We want your awesome green building projects! 

The call for entries ends March 14th! Enter your most innovative and exciting projects, solutions, or technologies. All submissions will be displayed at the Chapter's Earth Day Gala at the Federal Reserve Plaza on 4/22, where the winners will be announced. The deadline for submissions is Friday, March 14th at 5pm. This is a great opportunity to share and be recognized for your most innovative projects.  

We have two categories:

2014 Massachusetts Green Building of the Year Award - This category recognizes the project or building that best exemplifies the Chapter's passion for sustainability in the area of design, construction and operations.

2014 Massachusetts Green Innovation Award - This category recognizes a product, process or technology that best exemplifies the Chapter's passion for sustainability in the area of design, construction or operations.

Entry criteria and project submission requirements differ for the Massachusetts Green Innovation Award and the Massachusetts Green Building of the Year Award. Entries for the Green Innovation Award should be presented on a single 24" x 36" board of recycled or recyclable material. The Building of the Year Award includes providing a 1-2 page executive summary and the project's current ENERGY STAR rating.  Please see our website for instructions on submitting your project in either category.  

One of the winners from back in 2011: City of Boston Green Roof Study
Submitted by: Arrowstreet Architects

Policy makers at the state and federal levels made great strides to support green market transformation of homes in 2013. Craig will review these policies and discuss the challenges the real estate industry needs to tackle in 2014. 

 

Patricia Arp, SRF Green Project Coordinator for the Mass DEP, Central Office, will discuss renewable projects installed on state/municipal land, both owned and leased to private companies, the incentives (net metering, tax breaks and RECs/SRECs), how incentives apply to commercial projects and how the market is changing. The Green Breakfast Club is a very engaged and talkative bunch. Certainly, the discussion will be very engaging. See you there!

Go for it! Become a LEED Green Associate!

 

Get started by joining a self-directed, participatory study group facilitated by Chapter members and seasoned green building professionals. 

We will be exploring the concept of "Mentorship" at this gathering. We will help connect those who might be interested in either receiving or providing mentorship. In the words of Michael Shenkman, in "The Arch and the Path," professionals who move toward leadership don't arrive there on their own, "All leaders...have had a mentor that has put them on this path." 

 

Are you ready! Let's celebrate!

 

This year's Green Building Awards (as per above) will be held during our Earth Day Gala, generously hosted at the Federal Reserve Plaza in Boston. 

 

Sponsorship packages and tickets are on sale now! Special thanks to National Grid for taking the Platinum Sponsor package already, and to New England Real Estate Journal for partnering with us to create these packages and the printed event program.

 

All award contest entries will be published in the event program and distributed to 20,000 subscribers prior to the Gala. 

 

We need your help!

 

Send a letter to Mark Sylvia, Commissioner of the Dept. of Energy Resources (DOER), to let him know you join with the USGBC MA to support a timely and bold update to the state's Stretch Code. This is an important way for us to advance our mission of green buildings for all within a generation: strengthen the building code and especially Massachusetts' energy-efficiency-improving and green-community-enabling Stretch Code.

 

Read more about the Stretch Code situation on our Advocacy page 

Come together with other Emerging Professionals for this FREE event with social media mogul Eric Wilson of the New England Real Estate Journal. Eric will help guide us to greater familiarity and functionality with social media for work and recreation.

 

The Emerging Professionals of Massachusetts (EPMA) is a group of gung-ho green building champions who gather each month to network and connect across disciplines and sectors. 

 

We have an ongoing series of webinars presented for you to attend with your peers. These are a great way to pick up GBCI continuing education hours. Free for Chapter Members! (nominal fee otherwise)

 

Webinars are hosted in Amherst, Worcester and Boston. 

 

 

We are hosting an intense morning symposium on sustainable neighborhoods and how the LEED ND rating system is facilitating sustainability throughout communities in Massachusetts.

 

The USGBC Massachusetts Chapter is a non-profit organization serving the sustainable design community throughout the Commonwealth by providing a wide range of green building education, networking and advocacy services. 

For more information visit: www.usgbcma.org