We had a great turnout for our Halloween Party at the NEU Energy Conference on Friday - apparently folks were pretty spooked by the speakers!
USGBC MA Chapter Newsletter
  
In This Issue
LEED v4 Master Class
NEU Building Tour
Sustainable Dinner
Advocacy Meetings
Water for Breakfast
GreenbuildXBoston
LEED Exam Prep
Green Giants
Greenbuild 2015
Advocacy Updates
Quick Links
Upcoming Webinars
Wednesday 11/18/2015
 6:00 - 7:00 PM - In Worcester

Certified Wood & Green Building

Wednesday 12/2/2015
12:00 - 1:00 PM - In Boston 

You Are What You Breathe: Taking Action on Chemicals of Concern

Wednesday 12/9/15
12:00 - 1:00 PM - In Boston

Life Cycle Assessment & Environmental Product Declarations: What You Need to Know

Wednesday 12/16/15
12:00 - 1:00 PM - In Boston

Committee Meetings

Advocacy Round Table

Reviewing our positions on each of our priority & secondary issue areas

Thursday 11/5/15 - 5:30 PM In Boston

Residential Green Building Committee Meeting
Topic: Guest Speaker Mike Browne, a local HERS Rater, will discuss ratings for residential homes/buildings and how to achieve high performance, energy efficient new construction/renovation projects.

Outreach Team Meeting

Planning tours, networking nights and member profiles

Tuesday 11/10/15 - 5:45 PM In Boston

Emerging Professional Monthly Meeting

Topic: Further development of their new Green Building Mentor Program.

Monday 11/16/15 - 6:00 PM In Boston

Advocacy Breakfast Jam

Topic: Ensuring a safe, smart and green energy system in Massachusetts



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Blog Recaps

November 2015

Greetings,
What was the greenest Halloween costume you saw this weekend? Anyone dressed as the demons of green buildings like zombie operating programs, vampire loads or ghost recycling patterns?

If you haven't clicked to our blog, our twitter feed and Facebook, take a look. There's content for you.

I am hoping that you will consider joining our advocacy work. There is plenty to do - and each of you, dear subscribers, are welcome to participate. Net metering, net zero codes, PACE...See the update below or go directly to our advocacy suite at our website. We have a meeting to discuss strategy on our campaigns this Thursday night. Did you see our colleague Jerome Garciano's report on tax incentives for green buildings?

Are you ready for Greenbuild? Join us on Wednesday evening at 5:30pm for a MA Chapter gathering at the BOLD awards.

Come out for our tour of Northeastern's new dorm on Wednesday evening. Friday morning 11/13, our Green Breakfast Club charges ahead with a course on water conservation. Also next week - LEED v4 with Blake Jackson. Everyone knows that in one short year, all new projects will be using LEED v4 right? Time to build up your capacity! GreenbuildXBoston is coming in December as a massive educational mash-up for green building expertise. 
 
Boo! I hope you are excited to move forward with us.

Thank you and I hope to see you at an upcoming event soon,
Grey

LEED v4 Master Class

In this half-day master session with instructor Blake Jackson of Tsoi/Kobus Associates, we'll take a deep dive into everything that's new about LEED. We'll cover all the improvements to the LEED BD&C and IDC ratings systems including new credits, reference standards, and adaptations. This session assumes some familiarity with LEED and green building concepts; LEED AP status or equivalent is recommended for attendees.

Tuesday, November 10th
8:00AM - 12:00PM
50 Milk St, 15th Floor
"Aristotle" Conf. Room, Boston

The East Village Building Tour at NEU  

 

Join the USGBC MA Chapter for a tour at a soon-to-be LEED silver certified building at Northeastern University! The East Village is the newest and second tallest building on campus. It was developed on a brownfield site, which was restored to allow construction on the property. Representatives from Northeastern and the architectural firm, DiMella Shaffer, will be available to answer all questions about the building's design, function and sustainable features.

Thank you to Suffolk Construction for sponsoring this tour!
  
After the tour, join us for a few drinks at a networking gathering nearby at around 7:00pm. 

Register for the tour here!

Wednesday, November 4th
6:00 - 7:00PM
291 Saint Botolph Street, Boston 

6th Annual Sustainable Dinner  


 
Join the Chapter for our 6th Annual Sustainable Dinner! The theme this year is healthy living in buildings.
 
RAB Lighting will speak to the group about how proper lighting can affect your circadian rhythm and it will be hosted by the Commonwealth Restaurant, Cambridge with a fantastic menu created by Chef Nookie.

Register here!

Thursday, November 12th
6:00 - 8:00PM
11 Broad Canal Way, Cambridge 

Advocacy Power Meetings


Advocacy Round Table
Legislation and policy drives our industry, but who drives changes in legislation and law? Join our Advocacy committee as they interpret, suggest updates to, and advocate for advances in laws and policy related to green buildings. All are welcome to join in this high level discussion.

