The Arrival of LEED v4: Everything you Need to Know to Succeed
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. Sponsored by the USGBC Massachusetts Branch.
Tangible Change: Materials and the Living Building Challenge
The Living Building Challenge Materials Petal is intended to induce a successful materials economy that is non-toxic, transparent and socially equitable. In this workshop, participants will gain an understanding of how to meet the material-related Imperatives of the Living Building Challenge: I-10 Red List, I-11 Embodied Carbon Footprint, I-12 Responsible Industry, I-13 Living Economy Sourcing, and I-14 Net Positive Waste as well as introduce and explain the Declare Program.
Net Positive Energy: Power and the Living Building Challenge
The Living Building Challenge Energy Petal is intended to signal a new age of design, wherein the built environment relies solely on renewable forms of energy and operates year round in a pollution-free manner. In this in-depth review of the Energy Petal, participants will gain an understanding of how to create Net Zero Energy buildings. This interactive session will present detailed case studies of several Net Zero Energy certified buildings - identifying the design and operational challenges these projects had to overcome to meet their Net Zero Energy goals.
Climate Specific Passive Building Standards as a Baseline for Zero Energy Buildings
This workshop will review the new climate specific passive building standards developed by Building Science Corporation and PHIUS through a DOE grant as a possible new baseline for the Zero Energy Ready Home program. Out of all the measures that can take a building to zero energy performance, passive building measures were identified as having the best economic potential. The workshop will identify the sweet spot between supply (renewables) and demand (conservation) based on climate and economic conditions.
Beyond Technical Measures: Big Impact Program Design
Dr. Susan Mazur-Stommen will lead you through a wide range of behavior-based programs and discuss how to maximize effectiveness by “stacking” strategies, drawing on behavior-based research as the lead author of ACEEE’s Field Guide to Utility-Run Behavior Programs. We’ll look at grouping programs into categories for keener analysis, discuss ‘drivers’ or insights from the social and behavioral sciences (including feedback, incentives and social norms), and review challenges in assessment.
NZSummit: Better Than Zero
Net zero is so yesterday! Futurists are moving ahead to visions of net-positive buildings and communities. How far can we go? Where should we be focusing our efforts — on individual buildings, neighborhoods, or whole communities? Our speakers will offer several perspectives, ranging from hard quantitative analysis to aspirational program building.
NZSummit: Policy & Programs
The ZNE & energy efficiency community has a wealth of knowledge and tools that foster the design and construction of highly energy-efficient Buildings. How can government policies leverage this “toolkit” to encourage building highly efficient and ZNE buildings? How can we engage the efficiency community to encourage adoption? We will hear about a range of policy options, including programs, mandates or incentives for zero net energy, Passive House standards, deep energy reductions, solar energy, etc.
NZSummit: Education & Training Update
This session will cover a variety of education initiatives aimed at developing building professionals’ and trades’ capabilities in areas essential to achieving ZNE. Speakers will address program design, workforce sectors, topical focus areas, outreach strategies, funding sources, and other relevant issues. We will also discuss how far we can get to ZNE via advances in education, vs. by advances in technology.
Opening Plenary With Keynote Address: Rethinking The Grid - How Our Changing Electrical System Will Impact The Ways We Produce, Distribute And Use Energy
Most of us take the electrical grid for granted. But it is perhaps the most complex technological achievement in human history. After more than a century of relative stability, the grid is changing fast. Our conference plenary will explore the technology and policy solutions evolving to enable a more reliable, resilient, environmentally responsible and affordable electricity grid.
Dematerialization Applied
As a follow-up to "Dematerializing Buildings" at BE14, this session will explore how the dematerialization and lightweighting of buildings is being put into practice. Many of the technologies discussed in the March 2014 session are now being put into actual application while more new technologies are entering the pipeline at a rapid rate. Driven by energy and environmental concerns, some projects are now quantifying the material savings and embodied carbon reduction resulting from lightweighting strategies.