Sterritt Lumber | Built Environment Plus

Meet our Members: Michael Sigmon

Nov 3, 2015 | Uncategorized

By Allison Maynard, Communications Associate

Michael Sigmon works for F.D. Sterritt Lumber Company, and focuses on advocating and selling sustainable building materials, specifically FSC® certified wood. From brokering deals across the country, Mike focuses on getting sustainably harvested wood to jobsite at the lowest cost, with the lowest environmental emissions through the supply chain. F.D. Sterritt Lumber Co. was recently awarded “FSC® Leadership Award for Building Supply – East Coast”, at Greenbuild 2014.

Michael also helps the Residential Green Building Committee, (RGBC) as the Communications Coordinator. In this role, he helps communicate the ideas of the bright members and speakers to mass audiences.

In his spare time, Michael loves skiing, the outdoors, travel, songwriting, and sharing a laugh with family and friends.

USGBC MA Hosts Senator Eldridge for Discussion on Net Zero Energy Buildings

Nov 12, 2014 | Uncategorized

By Michael Sigmon, Sterritt Lumber & FSC Sales Broker

by Michael Sigmon, Sterritt Lumber, FSC Sales Broker

On November 10^th, the RGBC had the pleasure of hosting Senator Jamie Eldridge (D – Acton) for our monthly presentation. This highly anticipated event did not disappoint. In a true roundtable discussion fashion, Senator Eldridge gave us insight into what the legislature is doing for green building in the residential community.

Senator Eldridge’s commitments to the environment, and green building in particular, were made very clear from the start. As Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change, he seeks, “to investigate the issues involving global warming and climate change, including but not limited to carbon emissions, greenhouse gas emissions and renewable energies.” Senator Eldridge also serves on the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, where he focuses on renewable energy. It is very clear he is committed to “greening” the Metro West!

Some of Senator Eldridge’s accomplishments include filing bill S.1587, to promote zero net-energy buildings in the Commonwealth, by requiring a 30% more energy efficiency standard than the international code. Also, Eldridge was instrumental in passing the 2010 PACE legislation.

While Senator Eldridge actively advocates for investing more in green energy, he acknowledged that we can still do much more. Education for the general public can always be improved and he seeks to limit confusion on energy codes for the masses. Other topics discussed included deep energy retrofit programs, tax incentives for green building, and progressive residential champions such as Carter Scott’s initiatives. We also learned that when a bill is “put to study,” it is a nice way of saying it is “put to pasture!”
Most importantly, the group discussed what we can do as citizens and colleagues to help advocate for bills beneficial to green building. Senator Eldridge was receptive to scheduling a visit to the statehouse where experts could speak to the bills and issues and recognized it is these individuals that can make a huge difference in educating the masses. To stay up to date with Senator Eldridge’s initiatives visit http://www.senatoreldridge.com/issues/environment.

Thank you, Senator!

The Weekly Bulletin to 9/5/14

Sep 5, 2014 | Uncategorized

By Grey Lee

USGBC MA Chapter is moving full steam ahead! Lots going on. And you could be our 500th “Like” on facebook – like us right now!

Coming up:

This Monday the 8th: Residential Green Building Committee. They will be hosting a presentation about sustainable forestry and timber construction from Michael Sigmon and Jack Mackin of Chapter Sponsor Sterritt Lumber.

Our Combined Committees Quarterly Gathering will be Thursday, September 11th and will be our official “Open House” at our new offices. All Chapter working group and committee leaders are invited to attend. This is a great opportunity to come and meet other green building activists and change agents. We will be discussing the topic “Leadership,” exploring how to succeed with our Q4 Membership Drive, and breaking out into working groups (committees etc.) to start the 2015 budgeting process. If you haven't yet come over to our new space at 50 Milk Street right in Downtown Crossing, this is a great opportunity to visit.

Don't delay in signing up for a Green Apple Day of Service opportunity. There are a lot of projects just waiting for volunteers like you. Use this link to look up a project near you in Massachusetts – by zip code. It is going to be a lot of fun and there are projects on many dates throughout the coming weeks.

And now, for something completely different:

And surely you are already thinking about it: Tuesday, September 30th…The LEED Project Showcase! Reach out to your colleagues now! We want their certified projects to be in our show. This is a major fundraiser for the Chapter and it's going to be an excellent time for all. If you know someone who is “on the fence” – put them in touch with Grey. Thank you to the many existing sponsors so far:

National Grid
NStar
Boston Properties
Richard Moore
Chapman Construction
Columbia Construction
and over a dozen project sponsors…

And more are signing up every day!

Hope you're enjoying the post-labor day “Still Summer!” weather!

Do you know this pond? Hint: Western New Hampshire

The Weekly Bulletin to 8/29/14

Aug 29, 2014 | Uncategorized

By Grey Lee

I hope you're all looking forward to a great Labor Day Weekend – it's that time of the year to squeeze out the last drops of summer!

