Workshops - Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Pathways to Net Zero

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 6
Workshop Speaker(s): Mike Duclos R. Carter Scott

This workshop will take you, step-by-step, from designing and building to Code, to Energy Star, to Stretch Code and finally all the way to Net Zero and Passive House. What does it take to get from one level to the next? Learn what changes you must make with regard to construction details, mechanical systems, materials choices and design decisions. Hear about the most cost effective ways to move from one level to the next. For residential architects and custom builders new to high-performance construction but looking to regain a competitive advantage in today's marketplace, this is the workshop to attend.

The Secret is in the System: Better Products, Better Profit, Better for the Planet

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 6, Cityview 2
Workshop Speaker(s): Linda Booth Sweeney Sara Schley

The climate is a system; NESEA is a system; your business is a system. All systems, regardless of scale, can be described and analyzed using the same tools. Systems thinking is able to analyze break-downs in small organizations such as design or construction firms just as effectively as it can identify problems on macro scales, such as natural resource depletion issues or "the tragedy of the commons." This workshop will provide participants with the tools they need to begin to comprehend the various components of systems in action, to understand where a system may be under-performing or failing outright, and to identify the leverage points that will enable those working on or in the system to apply the least effort to effect the greatest positive change.

Testing for Air Leakage in Big Buildings

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 6
Workshop Speaker(s): Terry Brennan Gary Nelson Collin Olson

If you're a commercial building architect, developer or management company, large-building blower door tests are in your future. Air-leakage control plays a key role in managing fire risks, moisture and odors. LEED for Homes Mid-Rise and EPA's MFHR are all highlighting compartmentalization within large buildings as a priority, but very few people know why or how to do large-building blower door tests. This hands-on workshop will be led by a top team of practitioners, including Terry Brennan and Gary Nelson.

Understanding Inefficiency and Potential Retrofits in Multifamily Buildings

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 6
Workshop Speaker(s): Erica Brabon F.L. Andrew Padian Bernice Radle

Multifamily Buildings are notoriously inefficient as compared to single family homes per square foot for numerous reasons. Often very profitable, these buildings' owners are not prone to messing with success; they fail to see energy efficiency as both a profit center and a complaint reduction device. Further, studies show that efficient multifamily buildings have lower vacancy rates and more stable tenancy, further increasing cash flow. This class will discuss the science of multifamily building efficiency in the morning, and in the afternoon will it will take you to a multifamily building for a walk-through to see how a multifamily building energy audit is performed.

Energy Basics

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 6, Beacon Hill Complex
Workshop Speaker(s): Matt Root

Do you know how much energy you home uses or how that compares with similar homes? If you double the insulation in your house, will you cut your heating energy in half? How many photovoltaic panels will it take for your house to get to Net Zero Energy? Just what does Net Zero Energy mean, anyway? If you have lots of questions that you're too embarrassed to ask, this workshop is just the place for you. We will cover the basics of energy usage, heat loss and heat gain, fundamentals of building science, rules of thumb, renewable energy and a host of other topics. You will start the morning as a novice but will end the afternoon as an expert.

Deciding How to Heat Your House or Building

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 6
Workshop Speaker(s): Bart Bales Stan Swiercz

Bart Bales, PE, MSME of Bales Energy Associates, presents this workshop developed as a co-venture by Bales Energy Associates and the Center for Eco Technology. In an interactive format, heating engineer Bart Bales will guide participants through the process of choosing the best heating system from the perspective of the design decision-maker: builder, architect, heating contractor, engineer, or owner. Scenarios that will be considered include designs for retrofits (an existing building with either an old hot water boiler or an old steam boiler) and designs for new systems for new buildings. The session will also include the results of recent field testing of installed condensing boiler systems and identify potential opportunities for even more efficient operation of these state-of-the-art systems.

Solar Thermal is Heating Up: Best Practices and Performance Data (Field trip included!)

