Hello Winter! Time for more energy efficient buildings that are healthy for all!


Greetings, Comrades-at-arms!
I hope you are faring well in the repetitious blizzard-acity of this white winter so far. And I hope that the snow is giving you good and positive exercise.

Though the snow may elicit travel bans and slow work on building projects across the land, we have plenty to do as an industry. Our work maintains Massachusetts as a leader in the real estate world, ensures we are making the best investments in infrastructure, and rallies our communities for sustainability.

As a community of practitioners, the Chapter works to advance our mission by connecting people, improving our know-how, and advocating for broad legislative and regulatory frameworks to support our industry.

I have a quick request: We are surveying our people again this year. Please take a few minutes to answer our (under 20 questions) survey. We'd like to hone our programming to meet your needs. This is the last time I'll ask - we will share the responses in our next newsletter.

Allow me to introduce two new colleagues for our community. We've hired some interns! Sharon Bort joins us to support our outreach as Communications Associate, and Ethan Lay-Sleeper is now part of our work as our Advocacy Fellow. Many of you met them at the Annual Meeting - you'll be sure to see them around, supporting our work. The internships have been supported by the MassCEC.

Also in our news, we have six new members of our Board of Directors. Congratulations to all who were elected, and thank you to everyone who was brave enough to run for the positions - we are grateful to have such an engaged community eager to jump in and lead!

Upcoming Activities:
Sustainable Landscaping / Cape Cod Networking Nignt: Wednesday, 2/11/15, 5-7pm - in Orleans

Winter Warmer Networking Night: Thursday 2/12/15, 6-9pm - in Boston

Olympic Green Breakfast: Tuesday, 2/17/15, 8-9:30am - in Boston


Committees & Working Groups:
Advocacy Meeting: Monday, 2/9/15, 5-6pm

Residential Green Building Committee: Monday, 2/9/15, 5:45-8pm

Outreach Team: Tuesday, 2/10/15 5:45-8pm

Emerging Professionals: Wednesday, 2/18/15 6-7:30pm



At NESEA's Building Energy 2015 conference, during the first week of March, we have two workshops:

The Arrival of LEEDv4 - 3/3/15 10-1pm w/ Chris Schaffner, Andrea Love, and Jim Newman

LEEDv4 for Schools - 3/3/15 2-5pm w/ Martine Dion, Steven Burke, and Jim Newman



Thank you for subscribing to our mailing list, and don't forget to check us out on LinkedIn, twitter and facebook!

Grey Lee
Executive Director


 A BIG THANK YOU to Our Volunteers and Members

 

At our Annual Meeting in January, we thanked our volunteer leaders for supporting our mission so passionately. Participating as a volunteer to lead one of our working groups is essential to our success - whether an interest-area committee like Residential Green Building or a functional working group like our Outreach Team or Website Team. 

Stepping up to support us with your time is not only a laudable act of service, but also a great opportunity to cultivate your own talents as a leader, project manager or group facilitator.

Thank you to all our active volunteers and especially to the following, which we recognized on 1/22 during our Annual Meeting:

Departing Board Members:
Greg Sampson, Phoebe Beierle, Jennifer Taranto, Chris Schaffner, Erik Ruoff, and David Straus
 
Long-time Front-line Volunteers of the Half Decade:
Phoebe Beierle and Bill Holland
 
Fundraising Top Producers for the Chapter:
Jim Newman and Ben Myers
 
Continuing Stalwarts of the Chapter:
Neil Angus, Chris Liston, and Adrian Charest
 
Charging Champions for the Chapter:
Kate Bubriski, Kimberly Le, and Shawn Hesse
 
Noteworthy Contributors:
Stephanie MacNeil, Kristin Malyak, Matt Smith, Ryan Montoni, Jenna Dancewicz, Marie Nolan, Alana Spencer, Tiffany King, Adam Prince, Susi Price, Jared Gentilucci, Mark Dunn, Craig Foley, John Dimodica, David Bliss, Rachelle Ain, Mihir Parikh, and Patricia Cornelison


Below are the "Charging Champions of the Chapter" - our up-and-coming leaders who are already making a big difference for our community of green building advocates!

