EPMA Soiree! Good times with the Emerging Professionals

By Adam Kreitman, EPMA

The 2014 EPMA Soiree (held at the Baseball Tavern on 12/20/14) was a great success, thanks in part to our incredible attendees and Lee Kennedy Co., Inc. for sponsoring! 

The night was full of networking, trivia and our first ever "EPMA Baggo Madness Tourney." Even though the event was rescheduled, due to the never ending weather curve balls, we were able to meet many new faces and draw in several new members!

The night concluded with a giveaway of multiple raffle prizes such as gift cards to Starbucks, Evoo, Henrietta's Table and the Fireplace. Our winners of the "Baggo" Tournament were Scott Balboni (Chapman Construction) and Tyler Murphy (Suffolk Construction). We saw a lot of good moves on the floor during Baggo.

As is usual at our EPMA networking events, we had free appetizers (from the Tavern) and drinks were underwritten by Lee Kennedy. Though there were a lot of "regulars," about half the crew were fresh faces and we made a lot of new contacts. In fact, LinkedIn reported a significant jump in connections the next day due, in part, to our event. 

But seriously, one of the reasons these EPMA events are so cool is that people are coming from a lot of different companies - we have construction, architecture, engineering, retrofits, schools, and many more backgrounds. If you go to your standard industry thing, you are just surrounded by your (friendly) competitors. At the USGBC and EPMA events, you connect across the industry.

Thank you all who made this night so enjoyable! 

[Editor's Note: special thanks to the EPMA leadership team - Stephanie MacNeil (HMFH), Javier Burgos (Navigant), Kristin Malyak (Gensler), Jenna Dancewicz (Suffolk Construction) and especially to Adam Kreitman for organizing this event and securing the sponsorship from...Lee Kennedy.]

Congratulations to USGBC MA New Officers

On Thursday, 2/20/14, the Board of Directors of the USGBC MA Board of Directors elected, through the consensus-based process of Dynamic Governance, a new slate of officers. 

• New Chair of the Board: Jim Newman (Linnean Solutions)

• Continuing Vice Chair: Neil Angus (Devens Enterprise Commission)

• Continuing Secretary: Sandy Brock (Nitsch Engineering)

• New Treasurer: Carolyn Day (DBA-W Architects)

• and new representative to the Upper Northeast Regional Council: Conor McGuire (Columbia Construction)

• Greg Sampson (Robinson & Cole) will remain on the Executive Committee as Past Chair

Thank you to the departing officers: Phoebe Beierle who is stepping down as Past Chair to take on the Green Apple Day of Service subcommittee of the Green Schools Committee, and Emily Greenstein, who is leaving us to pursue other interests beyond green buildings, after having served us as an amazing Treasurer for the past 6 years. Thank you Phoebe and thank you especially to Emily for your major contribution in time and effort to get this organization off the ground and into an established 501c3. You've done a truly outstanding job for the USGBC MA!

Some of the new officers shared their thoughts about the new group, which will form the Executive Committee of the Board for 2014.

From Carolyn Day: "I believe in the organizational mission so I decided to get involved at the early stages. The Chapter is the organization bringing people together for cross-pollination of knowledge and ideas in order to elevate the level of sustainable design happening in the commonwealth and beyond. This year I look forward to greater engagement from a more diverse membership, and extending our reach."

From Conor McGuire: “I’m looking forward to learning from our USGBC Chapter Members, so I can best represent our Massachusetts values and progress to the Upper Northeast Regional Committee and USGBC National.  See you all at our Networking & Educational events, and Award Ceremonies!”
Congratulations, thank you, and I look forward to working with you all. Chapter Members: feel free to reach out and send them your best wishes. Thank you.

Introducing Julia Mejia, new on staff at the USGBC MA Chapter

Julia Mejia is the new Outreach & Communications Manager for the USGBC MA Chapter. She will be responsible for coordinating our outward messaging to prospective members and sponsors. 

Julia obtained a Bachelors degree from Mount Ida College and developed an expertise in community engagement, marketing and communications. Julia’s previous employment includes Communication/Engagement Strategist at the Center for Social Policy at UMass Boston where she designed and implemented messaging strategies to promote their efforts. 

Prior to that Julia served as the Campaign Manager for MTV Networks where she successfully launched a national multi-media grassroots effort for political engagement. Julia also wrote, produced and developed creative content for MTV’s hit series True Life, My Super Sweet 16, MADE as well as various award-winning news and documentary specials. 

In addition to MTV, Julia has also worked on national marketing campaigns for numerous companies such as the Advertising Council, Proctor & Gamble, Miller Lite, Verizon Wireless, Frito-Lays, Paramount, Sprint and many others.

Julia’s remarks:

“I bring my experience both in the private sector and in community based work to this endeavor. This results in new thinking about how to engage others, and how to effectively identify and build on their interests and needs.  In addition, marketing and public relations naturally involves community outreach and engagement; these are skills I have honed over the past fifteen years.  I look forward to working closely with our membership to inform, influence and inspire others to be innovative with intent."

Deep Energy Retrofits with Brian Butler and the Residential Green Building Committee

By Rose Brakesman

What better time to talk about Mass Save Deep Energy Retrofit than a cold February evening with the Residential Green Building Committee. Brian Butler walked us through how Boston Green Building does a Deep Energy Retrofit (DER).