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 6
Workshop Speaker(s): Leo Bedard Christopher Beebe Erica Boyle Marci Brunner Andy Brydges Bill Colonis Kate Epsen Michael Hogan Christie Howe Amanda Treat

Welcome to the BE12 Solar Thermal Best Practices forum! Experts discuss design, installation, and other important considerations in constructing a residential or commercial scale solar thermal system. Under review will be solar thermal performance data collected from throughout the Northeast, including preliminary data from 35 residential solar thermal systems and numerous commercial-scale solar thermal systems currently being monitored by the Mass Clean Energy Center. The morning session will wrap up with an overview and update on state solar thermal incentive programs in MA, NH, CT, NY, VT, and ME. After lunch, board the bus for a valuable field trip to visit several solar hot water installations around Cambridge and Boston.

Residential Deep Energy Retrofits: Case Studies and ROI Analysis

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 6
Workshop Speaker(s): William Brownsberger Paul Eldrenkamp Henry MacLean Marie McMahon Meehan Ken Neuhauser

Massachusetts utilities have had their residential Deep Energy Retrofit pilot programs up and running for two years now. We have had a chance to get a few dozen of these projects designed, built, and lived in for several months to over a year at this point. This full-day workshop will present a range of viewpoints on the projects, from technical details, to design challenges, to homeowner experiences, to early adopter learning curves. Presenters will include DER contractors, architects, homeowners, and program administrators. Those who would benefit from this workshop include: contractors, architects, and designers interested in participating in a DER pilot program; homeowners deciding whether their home is a good candidate; policy makers who are curious about the scalability of this strategy; and environmental advocates who want to understand the ramifications of this approach to making our housing stock part of the solution to energy and environmental challenges rather than an ongoing part of the problem itself.

7:00 PM - 7:00 PM Wednesday, December 31
Workshop Speaker(s):

Canceled, Sorry!!!- Large-Scale Multi-Family Done Right

9:00 AM - 12:00 PM Tuesday, March 6
Workshop Speaker(s): Peter Baker Philip Kerrigan Jr., PE Ken Neuhauser James Petersen Betsy Pettit

Castle Square Apartments, Boston, a 1960s-era affordable property, is the largest Deep Energy Retrofit in the US taking place right now, involving 192 of its 500 apartments. The project will slash energy usage by 72 percent, whereas the typical energy efficiency measures only result in an average energy savings of about 30 percent. Doing what is typical is not going to make enough of a difference in reducing our carbon footprint, and the Castle Square project represents a fascinating case study in going well beyond average measures. This project is especially interesting because it is not a gut rehab. Residents will stay in their apartments during the renovation, with minimal disruption. In addition to dramatic energy savings, the renovation of Castle Square Apartments is expected to achieve LEED Gold Certification. The renovation will utilize green building materials, improve indoor air quality, and reduce water consumption. Castle Square Apartments is not a fancy luxury apartment complex or one-off project. It is low- and moderate-income housing, owned by residents, the Castle Square Tenants Organization, 501(c)3, with minority interest held by Winn Companies. Residents are the key drivers for this Deep Energy Retrofit approach. This workshop will be led by Betsy Pettit of Building Science Corporation and will include presentations by several key members of the Castle Square team.

Canceled, Sorry!!! Sustainability & Resilience Planning

9:00 AM - 12:00 PM Tuesday, March 6
Workshop Speaker(s): Joel Gordes Maureen Hart Donald Watson

Sustainability is a much-used but still often confusing term first defined in the 1987 book, Our Common Future. It is defined there as meet[ing] the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This workshop will set out the blueprint for what concepts make up sustainability, going beyond the popular but limited concept of solar panels and LEED buildings. We will explore how participants may apply many of these same principals and will speak on the need to include resiliency into sustainability, not just in our buildings but more holistically into community design. Also included will be how practitioners can develop metrics to measure their progress toward these ends and the tools to accurately determine this. Join us as we take our knowledge and apply it to why we need to make resiliency an important element of planning and design and as we discuss some ways in which we can accomplish this.

