| Green Roundtable Events and Trainings*
LEED AP Test PrepSeptember 8-November 3, 3-5pm
This 16-hour course gives an overview of the information covered by the LEED for New Construction (LEED NC) Accreditation Exam. The primary goal is to help participants pass the LEED AP Exam within a month of completing the course. Only a few spots left--register here!
Green Housing Series
September 11 and September 18, 6-8pm
Learn what steps you can take to make your house green, what green products are out there and where to locate them. This course will answer most of your questions and direct you to the sources of product information and what these products will accomplish.
Register through BCAE
NEXUS Second Saturdays--Remodeling Towards and Green and Healthy Home
Saturday, September 13, 10:00am-2:00pm
Have you wanted to visit NEXUS but can't come during the week? Join us on the second Saturday of September for a resource orientation, an education seminar, an 'ask the green expert' clinic and a tour of our green space. This month's seminar will cover the nuts and bolts of green renovations from the perspectives of a builder and a healthy home consultant. Whether you're a homeowner or a renter, the green strategies offered will help you synthesize the wealth of information surrounding green residential renovations.
Introduction to Daylighting with IES: Daylighting Workflow from SketchUp or Revit
September 16, 12:00-1:30pm
The Radiance IES training will teach you how to generate images for daylight and artificial lighting, using sophisticated ray-tracing techniques. The images produced are of photorealistic quality and can display luminance, illuminance, daylight factors, glare and comfort indices.
The FlucsDL training will teach you how to perform lighting design calculations to evaluate day-lighting levels in a room. FlucsDL can perform point-by-point lighting analyses to give light level values within a room, lux levels, footcandles or daylight factors. There is also functionality to determine the potential to achieve LEED NC 2.2 Credit 8.1, with a formatted output report.
Innovative Wasterwater Reuse and Water Treatment Options
September 25, 12:30pm-1:45pm
Wastewater reuse expert Pio Lombardi will cover innovative water reuse and wastewater treatment options for commercial, institutional and medium-large residential development applications with an emphasis on environmental protection, cost effectiveness and simplicity of Operations & Maintenance. In addition to regulatory requirements, the key environmental drivers that are the basis for sustainability water management design will be described.
LEED AP Study Group
September 25, 5-7pm
NEXUS offers a designated meeting place and time for a LEED Accredited Professionals exam group study session. *Learn more about these and other events from the NEXUS Events Calendar.
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The Forum Meetings and Events*
Come join Emerging Green Builders for our monthly planning meeting.
Education Committee Meeting
September 17, 8-9am
Come learn about upcoming projects to help mainstream green building education around the state.
Communications Committee Meeting
September 23, 8am-9am
Come to this meeting if you're interested in helping this committee promote The Forum across the Commonwealth.
Effectively managing the region's stormwater is critical to the Boston area. We are challenged to protect our investment in the Boston Harbor cleanup while operating within the limitations of a combined water and sewer system. The focus of this month's BLUG is how to meet LEED requirements when they may differ from local stormwater standards. Come hear how local experts are addressing the LEED requirements by designing stormwater management plans that will achieve the Sustainable Sites credits 6.1 and 6.2 on stormwater quantity and quality control.
*Learn more about The Forum meeting from the NEXUS Events Calendar.
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Community Corner
The Green Roundtable, The Membership Forum, and Boston's EGB all offer opportunities to get involved in the green building community in Massachusetts. This month we're highlighting a project that The Green Roundtable and The Forum are collaborating on.
LEED Regionalization Update
The state and regional work on the regionalization of LEED continues, thanks to all those who filled out the survey in August. The priorities that emerged from the survey are:
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Optimizing energy performance,
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Access to public transportation,
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Reuse of existing buildings,
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Agricultural and open space preservation,
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Greenhouse gas emissions, and
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Historical resources protection.
Stay tuned for more details.
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Speaker's Bureau
Are you a green design, building or operations expert and have experience teaching your specialty? Then apply to be in the new Massachusetts Sustainable Building Speaker's Bureau!
The USGBC Massachusetts Membership Forum is currently developing a Speaker's Bureau to identify and draw on the expertise of green building experts around the state and region. This will be a resource for building professionals, government officials, community groups, educators and individuals for events. If you or a professional colleague are interested in the Speaker's Bureau, please click here and to fill out our survey/submission form.
Find out more about the Speaker's Bureau or get involved with educational activities with the Membership Forum.
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Greenbuild Early Registration Deadline
Boston - the historic cradle of the American Revolution, home to innovations that have far-reaching impact and the perfect place to celebrate Greenbuild 2008's theme of "Revolutionary Green: Innovations for Global Sustainability." Join us at the U.S. Green Building Council's Greenbuild International Conference and Expo in Boston November 19-21, 2008. Register by September 8th to take advantage of early registration prices. _____________________________ |
Community Events*
*Email Aaron to have your green building-related event highlighted. | |
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Greetings!
We hope that this new newsletter format provides you with a clear message about sustainable building happenings in Massachusetts, a powerful way to strengthen our community, and a valuable tool for providing opportunities for involvement in our community.