Thank you Kate, Shawn and Kimberly!
 

             


 Advanced LEED Education at NESEA BE15 3/3/15

The Arrival of LEED v4: Everything you Need to Know to Succeed

Tuesday, March 3, 2015 - 10:00am to 1:00pm

This workshop provides GBCI 3 hours 

 

LEED v4 is here - you can register your projects in the latest innovative rating system brought to you by the USGBC. How do you define all those new acronyms? How much will performance matter? How much will LCA and health issues matter? How can you and your team navigate the credits to find the optimal path through to a successful LEED v4 project? Come hear from seasoned LEED veterans as they present an all-new deck and an all-new script to get you up to speed and ahead of the competition. 

Presenters: 

 

Tuesday, March 3, 2015 - 2:00am to 5:00pm

This workshop provides GBCI 3 hours 

 

LEED v4 For Schools is the mandated rating system for new school projects in Massachusetts, according to the MSBA. Is your firm up-to-date on the new LEED? This course will enable your teammates to have confidence in approaching school projects in Massachusetts. You will learn the essential differences related to prerequisites and the new credits that are changing the game for green buildings. Come learn with experienced implementers of LEED projects in academic settings. This is a must-attend program for all practitioners in the academic realm. 

Presenters: 

 

NOTE: You do not need to add the NESEA CEU fee. We'll report your CEUs for you.

 

To register - visit NESEA's BE15 Conference website

             


Credential Maintenance in-person Webinars:

LEED for Neighborhood Development in Massachusetts - Session 2

Wednesday, 2/11 12:00pm in Boston

 

Ten Things to Know about LEED v4

Thursday, 2/12 12:00pm in Cambridge

 

Existing Building Commissioning Process: Implementing Retro-Commissioning on your project

Wednesday, 2/18 4:30pm in Boston

 

Integrated Approach to Energy Modeling

Thursday, 2/19 6:00pm in Worcester




Come Learn about GPRO

 

USGBC Massachusetts is partnering with Urban Green Council to bring GPRO to Massachusetts. GPRO: Green Professional Building Skills Training is a certificate program that teaches the principles of sustainability & green construction to the people who build and operate buildings.

 

To launch this exciting initiative, we are holding an information session for local leaders in the building sustainability community. Ellen Honigstock, Urban Green's Director of 

Education Development will lead this session and be available to answer any questions you may have.


 We've reserved March 6th for this presentation. If you'd like to learn more about the curriculum and how this program can benefit your staff and contractors, please RSVP at this link. For questions about this informational session, please contact Steve Muzzy smuzzy@usgbcma.org

 


 



How Can USGBC MA Help You? 

Fill Out Our QUICK Survey!

 

What events would you like to see more of? What are we missing in the newsletter? Let us know and we will hop to it! CLICK HERE FOR SURVEY

            


NESEA Pro Tours

 

Noble Home Pro Tour
Friday, February 6, 2015 1-5:30pm
Shelburne Falls, MA
2.5 AIA HSW Learning Units Available
 

 

Join NESEA on a Pro Tour of two sites by Noble Home - maker of high-quality, custom-built passive solar kit homes - in Colrain and Shelburne, MA. In Colrain you'll get a tour of a demonstration kit home that promotes sustainability through an affordable, super-insulated shell and in Shelburne you'll tour a passive solar expansion of a family home designed for hands-on homeowners.


 

Register here:  http://nesea.org/beevent/noble-home-pro-tour

 

 

            


Is Your Organization Hiring? 

Let USGBC MA Share Your Open Positions!

 

Email info@usgbcma.org with job descriptions. 

            

Thank you to our Platinum Sponsor:

    

Thank you to our Gold Sponsor:

    


Thank you to our Silver Sponsors:

 

   


Thank you to our Bronze Sponsors:

 

   

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The UChapter LogoSGBC 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