, Anthony, Ryan and Wenbin

PS: who knows from what ancient military redoubt the above picture was taken?

 

Read the full newsletter here.

Supreme Court temporarily blocks Clean Power Plan

By Anthony Lucivero, Advocacy Fellow


The Supreme Court has decided to temporarily block the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan.  The case was brought against the EPA by North Dakota and 28 other states, as well as energy companies.  They contend that that the EPA overstepped its boundaries by regulating both carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants and concurrently making states phase-out coal-fired energy from their energy portfolios.  The plaintiffs contend that this double-regulation would put a massive financial burden on consumers. There is an official court order by the Supreme Court for the Clean Power Plan to be stayed until the D.C. Circuit of Appeals hold oral arguments in June. Fortunately, states are free to move ahead with plans to reduce their carbon footprints that will (hopefully) align with the Clean Power Plan if it ever makes it through. 

This decision, while troubling on many fronts, is a reminder that one of the most effective solutions we have is to create energy efficient green buildings. Until we can fully transition to a clean energy infrastructure, our buildings should use the least amount of energy as possible. Green buildings would drastically cut the amount of emissions used in the short-term while we move away from fossil fuels, and would also be ready for the paradigm shift in clean energy generation. 

Here is additional press coverage about the suit against the EPA, with intriguing political commentary. 

Don't despair! We are still powering forward with our Chapter priorities and are lining up some amazing events to support them! You can read more about our Chapter priorities here, and advocacy efforts for clean energy and green building on our Advocacy Blog. We are focusing our support on PACE financing, net metering, net zero energy buildings policy, and energy efficiency education.  

If you would like to get involved with our advocacy efforts, please email Grey Lee, our Executive Director, at greylee@usgbcma.org, or Anthony Lucivero, Advocacy Fellow, at advocacy@usgbcma.org.

Zero Net Energy Building Tour- Next Week

By Ryan Duffy, Communications Fellow


We have a tremendous opportunity next week for USGBC MA members. Wouldn't you love to tour a LEED Platinum Zero Net Energy Building? 

Well, you’re in luck! Next Tuesday, the 23rd, USGBC MA will present a seminar to learn design strategies and guidelines to aid you in creating your Net Zero Energy projects.

The facility at hand is designed and constructed to zero net energy by massive load reduction coupled with roof mounted solar photovoltaics, all of which will be detailed in the seminar.

AGENDA:

  • Welcome and introductions with USGBC MA Chapter member Conor McGuire
  • Net Zero Energy design and construction strategies and guidelines for ANY project.
  • Detailed specifics about the MA Fisheries & Wildlife project.
  • Interactive Q & A Session.  Your understanding is the paramount goal of the session! Come with questions!
  • Building tour including access to areas not available to the public (upper offices, mechanical rooms, etc.)
  • Regroup, final questions, wrap-up conclusions

DFW-ZNEB-HQ-770x290.png

The facility achieves zero net energy through solar photovoltaics and innovative mechanical systems as well as building envelope quality and reduction of all energy loads through building management.

The building features a very efficient envelope with triple glazed curtainwall and metal windows as well as structural insulated panels.  It has been oriented to optimize production from the rooftop photovoltaic panels while minimizing heating and cooling energy use.

Project Features:

  • LEED Platinum certification
  • Modeled EUI: 26.3 kBtu/sqft/yr
  • All electric based primary systems
  • Heating & Cooling separated from Ventilation Air
  • Radiant heating and cooling
  • Mechanically assisted natural ventilation
  • Solar Heat Gain Control- window:wall ratio, placement, shading, type
  • Ground Source Heat Pumps
  • Photovoltaic panels all roof mounted
  • Mechanically assisted natural ventilation
  • Heat recovery
  • Native plant species serving as educational gateway to 1000 acre wildlife management lands

Division of Fisheries & Wildlife Field Headquarters, East Elevation

Division of Fisheries & Wildlife Field Headquarters, Rendering East Elevation
Division of Fisheries & Wildlife Field Headquarters, Rendering of North Elevation

Division of Fisheries & Wildlife Field Headquarters, Rendering of North Elevation
Division of Fisheries & Wildlife Field Headquarters Rendering, view from Southwest

Division of Fisheries & Wildlife Field Headquarters Rendering, view from Southwest

Work in Progress:

fish-wild-foundation

fish-wild-foundation

fish-wild-foundation

LEED GBCI Credential Maintence

The tour is eligible for LEED CEUs through the self-reporting function at the USGBC.ORG website. See page 2 for instructions. 

Register here for the event!

February 2nd: Buildings of the Future – How LEED and Living Buildings are Changing our Landscapes

By Ryan Duffy, Communications Fellow

Don't miss out on the Boston Area Sustainability Group's next presentation: Buildings of the Future- How LEED and Living Buildings are Changing our Landscapes next Thursday, February 2nd, from 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM in Cambridge!  Click here to register. 