Some DER “rules of thumb”:

1.5 air changes per hour (ACH)

R5 windows

R10 basement slab

R20 foundation walls

R40 walls above foundation

R60 in the roof/attic

DER is documented and looks for a reduction in energy use between 50-90%, so the process starts with determining a baseline on energy use and a blower door test to document the number of air changes per hour (ACH) in an existing older house. Many of these houses are what Brian calls “gushers”. They’re houses that leak air and energy at an alarming rate. One house that Boston Green Building is tackling for DER just went through a blower test and had 9 ACH. (DER is 1.5 ACH).  9 ACH is equivalent to leaving a two foot by two foot hole in the exterior wall year round! 

Jokes abounded… “Did you leave the bathroom window open during the test?” Nope, double checked. Many older houses are just that leaky from gaps around the windows and doors, leaks where the basement meets the frame, and so on. This is the kind of house that can most benefit from a Deep Energy Retrofit, and there are many, many like this. 

Additionally, most of the current housing stock in Boston will still be here in 2050, so building better new homes won’t help nearly enough. Happily enough for Brian and his cohorts, it doesn’t look like they’ll run out of work anytime soon! Even nicer is the DER “guidebook”- the Mass Save Deep Energy Retrofit Builder Guide. Instead of a long process of repeated submittal, and revision, and re-submittal, the guidebook streamlines the process. Hopefully more builders will jump on board and provide some DER competition!

After addressing the building envelope there are typically additional complications and hazards that go along with “tightening things up.” One such issue is indoor air quality. In the original leaky building there’s a “stack effect” where supposedly “fresh” air starts in the basement (along with mold and mildew) then moves upward through the house via temperature stratification. Once the building envelope is at 1.5 ACH or less, there is no stack effect. Facilitated ventilation is required and that is a very good thing! Now stale air can be taken from one area of the house moved through heat recovery ventilation (HRV). A high efficiency HRV unit is the best way to go and can have an efficiency of 90%, which means stale air at 72o is exhausted and fresh air is drawn in at around 65o.

In the end, Brian and Boston Green Building are “dragging poorly performing homes kicking and screaming into the 21st century and hopefully addressing all the issues to keep from killing the occupants.” Originally, only one utility company participated in Mass Save DER, but now there are six participating utilities. Conspicuously absent from the list is NStar…. but there is some carbonated bottle shaking going on to hopefully bring them back on board.

See you at the next Residential Green Building Committee meeting on Monday, March 10th at 5:45pm at 281 Summer St, Boston!

LEED Exams Change-over to LEED v4:

This just in from USGBC National:

The LEED Green Associate and LEED AP exams will evolve for the LEED v4 rating system in June. The last day to take the credential exams with LEED v2009 content will be June 15, 2014. The first day to take the exams with the new LEED v4 content will be June 30, 2014. No tests will be administered in between these dates.

For the first time, LEED project experience competency will be assessed within the LEED AP exam. Practitioner experience is critical to the LEED AP designation, and as such, proficiency will be tested objectively within the LEED AP exam itself. The requirement to submit proof of LEED project experience at the time of application is no longer required as of June 30. However, GBCI strongly urges candidates to gain meaningful project experience prior to taking the test, as it is critical to successful exam performance.

Innovations in Sustainabiltiy & Resiliency

We had a great program in our EcoDistricts series. Thank you to event sponsors: EnerNOC, the City of Boston and the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and to District Hall for hosting us!

From the Boston Redevelopment Authority:

On Tuesday, 2/4/14, the BRA and the Massachusetts Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council(USGBC) hosted an Innovations in Sustainability and Resiliency panel discussion. Panelists representing the finance and tech industries as well as government came together to discuss the development of EcoDistricts and the role of resiliency in Boston's Innovation District and beyond. The EcoDistricts framework emphasizes sharing energy solutions amongst area stakeholders. Over 100 attendees participated from a broad cross section of the sustainability community, including architects, engineers, developers, financial consultants, and federal, state, and local government officials

The first keynote speaker was Kairos Shen, Chief Planner at the BRA, who emphasized that the biggest challenge facing the creation of Eco Districts is partnerships. Shen stressed that the technological solutions already exist, but it's the partnerships that will allow them to be effective.

The second keynote speaker was John Aubrecht, President of the Longwood Medical Energy Collaborative, who represents Boston's greatest concentration of medical institutions, including over 2000 hospital beds. The concentration of critical energy users in the Longwood Medical Area (LMA) rely on the Medical Area Total Energy Plant (MATEP) for heating, cooling and electrical services. Aubrecht's presentation focused on building partnerships between LMA institutions, financial institutions, and energy markets. He also discussed the challenge of finding organizational strategies for the multiple stakeholders in an Eco District.

The panel on Eco Districts was moderated by Galen Nelson, Director of Market Development at the Mass Clean Energy Center. Nelson discussed his time in Hamburg, Germany where an old grain silo was used to create an energy bunker that now produces enough heat for 3000 households and electricity for 1000 homes. Other panelists included: Karthik Rao from EnernNOC, who discussed how each individual building can contribute to local energy markets; Bruce Douglas, Vice President of Natural Systems Utilities, who discussed the use of waste heat in sewer systems and capturing underutilized sources of energy throughout the city; Matthew Gardner, Director of SustainServ, who discussed emerging technology used to measure the energy of a city and showed how it was applied in the Innovation District; Charlie Reed, Director of Boston Global Investors, who discussed his company's planning strategy for district energy in the Innovation District.

More panels discussing EcoDistricts beyond energy technology are forthcoming, including EcoDistricts in the context of water and organizational models. Stay tuned via the BRA EcoDistricts page.

Photos by Grey Lee