Phewf! We survived Thanksgiving and those awesome Green Building Expos, now it is time to spread the Green Building Cheer!

Here is our own Craig Foley, green home champion, leading the new Residential Track at Greenbuild in DC!

A legacy for everyone in the world:

We are full of gratitude: for our devoted proponents, awesome volunteers, and engaged stakeholders.

Our industry is important: COP21 in Paris has a specific program for the way buildings affect climate change - "Buildings Day" will be on Thursday 12/3.

The World Green Building Council and Jones Lang LaSalle just released a report verifying the benefits of green buildings for users: they explored physical, perceptual and financial dimensions of buildings' effects on occupants.

In case you missed it previously, we're the fastest growing segment of the construction and real estate sector according to Booz Allen Hamilton.

Our community of practitioners are at the forefront of the changing real estate sector - where embracing sustainability, efficiency, health, and social responsibility are driving up value.

Could you make a donation today on #Giving Tuesday to help us expand on our essential mission? Thank you!

Stick with us, to make connections, stay on top of your game, and build demand for green buildings through statewide advocacy. Check out our events and opportunities below to manifest as a community.

See more at usgbcma.org

If you haven't clicked to our blog, our twitter feed and Facebook, take a look. There's content for you. Inside scoop. Hearsay of the grapevine. Etc.

Quarterly Combined Committees Gathering

Getting together - Chapter regulars and newbies alike - this is a great time to get a sense for the breadth of our activities.

12/08/15 at 5:45 in Boston

We have so many project teams working on different things from advocacy to education to events to mentoring - and each quarter we get together to re-connect and coordinate our activities for maximum impact.

Dynamic Plaque in Boston

Come see the latest installation of a LEED Dynamic Plaque

12/17/15 at 8:00am in Boston

Join us and Boston Properties for a visit of their Dynamic Plaque install. We will talk about the Dynamic Plaque system and occupant engagement. We'll hear about the Boston Properties team's story and how they came to adopt the plaque.

LEED Green Associate Exam Prep Class

If you or a colleague need to take the exam to build up your resume and get up to speed with LEED, join us for this all-day exam prep course. After this session, you will be ready to jam on the exam!

12/09/15 at 8:30am to 5:30pm in Boston

This is a great course to take and an excellent, condensed way to get on top of the material. Practice questions and test-taking strategies are shared and you'll walk away with confidence!

Advocacy Update:

Thank you as always to our Advocacy Committee, for their efforts to support our Chapter priorities. Although the 2015 legislative session is over, we continue to work on advancing our issues and gear up for the return of Beacon Hill votes in January.

PACE:

Commercial PACE Financing is expected to move through the Senate in the coming months via Bill S. 1774. To move the bill through when it gets to the House, our staff and Advocacy Committee members are meeting with House legislators and building a coalition to raise their awareness of this simple solution to clean energy finance.
Learn more about this energy-efficiency financing tool for commercial buildings.

Net-Zero:

After considering the challenges of many small communities to meet Net-Zero building codes, our Advocacy Committee is creating a "guidebook" for these communities to follow, so they can reach their energy efficiency goals.
Learn about one organization that proposes solutions to climate change through changes to the built-environment on our website.

Net-Metering:

Although the House did vote on a weak net-metering bill in late November, the Senate kept their standards high and a compromise was not reached. Check out the recent updates about this issue on our site.
We will be pushing for a distributed-renewables-friendly bill in January.

Ongoing tracked issues:

Energy Efficiency Education
Home Energy Efficiency Assessment Requirements (Home Sellers)
Revenue-Neutral Carbon Tax
Healthy Materials & Toxins
Local LEED Ordinances

QUICK WAYS TO GET INVOLVED IN GREEN BUILDING ADVOCACY

Come to our Advocacy Round Table at 50 Milk St. on Thursday 12/10 at 5:30 to gather important updates, and plan next steps! Learn more here.
Voice your support for Commercial PACE Financing by sending one of these template letters to the Representative from your district (find your legislators here).
Email advocacy@usgbcma.org if you or any of your colleagues will help us advocate for this green building priority by joining the PACE Coalition.

Webinar Update:

Join us for our in person webinar series. Here you can connect with other leaders in the industry and collect GBCI credit to support your LEED Credential. We look forward to seeing you at the following:

Shoebox Energy Modeling: How to do quick, early simulations (Webinar):

Most whole building energy simulations require a mechanical system design, making them unsuitable for early-design modeling. By the time you're sizing mechanical systems and debating the finer points of shading mechanisms, you know you've missed some really big energy-saving opportunities. Learn from the architects and energy modelers who are turning to shoebox models-with one or just a few zones- to capture big energy, design, and construction savings.
12/15 at 12pm in Cambridge: Learn more

New Construction & Philadelphia's Energy Benchmarking Law (Webinar)

Commercial building owners, design professionals, energy services providers, and policy makers will benefit from this in�depth presentation about Philadelphia's energy benchmarking and disclosure law and how similar policies can drive energy efficient new construction.
12/16 at 4:30pm in Boston: Learn more

Emerging Professionals Winter Social!

You're invited to the collaborative Emerging & Young Professionals "Winter Social" on

December 2nd at the "New" UMASS CLUB at One Beacon! Come network

with New England's most nfluential commercial, industrial and residential developers, architects, interior designers, building scientists, engineers, specifiers, distributors, contractors, manufacturers, builders and contractors for an evening of conversation, drinks and

fabulous appetizers overlooking the breathtaking Boston Skyline.

Living Building Challenge Tours in Amherst

Join us on Friday, 12/11/15, for a professional tour of two buildings designed to meet the rigorous standards of the Living Building Challenge (LBC) - of which there are only eight certified projects in the world. Both buildings are under construction on Hampshire College's Campus in Amherst, MA.

Join the general contractor, and Chapter Sponsoring Partner, Wright Builders, for this tour and reception. A question-and-answer session will follow with the Boston-based LBC Collaborative. Register here, now!

Great seeing you at Greenbuild!

While many of you held up the fort here at ABX, we were happy to see many at Greenbuild in DC. We were especially proud to see many of our members as presenters (Craig Foley, Jim Newman, Andrea Love, and others)!