Thanks for all your continued support--we're excited to build this together! |
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Who are we? What's our story?
The Green Roundtable is the Massachusetts Affiliate of the US Green Building Council which is based in Washington DC. The Green Roundtable has worked with the local green building community over the past year to help create The USGBC Massachusetts Membership Forum which is organized around advancing USGBC activities and the green building community here in Massachusetts. The Forum is the mechanism for USGBC members and the green building community to lead, engage and participate in green activities locally, regionally and nationally.
The Forum specifically provides opportunities for individuals across the state to participate in educational, technical, and advocacy activities while networking with other industry professionals and lay people. One of the most active committees of The Forum is the Emerging Green Builders Committee which works to provide students and young professional's affordable and accessible resources for integration into the growing green building industry as active and qualified employees and professionals.
The Forum leadership and committee members will work with the Green Roundtable and other community partners to continue to grow and organize the volunteer activities and in everything they do, work to advance the green building market and community in Massachusetts.
Find out more about how to get involved. | |
Event Highlight
Ventilation Roundtable Poses More Questions Than Answers
Above: Ellen Tohn discusses health issues related to ventilation design at the August Roundtable.
The August Roundtable: Ventilation and Envelope Design Best Practices brought together over forty design and building professionals to discuss the challenges of creating a strong building envelope while maintaining good IAQ in multi-family housing.
Experts from multiple disciplines presented the challenges of envelope design in multi-family housing from the perspectives of engineering, architecture, building science, human health, and standards and regulations. For example, the discussion illustrated tensions between standards and best practices for ventilation design (ASHRAE, LEED for Homes, Energy Star Homes, etc), between energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality and between standard practices and high-performances but costlier practices. View the presentations and handouts from the roundtable on our Archived Events page.
Although the event posed more questions than answers, it was apparent that many individuals are interested in identifying strategies to achieve proper ventilation in multi-family housing. The Green Roundtable will hold a follow-up roundtable in the coming months to identify specific strategies that people can implement in their projects. Keep an eye out for this roundtable and other events at The Green Roundtable. | |
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Project Spotlight Team Redo Rudolph Wins Best Design at EGB Design Competition
Above: Priya Jain, Matthew Morong, Dana Ozik, and Marta Morais Storz soak up the limelight because their design submission won both first place and the People's Choice Award.
Last May kicked off the first USGBC Natural Talent Design Competition for the Boston Region. The annual competition provides an applied learning experience in the principles of integrated design, sustainability, innovation, and social consciousness--all are components of LEED. The competition was open to college students and young professionals within five years out of school. EGB's Design Competition Committee worked hard for several months to put the competition in motion, selecting the Erich Lindemann Mental Health Center, designed by Paul Rudolph in 1962, as the competition site. The competition involved a hypothetical renovation of the Lindemann Building into a LEED Certified building, with the aim to encourage students and young professionals to become leaders in the green building movement.
Ten groups submitted designs for the 2008 Boston Design Competition. All groups took their own approach to working through building challenges, while greening the site. The winners were as follows:
1st Place - Team Redo Rudolph (also won People's Choice award)
Priya Jain, Matthew Morong, Dana Ozik, Marta Morais Storz.
2nd Place - Team Harvard Green Campus Initiative
Darien Crimmin, Jesse Foote, Nathan Gauthier, Diego Ibarra, Andrea Ruedy.
3rd Place - Team Verde
Christie Roach and Joe Swain.
Honorable Mention - Green Gluttons
David Eger.
The 1st Place team focused on a diverse mixed-use hub that included activated roof spaces, an auditorium echoing Rudolph's cascading forms, and solar harvesting designed to respond to the local conditions and geometries of the site. They will be moving on to compete for a national award at Greenbuild in Boston this November. |
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What's New At NEXUS?
The resources and offerings at NEXUS Green Building Resource Center continue to expand. The newest addition to NEXUS is our fleet of 50 Cinto ergonomic chairs that are 100% recycled and recyclable at the end of their useful lives. Donated by Humanscale, they will reside in our training room and are a cinch to wheel into any configuration. We hope that you'll join us for an upcoming event or workshop and let us know what you think of them.
Building professionals and homeowners can now take advantage of NEXUS Second Saturdays every month. Each Saturday includes a seminar on greening your home, a tour of our green office space, and time to ask questions to green building experts. September 13 will feature speakers Dan Glickman from Sustainable Construction Services and Laura Catanzaro from Holistic Design and Space Planning.
With GreenBuild on the horizon, why not have your event at NEXUS Green Building Resource Center? We are a great attraction to Greenbuild participants with high visibility as the local resource for sustainable development and will have many new attractions here by Greenbuild. We are booking our afternoon slots and a couple of morning and evening slots quick. Call Aaron at 617-374-3740 x127 for more information about the best green event space in town.
Want to help people relax and get away from the commotion of the GreenBuild Convention? Come sponsor our NEXUS Escape! 11:30-1:00 everyday we will be having a NEXUS tour, light lunch and massages. Call Maryellen at 617-374-3740 x135 for details.
