Sustainable Travel Edition: Green Options, Audit and Daylighting Services, Geothermal & More

Greetings!

This newsletter brings you news, upcoming events, and opportunities for involvement from three Massachusetts entities affiliated with the US Green Building Council--The Green Roundtable (GRT), USGBC Massachusetts Membership Forum (The Forum) and Emerging Green Builders Committee (EGB).

We hope you enjoy our special Sustainable Travel Edition--have fun traveling this summer without compromising your commitment to sustainability.

Feature Article

Think Locally, Travel Globally

by Kristie Giannetto, Elevate Destinations

Travel exposes you to other cultures, allows you to experience different environments and can help you to understand the worldwide impact of your commitment to green building but are there still ways to stay connected to your daily pledge to sustainability?

Below are some tips for not only curbing your footprint--but also actually having a positive effect on the places you visit.

Read the full article "Think Locally, Travel Globally."

Image: Elevate Destinations

Event Highlights

THIS THURSDAY Geothermal Seminar, Showcase Draws More Than 200

NEXUS is your go-to place for green building education-technical seminars to help you implement sustainable strategies, networking events to connect you to our diverse members, products and technologies, and residential classes to teach you Do-It-Yourself green strategies on retrofitting or building a more sustainable home. Learn more about upcoming events. Check out past presentations online.

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The NEXUS Exhibitor Showcase: What's Cooking in Green was indeed appetizing to the hundreds of exhibitors and visitors who attended the event on May 27th. Sponsored by Terrene Sustainable Building Supply, the showcase brought together more than 200 designers, contractors, building owners, engineers and the general public to learn and ask questions about green products and to unveil NEXUS's new Integrated Green Kitchen exhibit. Contact Maryellen at Maryellen@greenroundtable.org to find out how to get involved.

THIS THURSDAY from 12-2pm, don't miss Allied Consulting's presentation on Geothermal Systems for Commercial Buildings. Two (2) AIA Sustainable Design HSW/LU are offered for attending this seminar.This seminar is almost sold out.

Project Spotlight
New LEED Gold Hotel in Lexington

By Jim Newman, USGBC Massachusetts Membership Forum

Lexington, MA - The new Element Hotel in Lexington, Massachusetts is the flagship property of Starwood's new environmentally conscious hospitality focus. While the LEED Gold hotel is a strong statement from the Starwood hotel chain, it was not until the project started to gain some LEED momentum that the hotel chain's team really got excited about the new hotel's transformative powers for Starwood.

Design team: Costas Kondylis and Partners, Architects, YRG Sustainability Consultants, local firm Beals and Thomas, Inc., Civil Engineers and Landscape Design.

Read Starwood's press release on the new hotel.

Read the full article "New LEED Gold Hotel in Lexington."

Image: Element Hotel

Local Highlight
Local and Affordable Site-Seeing Options for Summer

By Stacy Carpenter, Caspian Associates and Mary Fichtner, Executive Director - Boston by Foot, Inc.

Though widely promoted as such, Green or Eco- tourism is not limited to expensive touring of exotic and distant locations. Green tourism is alive and well in Massachusetts. The group Greenwalks was established as a response to inquiries regarding the natural history of a certain area, individual plant/animal species identification and the need for a knowledgeable person to whom such questions might be addressed.

Read the full article "Local and Affordable Sight-Seeing Options for Summer."

Image: The Boston Globe

USGBC News
New Program Is Continuing Education Hub for Building Professionals

By Carrie Havey, Emerging Green Builders

USGBC- The USGBC Education Provider Program (EPP) facilitates access to high-quality, peer-reviewed courses for professionals seeking to go beyond LEED and enrich their knowledge of green building theories, techniques, and business trends. Education Provider courses - developed and delivered by USGBC member organizations and chapters - serve a broad audience of building professionals, trades, and anyone interested in expanding their knowledge.

Attention LEED APs!