About the Evening:

From cool roofs to smart glass, architects, engineers, scientists, and industrial innovators have been pushing the envelope for over two decades to build healthier, more efficient, and environmentally sustainable buildings. Today, green construction and renovation continue to trend high as a pursuit of real estate owners and community planners, who recognize the social and economic advantages of utilizing materials and design elements that minimize energy, water, and toxin impacts, while maximizing renewable natural resources for lighting, HVAC, and fixtures.

The speakers representing these organizations will be Grey Lee, Executive Director of the USGBC Massachusetts Chapter and Shawn Hesse, emersion DESIGN lead and co-facilitator of the Living Building Challenge Boston Collaborative.

 

   

Grey Lee, Executive Director, LEED AP BD&C

Grey is the chief facilitator of the US Green Building Council community in Massachusetts, serving as executive director since October 2012. He manages the organization's daily activities and leads the Chapter in achieving its mission. He has a keen interest in helping the broader community of stakeholders recognize how green buildings support and resolve many environmental, social justice, and sustainability issues. By connecting more people to the benefits of green buildings, we will be able to see a groundswell of support to change policy and change market preferences toward better buildings and urban planning. Grey has a background in commercial brokerage, real estate finance, and community engagement. He serves on the boards of two other community organizations in the Boston area and is very active with the Green Catamount alumni network of the University of Vermont. He lives in Harvard Square, Cambridge.

Shawn Hesse, NCARB, LEED® AP BD+C, O+M, LFA, Regenerative Practitioner™

Shawn leads emersion DESIGN’s Cambridge office, and focuses his work on integrating sustainability into design, planning, and policy decisions for clients ranging from fortune 500 companies to universities, cultural, and civic institutions.  He has designed and consulted on some of the greenest buildings in the country including Net Zero energy projects, and LEED Platinum Certified projects.  He has consulted with universities, large corporations, and cities on sustainability and climate change planning efforts, and has crafted policies for cities and universities across the US to promote green building, green jobs, carbon reduction, and resiliency.

As the first USGBC Faculty in Ohio, and one of three in Massachusetts, Shawn is part of an elite group to be recognized and trained by the USGBC, and has educated more than 3,800 people about LEED and sustainability.  As a Living Building Challenge Ambassador and Facilitator for the Boston area, Shawn also provides training for organizations interested in pursuing the Living Building Challenge – the most stringent and ambitious sustainability rating system.   He is an active volunteer with the USGBC, serving on a LEED Technical Working Group to write social equity into future versions of LEED, and serves on the national board of Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility, working to improve social justice in the built environment.
 

Along with BASG, USGBC of Massachusetts and The Living Building Boston Collaborative will be co-hosting this enlightening and beautiful presentation of the spaces and places that comprise our future environments.

Cambridge Net Zero Green Breakfast!

By Anthony Lucivero, Advocacy Fellow

The USGBC MA Chapter was proud to present the City of Cambridge’s Net Zero Action Plan at one of our newly re-branded “Policy Podium” gathering this morning. We had a great turn out from our community members, and this meeting of minds is a sign of great things to come.  The presentation provoked excellent discussions between the audience and presenter Susanne Rasmussen, the Director of Environmental and Transportation Planning for the City of Cambridge.

Cambridge’s Net Zero Action Plan is grand in scope and ambition, with an Action Plan that spans the next 25 years.  A unique factor in Cambridge is that one-third of its built environment is laboratories, making it difficult to plan for building-mounted solar panel installation.  A key strategies, according to Ms. Rasmussen, was to design the Net Zero Action Plan as a ladder, allowing for incremental change that adds up to big improvements down the road.  Cambridge's Net Zero Task Force has made it a priority to engage stakeholders to ensure that this detailed plan is practical and agreeable to all parties.  Additionally, the Net Zero Action Plan has built-in review periods every five years, allowing for evaluation and rethinking strategies as new technologies and economic factors emerge.

Here are some photos from the event, and some slides from Susanne's presentation!


 



 


 


 


 


 


Click here to go to Cambridge Net Zero's official website to view documents and presentations about the Net Zero Action Plan, and click here to read press coverage!

Minding the Gap: Closing the UK's green building “performance gap”

By Derek Newberry, Advocacy Fellow

The UK Green Building Council (UK-GBC) just launched a research initiative to investigate performance standards. This project will examine how the performance of commercial buildings can be improved over their lifetime through better design and construction methods.

The purpose of this new push is to ensure that buildings in the UK live up to the standards that are promised by developers. 

In a statement, the UK-GBC said that there is growing evidence showing that “all too often,” buildings fail to live up to their predicted building performance, otherwise known as the “performance gap.” Many buildings are therefore thought to be using more energy and water than the architects intended.