Have you seen these green buildings?

As for the USGBC in Massachusetts, we have a few things coming up:

Next Monday the 8th: Residential Green Building Committee. They will be hosting a presentation about sustainable forestry and timber construction from Michael Sigmon and Jack Mackin of Chapter Sponsor Sterritt Lumber.

Our Combined Committees Quarterly Gathering will be Thursday, Sept. 11th, and will be our official “Open House” at our new offices. All Chapter working group and committee leaders are invited to attend.

Coming up in September: The LEED Project Showcase! Reach out to your colleagues now! We want their certified projects to be in our show. This is a major fundraiser for the Chapter and it's going to be an excellent time for all. If you know someone who is “on the fence” – put them in touch with Grey.

This is the LEED Gold East Boston Neighborhood Health Center –

eligible for the Showcase!

Also in October, DisruptCRE is a mini-conference we're participating in to bring together innovators and startups who are going to reshape the way real estate is done – from crowdfunding to co-working, and also how buildings are created and operated. The Chapter is sponsoring a panel on “The Science of Buildings” to go into the technologies that are transforming our practice and often saving energy and improving tenant experience at the end of the day. We won't mention how LEED was a major disruptor of the entire industry when it came out 15 years ago and is still making waves…

Big news from USGBC: we are partnering with the American Chemistry Council to explore how to improve sustainability in materials and product supply chains. And to help the ACC stop trying to ban LEED. Very interesting development.

We hope to see you at an upcoming Chapter event, or, just bump into you in a green building!

Where is the green building? (hint: recent event was there)

And here is a REALLY green “building!”

2013 Massachusetts LEED Project Showcase

Oct 18, 2013 | Blog

By Grey Lee

Thank you to all who came out to the first inaugural Massachusetts LEED Project Showcase at Google’s LEED Gold Office Space in Cambridge last night!

The evening was a spectacular success, with over 150 guests in attendance to celebrate the 200+ projects in MA that have achieved LEED certification since the beginning of 2012. It was great to see such a bright and passionate group of green building professionals gather together to support the mission of the USGBC to promote the design, construction, and operation of sustainable buildings and communities in Massachusetts. With all of your support, we are moving closer to our goal of making every building a green building within one generation!

Many guests expressed their interest in becoming new members of the Chapter!

A big shout-out to all of our wonderful volunteers and board members who contributed their time and energy to make this night such a successful event for the green building community!

USGBC MA Staff & Board of Directors.

This event would not have been possible without our volunteers who helped set up boards and greet guests throughout the night!

And a special shout-out to our Green Schools Program Manager, Steve Muzzy, for all of his support in putting this Showcase together.

Steve Muzzy with Green Schools Fellow, Phoebe Beierle.

Finally, a big THANK YOU to Google for graciously hosting us in their new LEED Gold Office Space in Kendall Square. Thank you to our hostess Tiffany Colt for all of her help in putting together this event!

Tiffany Colt, our Google hostess.

The evening featured displays of around 65 LEED-certified projects with representatives of many project teams present to celebrate their amazing achievements.

Bob Andrews of AHA Consulting Engineers with Kathy Arthur of NStar as well as Holly Miller and Meng Howe Lim of Gund Partnership.

Our friends from the New England Real Estate Journal were also present to conduct interviews with representatives from our sponsors about their featured projects.

Maxine Ramos from NEREJ interviews Mark Stafford, Account Executive Architect and Engineer Program of National Grid, our Platinum Chapter Sponsor.

The presentation portion of the evening featured project presentations from Google and 5 of our sponsors.

Our esteemed USGBC MA Executive Director kicking off the project presentations.

Tiffany Colt introduced us to some of Google’s initiatives to save energy and reduce their company’s environmental impact on a global scale.

Guy Campagnone, Director of Sustainable Practices at Chapman Design / Construction, highlights some of Chapman’s latest efforts that align with their lifelong dedication to sustainable design.

Win Mallet, Principal of Tempietto Homes, spoke about the “necessity of diagonals” as part of their modern, solar-based designs.

Chris Alexander, Director of Business Development at Sterritt Lumber, spoke about his company’s lifelong dedication to sustainability since its founding in 1841.

Mark Stafford, Account Executive Architect and Engineer Program, at our Platinum Chapter Sponsor, National Grid, spoke about ways in which his company is demonstrating their commitment to energy efficiency.

Architect Doug Rand of Dimella Schaffer introduces their latest LEED-certified projects such as the North Shore Community College Allied Health Building.

The evening wrapped up with a final word by Grey Lee thanking all of our Chapter members as well as encouraging all the guests to join the Chapter to ensure the continued growth of the green building community as we work together to make every building in Massachusetts a green building within one generation!