USGBC and GBCI are establishing the EPP as a source of continuing education for LEED AP credential maintenance. They have yet to publish information about maintaining your LEED AP Credential. Stay tuned for more information in future newsletter.

Read the full article "New Program is Continuing Education Hub for Green Building Professionals."

Image Credit: USGBC

What's New at GRT?
Sustainable Kitchen Results, Social Media, Promote Your Company

The Green Roundtable and its NEXUS Green Building Resource Center provide you with services and resources to green your projects, firms, homes, communities and lifestyles. "What's New at GRT" keeps you up to date about the innovative services and resources we offer.

DO YOU RECYCLE GLASS, PAPER and PLASTIC?
Each month in our new Integrated Kitchen Exhibit: What's Cooking in Green?, we will poll our visitors about what actions they take to create a more sustainable kitchen. This month we asked our visitors if they recycle glass, plastic and paper. Of a total of 87 visitors polled: 88% said they regularly recycle, 6% said they planned to start and 6% said they don't plan to recycle anytime soon. See the pie chart above.

WANT TO SAVE MONEY IN A DOWN ECONOMY?

With concerns of carbon footprint and global warming, what better time to review your existing facility and operating conditions for ways to reduce energy consumption? Buildings use an estimated 40% of energy consumed in the US, and it is estimated that retro-commissioning (making sure systems are operating properly) alone can improve efficiency by 5-15%. Reviewing your existing facilities for no-cost and low-cost efficiency improvements can provide the triple-win of reducing carbon emissions, reducing energy consumption, and reducing utility cost - contact Mark@greenroundtable.org or 617-374-3740 x105 for an energy efficiency audit today!

GRT'S DAYLIGHT ANALYSIS SERVICE
We provide critical feedback to design teams, informing decisions that impact energy-efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and eventually the productivity of the occupants. For a typical project, a set of spaces are selected to be modeled in Ecotect and then analyzed using Daysim (a Radiance-based engine). Multiple glazing and shading options for each space are explored for each space. The results are provided in a report that concisely communicates the impact of each potential design decision, using an array of industry-accepted evaluative metrics (Daylight Autonomy, Useful Daylight Index, Shade & Shadow Studies, Interior Illuminance Images, False Color Images, and Solar Heat Gain). Learn more by contacting Jacob@greenroundtable.org or 617-374-3740 x108.

NETWORK WITH NEXUS!
Wish you could visit NEXUS all the time and network with our large and diverse membership? Now you can! Become a fan of NEXUS on Facebook, join the NEXUS group on LinkedIn and follow NEXUS on Twitter. Stay tuned for next month's newsletter to learn our new interactive NEXUS blog.

WANT HELP MAINTAINING YOUR LEED AP CREDENTIAL?
USGBC has evolved the LEED Rating System from one rating system to a diverse portfolio to meet the increasingly specialized needs of the marketplace. Contact Aaron@greenroundtable.org to let us know which LEED Rating System(s) you want to learn more about. Don't forget to check out GRT's free LEED 2009 resources.

Sponsored Conferences

New England Building & Facilities Management Expo

ProExpos Group is proud to again produce the 4th annual Northeast Buildings & Facilities Management Show & Conference on June 10 and 11 in Boston. The 2009 show will offer a wide array of products and services necessary to the operation, management and maintenance of all types of buildings and facilities in the Greater New England region.

GreenBuildingsNY

GreenBuildingsNY on June 16-17 is the place to source green solutions and materials for the design, construction, restoration, renovation and historical preservation of existing commercial, residential and industrial buildings. Discover how a smart investment on environmental and sustainability improvements can deliver 20-40% risk-free ROI. Register today at http://www.greenbuildingsny.com/grt2 for free exhibit hall admission!

Sincerely,

Aaron Desatnik, The Green Roundtable
Jim Newman & Brendan Shea, USGBC MA Membership Forum
Carrie Havey, Emerging Green Builders Committee

Get involved with the Massachusetts Sustainable Building Community by joining the USGBC Massachusetts Membership Forum or donating to NEXUS Green Building Resource Center.