According to an article on BusinessGreen.com, some experts have warned that the building industry could be vulnerable to a “VW-style” scandal if commercial tenants could take legal action against developers or landlords if a building does not live up to its promised environmental performance.

To address this potential issue and close the performance gap, the UK-GBC task force will consider alternative design and construction strategies. Julie Hirigoyen, the chief executive of the UK-GBC, is hopeful that this research will deliver greener, more energy efficient buildings. In a statement about the project, Ms. Hirigoyen said, “Huge cost, carbon and productivity benefits can be gained through a closer focus on the performance of he buildings we design, construct and operate them.

“Following the COP21 deal, this is just one of the ways in which the UK industry is showing its leadership and ambition.”

The research topic evolved from an earlier project which aimed to examine the building sector's ability to deliver viable, zero-carbon policy for commercial buildings by 2019. The UK government discarded the zero-carbon policy agenda in July 2015, but the group refocused their energies on building performance as a more practical way to deliver reliable carbon savings.

The UK-GBC task force expects to report the results of these findings in April 2016.

Our Chapter is happy to hear that our green building peers across the pond are proactively working to close the performance gap. Green Building councils near and far will get a great boost if customers start reporting cost savings after meeting the high standards in building performance rating systems such as LEED and BREEAM. 

We'll be eagerly watching to see how the results may compare to the performance gap in US buildings–and to see if other green building standards and studies begin to take a new direction after COP21.

Atlantic Wharf & E+: Smart Green Buildings

By Derek Newberry, Advocacy Fellow

The Urban Land Institute's magazine just published an article about 10 of the smartest green buildings in the country, and 2 of Boston's innovative green building projects  made the cut! Read the excerpts about the featured Boston-area projects below, and check out the full article by Ron Nyren here.

(We're especially excited that this article featured Boston Properties, one of our Chapter sponsors.)

_________________

ULX: 10 Smart Green Buildings

Although solar panels and wind turbines may be the poster children for sustainable design, many of the most effective methods for lowering a building’s energy use are decidedly low tech. Narrow floor plates and extensive glazing maximize natural light and ventilation; sunshades, proper building orientation, and high levels of insulation cut cooling and heating costs. But in an increasingly wired and data-driven world, sophisticated technologies have emerged that enable buildings to respond intelligently to environmental conditions and occupant behavior.

The following ten projects—all completed during the past five years—supplement their green design strategies with a range of computerized technologies, providing feedback on energy or water use, shutting off lights and other equipment when not in use, monitoring and adjusting comfort levels, or opening windows and skylights at night to bring in cooling air.

3. Atlantic Wharf
Boston, Massachusetts


Along Boston Harbor’s Fort Point Channel, three abandoned, decaying historic buildings have found new life as part of the mixed-use Atlantic Wharf. The local office of Boston Properties worked with local firm CBT Architects to restore and adapt one of the historic structures, the 1899 Russia Building, to provide 86 residential lofts. A new low-rise structure behind the rehabilitated facades of the other two buildings incorporates office, retail, and public uses; a new 31-story tower contains offices. Atlantic Wharf also has gallery and meeting space for the Boston Society of Architects, a public multimedia center, public galleries, event space, and a landscaped waterfront plaza.

Sustainable strategies include a vegetated roof and a stormwater management system that retains rainwater and reuses it in irrigation and in the heating, ventilation, and cooling system. A centrally monitored electronic metering network keeps track of the electricity, natural gas, and water consumption of the base building, including its public spaces. Tenants have access to infrastructure that allows them to monitor their own spaces as well using submetering guidelines developed by Boston Properties. The project was completed in 2011.

 

6. E+ // 226–232 Highland Street Townhouses
Boston, Massachusetts


The city of Boston developed the Energy Plus (E+) Green Building Program as a pilot initiative to create highly sustainable housing in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods, with the goal that the buildings produce more energy than they consume. The first project completed under the program’s umbrella is E+ // 226–232 Highland Street Townhouses. The Boston Redevelopment Authority and the Department of Neighborhood Development chose local firm Urbanica and Philadelphia-based Interface Studio Architects to develop the four three-story townhouses on a vacant city-owned lot in the Roxbury neighborhood. Three of the for-sale units are market rate; the fourth is earmarked for households earning less than 80 percent of AMI.

To achieve positive energy production, the building uses both passive and active design strategies, including a high-performance building envelope heavily insulated against Boston’s cold winters and humid summers. Large, recessed, north-facing windows bring in natural light and facilitate cross ventilation; south-facing sloped roofs hold photovoltaic panels. A grant from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, a local publicly financed agency, funded incorporation of sensors that track electricity production and consumption. Residents can access this information through an online and smartphone interface that also lets them remotely control their units’ heating and cooling. The buildings were completed in 2013.