This month we launched the NEXUS Green Service Provider Directory. Visit our website to list your company's service or to search hundreds of service providers in 16 categories. Many thanks to all who helped with the beta launch of this tool, including our talented team of summer interns. |
USGBC News
Beijing Olympic Village Earns LEED Gold
Above: The 160-acre Beijing Olympic Village earned LEED Gold in the LEED for Neighborhood Development Pilot Program. It is the largest LEED Certified project in the world.
Beijing, China--The Chinese Beijing Olympic Village made history this year by becoming the first Olympic Village to gain LEED certification from the US Green Building Council (USGBC) and the first international project to be certified Gold under the LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) pilot program. During the 2008 Summer Games, the 17,000 athletes and thousands of visitors enjoyed over 160 acres of consciously planned grounds with drought resistant, native plants and stormwater control systems. The 42, six to nine story facilities where the athletes stayed were built to be more than 20% more energy efficient than US standards (50% more than typical buildings in Beijing) and much of the power and hot water for the buildings was supplied by photovoltaic electric and thermal systems.
The efforts to achieve LEED Gold Certification under LEED-ND stemmed from China's "Protocol for Cooperation in Clean Energy Technologies for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing" that the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) developed. This project is an exciting success for USGBC and Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO and Founding Chair of the USGBC comments that, "It sets an inspiring example while the world is watching, and the real measureable environmental and health effects will be a real benefit to the people of Beijing for years to come."
Read the official USGBC Press Release. |
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Advocate Alert
Massachusetts Passes Global Warming Solutions Act
Boston, MA--On July 30 the Massachusetts House of Representatives unanimously passed the Global Warming Solutions Act. The Senate had passed the act in March and Governor Patrick signed it on August 7. The bill will impose greenhouse gas emissions benchmark caps--Massachusetts is the sixth state in the USA to implement GHG limits.
The legislation has been more than a year in process, and has been the subject of letter writing, petition signing, legislative call-in days, public hearings, lobby days and a huge conference. This campaign involved thousands of people around the state. The USGBC Massachusetts Membership Forum endorsed the bill and wrote to Speaker of the House DiMasi urging him to call a vote before the end of the legislative session. The bill passed by a 154-0 margin and after the vote, the legislators gave the Act a standing ovation.
The Act charges the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs with developing emissions reduction plans to meet benchmarks set for 2020, 2030, 2040, and 2050. By 2020 greenhouse gas emission must be reduced to between 10% and 25% below the 1990 level. By 2050, emissions must be reduced to at least 80% below 1990 levels. MA DEP will be required to establish an emissions registry and reporting program. The 1990 level must be defined by July, 2009.
Learn more about the Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act. |
Feature Article
Greening Your Design Firm In 10 Easy Steps
by Barbra Batshalom and Kevin Settlemyre
Part 1: The Opportunity Investigation: Understanding Your Business Practices as Green Opportunities
Is your firm green? Can your firm deliver a green project? How much do you think adding green to a project costs the firm? If the answer to the first question is "no", then why not? If the answer is "yes", then - how do you know? If you can't answer how much it costs your firm, how can you set appropriate fees? Demand for green projects is ever increasing, and most firms take ineffective stabs at building internal capacity. The popular paradigm is still the "in house green team" of 3 to 10 dedicated people who spend time championing green design, gathering resources and trying to get it into projects. If you think this is working for you, you are already losing. Once you understand what green project delivery really is, and how integral building this capacity is to overall company success, greening your firm becomes a valuable design problem.
Ten years ago, mainstream design firms dismissed green design as a trend or fad that would be short lived. They didn't understand that current practices of design and construction were dysfunctional and resulted in unnecessary capital and operating costs, environmental degradation and caused public health problems. Aside from that, demand for green is growing. Today, building owners are requiring green design in their RFP's, local governments and institutions are writing standards and guidelines to green their development. Of course, this poses a huge challenge to firms who are chugging along, wrestling with the daily challenges of profitability, marketing, liability and everything else that defines their experience as a business. It is therefore no surprise that this "green stuff" is not making the top of the list of concerns! Therein lies the problem however - understanding what green really is. If you think green is defined by solar energy, green roofs or LEED, you would be correct to perceive it as an annoying drain on resources. If you think green is defined by technology, then you are underestimating the real value of the integrative design process. If you understand that the essence of green is rooted in project management, design process and accountability, you start to discover the connections between green and company performance overall. If you get a deeper understanding of green, then you can be strategic about how you take advantage of opportunities to improve your company's overall profitability, quality control and internal operations. First, it is beneficial for you to understand the connections and opportunities and then you can embark on a 10 point plan to integrate better practices into your daily firm operations. In the following article, we will give an overview of issues you need to address and an example of how they relate to greening your firm. In the follow on article in the next issue we will outline a sample plan of 10 steps you can take to really "green" your firm.
Read the full text of 'Greening Your Design Firm In 10 Easy Steps.' |
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Thanks and keep up the great work to mainstream green!
Aaron Desatnik Jim Newman Caroline Havey
The Green Roundtable Massachusetts Membership Forum Emerging Green Builders | |
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