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How many green buildings can you see? |
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It's time for some freshening up:
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Fresh for the Chapter: An Election!
Thank you to all the nominated candidates - your willingness to serve our mission is laudable and we look forward to working with all the candidates regardless of the election outcome.
And thank you to each of you - our dear readers - who are part of what we do to advance the cause of green buildings in Massachusetts.
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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.
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Annual Meeting
It's that time of they year: recognizing our volunteers, vote in new board members, review our progress and plan the year ahead!
Let's celebrate all that we have achieved as a community of green building practitioners.
Come on down to our headquarters in Boston for some food and positive energy with colleagues. We will be convening immediately after, a block away, at the Vanderbilt, for some drinks. Come join the Residential Green Building committee here and discuss their exciting year ahead.
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Green Breakfast: Net Zero with Cambridge
Join us for our Green Breakfast series with Susanne Rasmussen, Director of Transportation and Environmental Planning for the City of Cambridge, as she speaks to the USGBC Massachusetts about Cambridge's Net Zero Action Plan.
Cambridge is a national leader in addressing climate change. Let's work with them to help other communities embrace existing policy levers to transform our communities and the Commonwealth.
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Annual Sustainable Dinner with IES and RAB Lighting!
Annual Sustainable Dinner at the Commonwealth Restaurant; co-hosted with the Illuminating Engineers Society (IES).
We will enjoy a delicious & sustainable meal of the freshest locally sourced ingredients created by Chef Nookie; along with an educational presentation on the health effects of artificial lighting by our sponsor Jane Slade, RAB Lighting https://www.rabweb.com/:
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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!
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!
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Mentorship
She is launching the program and could use a couple more mentors in the program to balance demand. The last day for mentor signups is this Friday the 22nd!
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Advocacy Update:
Thank you as always to our Advocacy Committee, for their efforts to support our Chapter priorities. We are gearing up to advocate for our issues as Beacon Hill gets back to work in the coming weeks.
- PACE:
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Our new Issue Captain, Jerome Garciano, has created a plan to rally our PACE Coalition to push it through in this coming legislative session, either via Bill S. 1774 or a standalone bill.
- Read our blog post for the latest news on our work on PACE. Click here to learn about this energy-efficiency financing tool for commercial buildings.
- Net-Metering:
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Our Chapter, along with 61 other MA organizations, has endorsed the Acadia Center's Joint Statement on Solar Policy. Learn more about this statement here, and more information on net-metering here.
- We will continue to push for a distributed-renewables-friendly bill.
- 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 |
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Webinar: Erosion Control
This course covers the basics about erosion, sedimentation and their respective control measures, relating how LEED v4 acts as a tool to encourage the implementation of an erosion and sedimentation control plan before starting earthwork of a project. Causes of erosion and subsequent problems for humans and the environment are explained, highlighting the need for preliminary studies and analysis of active and passive forces of the site before designing solutions. Monday - 1/18/16 - 6pm - Worcester
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Webinar: Understanding and Improving Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) - VOC eating drywall (Webinar)
The course focuses on airborne pollutants and chemicals associated with adverse health effects. Participants who complete this course will be able to identify common contaminants and design appropriate remediation strategies, as well as identify emerging product capture technologies. Wednesday - 1/20/16 - 4:30pm - Boston |
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Webinar: Certified Wood and Green Building
Certified wood and forest certification have long been lightning rods in the green building advocacy arena. In this webinar, we will examine the big picture of forestry and timber production and provide an overview of forest certification, examining the history of and the key differences between the main competitors in forest certification, FSC and SFI. We will explore how each of these certifications is considered within various certification programs, including the Living Building Challenge, LEED and Green Globes. This webinar will also discuss the potential impact of burgeoning interest in cross-laminated timber production with a particular emphasis on the Cascadia bioregion. Tuesday - 1/26/16 - 12:00pm - Boston |
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Webinar: You Are What You Breathe: Taking Action on Chemicals of Concern
One of the most important trends in green building in recent years has been growing market demand for transparency and avoidance of toxic chemicals in building materials. This webinar will provide a primer on chemicals of concern in the built environment, an overview of the tools that are driving the development of healthier building materials and will contrast the approaches of Living Building Challenge, LEED and Green Globes to this important issue. We will also explore how webinar participants can play a role in inspiring increased uptake of healthy materials through specification, contracts and other advocacy tools. Thursday- 1/28/16 - 12:00pm - Boston |
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Thanks for reading our news!
We are full of excitement for 2016.
Thank you for your support, and see you soon!
-Grey and the team at USGBC MA HQ: Celis, Anthony & Maria
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Thank you to our generous Sponsoring Partners:
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USGBC MA Chapter | usgbcma.org
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