Current priorities on the state-wide front include the following issues:
Register for the discussion here.

Thursday, November 5th
5:30 - 7:00pm Aristotle conf. room
50 Milk Street, Boston, 15th floor 

Water for Green Breakfast?


Green Breakfast with TOTO on water efficiency:
In this 1h GBCI course, gain insight into water efficiency and the role of sustainable plumbing. We'll also discuss testing and standards, environmental technologies, product transparency and contributions to LEED certification. Our friend Steve Grande will present - and you know he is always entertaining!


Friday, November 13th
8:30 - 10:00am Hercules conf. room
50 Milk Street, Boston, 17th floor 

GreenbuildXBoston
 
In light of the celebration and excitement of Greenbuild in Washington DC, the Massachusetts Chapter has created a local educational summit to allow local firms and green building practitioners the opportunity to be offered the same content, here in the Commonwealth. We are going to be hosting the GreenbuildXBoston Summit in the conference space at 50 Milk St, Boston on the 12th of December. We are excited to invite all of the local firms in our industry to connect with local green building practitioners!




LEED Green Associate Exam Preparation
 

This is a fast-paced class for green building and emerging professionals who have little previous knowledge of the LEED rating system, green building operations and green building construction.  Upon completion of the class participants will be prepared to sit for the LEED Green Associate exam at a local testing center.  By passing the exam, an individual will earn the LEED Green Associate credential. If interested in attending a LEED Green Associate Exam Prep class, more information is available here.

 
Wednesday, December 9th 
8:30am - 5:30pm Edison conf. room
50 Milk Street, Boston, 16th Floor

 
Green Giants

Thank you to all who participated in recognizing green giants in Western Massachusetts! We have 33 nominations in three categories.
 
The program honors the work of trades people, educators, and owners/program directors who help build, teach about, envision and fund green buildings in Hampshire, Hampden, Franklin, and Berkshire counties.  
 
The West Branch Green Giants program will occur on December 1, 2015, in Hampshire County TBD.
 

GreenBuild 2015

 
Register for GREENBUILD today to join us and be sure to add-on a tour or one of the all-day education sessions such as "Successful Energy Modeling for LEED Projects" taught by our colleagues at The Green Engineer.
 
For more information, check out the Greenbuild 2015 website. It might take you 45 minutes to go through the options for tours, but only 5-10 mins to just register for the conference. You can sign up for workshops and sessions later, as well.
 
Do let us know you are going so we can put you on the "Massachusetts Party Patrol List" and alert you to any good receptions we can crash or otherwise experience. Please pencil in the MA Chapter reception for 5:50 on Wednesday, 11/19.
 
Advocacy Updates
 
We continue to make great strides in advancing our Chapter's legislative and educational priorities. We have a strong group of volunteers championing these issues. Come to our meeting: this Thursday evening, or later this month on Tuesday morning, 11/24. Also, consider signing up for our own GreenbuildX Boston on Saturday, Dec. 12th, where we are presenting in-depth, credential maintenance sessions on our Advocacy priorities, which are hot-button issues for the industry.
  • PACE: We're working hard to push this innovative form of energy-efficiency financing through the State House. We continue to support Bill S. 1774, which was advanced largely through support of strong testimonies, like those from Laura Canter and Jessica Bailey in June. The next key step is finding allies in the House, so we can get this widely-supported bill passed in the next few months. Thanks to our Advocacy Committee's PACE issue captain John DiModica, and our political consultants at Liberty Square Group, for their dedicated efforts to move this forward!
  • Net-Zero building codes: The push for zero-emission buildings has gained momentum since the US DOE created a formal definition for net-zero in mid-September. Read more about how this common definition will create clarity across the green building industry, and access the full DOE report, in our recent blog post.
  • Net-Metering: our colleagues in the solar industry are urgently seeking to redress the net metering caps which are shutting down the commercial installation business. We support the Next Generation Solar Policy Framework and specifically seek the "value of solar" study required to accurately quantify the benefits of distributed solar. We are monitoring the concerns many of our allies have regarding the impact of solar incentives on poor communities & ratepayers, and how other states with lesser incentives are still seeing growth in the solar industry.

OTHER ISSUE AREAS:
  • Energy Efficiency Education: The advanced technologies and nuanced features of high-performance buildings dictate that they must be managed much differently from conventional buildings. To ensure that carefully designed LEED buildings are operated as intended, we need to close the gap in green building education. we encourage property owners to support their facility managers in signing up for G|PRO courses. These are the best resources available to train facility managers and building operators. Learn more on our site.
We are, of course, continuing to follow the following as well:

How Much Produce Can a Green Building Produce?

Know of any great sustainable buildings, with vertical farming or otherwise, that you want to tell us about? Shoot us an email!
 
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: usgbcma.org