Passive House and Beyond, Part I

9:00 AM - 12:00 PM Tuesday, March 6
Workshop Speaker(s): Marc Rosenbaum

If you have heard about the Passive House Standard but would like to know more , or if you know the basics but would like more details, this workshop will provide you with an excellent in-depth introduction to the Passive House principles and practices. We will answer questions regarding what Passive House actually is, how it compares with other "green" building standards and if it is a viable standard for a New England climate. This half-day morning workshop will serve as an excellent lead-in to the more advanced Passive House workshop in the afternoon.

Lighting 101: Basics of Energy-Effective Lighting

9:00 AM - 12:00 PM Tuesday, March 6
Workshop Speaker(s): Naomi Miller

Electric lighting gobbles up a large chunk of energy in homes, commercial applications and outdoors. For decades we have had energy-efficient options to incandescent, but they required some sacrifice in color, size, audible noise, glare or dimmability. Fluorescent and HID light sources are great options in the right applications, but now we have LEDs to fill in the gaps in the lighting toolbox. In order to do a good job of designing/engineering lighting, it is vital to understand the basic quantities and qualities of light. Once these concepts are mastered, the designer can evaluate the pros and cons of different flavors of lamps and luminaires and controls.

Advanced Integrated Mechanical Systems for Passive Houses

9:00 AM - 12:00 PM Tuesday, March 6
Workshop Speaker(s): Katrin Klingenberg

Katrin Klingenberg, the architect who brought Passive House to the United States a decade ago, will present three built case studies in different climates and the first measured results of the performance of those systems. Topics covered will be mechanical systems designed for extremely low-energy homes (homes for which conventional HVAC systems are too large), including equipment selection and lay-out; domestic hot water systems, dealing with dehumidification when there's very little cooling demand; and lessons learned from the first ten years of Passive House in North America.

High Performance Ventilation

2:00 PM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 6
Workshop Speaker(s): Robb Aldrich Sean Maxwell

Mechanical ventilation is a necessity in today's high-performance residential buildings, and the adage "build tight, ventilate right" has never been more meaningful. The problem is, ventilating right can actually be quite difficult. More than just choosing the right fan, good ventilation requires an understanding of codes and standards and great attention to detail during design and construction. This half-day workshop will cover a wide range of residential ventilation challenges in great detail and at a level that is accessible to novices but rewarding to those with some experience. Case studies from high-rise and low-rise, new construction and retrofit will add real-world applicability to what you learn here.

Passive House and Beyond, Part II

2:00 PM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 6
Workshop Speaker(s): Marc Rosenbaum

There has been an active Passive House community in New England for a few years now, and around twelve buildings have been certified as meeting the Passive House Standard. So, what are we learning about Passive House and what are we still learning? Can we draw any conclusions as to its viability and applicability in New England? How is the Passive House movement shaping green building in our region and where are things heading? This half-day afternoon workshop can be taken as an extension to the "Passive House and Beyond, Part I" workshop in the morning, or as a stand-alone workshop.

Lighting 201: Energy-Effective Luminaires and Controls

2:00 PM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 6
Workshop Speaker(s): Naomi Miller

Designers and engineers who have mastered the basics need to be able to evaluate different luminaire options based on energy efficiency, light distribution, life and maintenance, controllability and other factors. LEDs have changed the playing field dramatically in the last two years, so there will be emphasis on the pros and cons of this technology. This workshop will introduce the criteria for a range of basic product types such as accent lighting, retail lighting, recessed ambient lighting, and many others. It will introduce the audience to a set of steps for energy-effective lighting design and suggest resources for learning more. Basic control options for all of the light sources discussed will be presented.

Commercial and Institutional Net-Zero Buildings: Methods and Case Studies

2:00 PM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 6
Workshop Speaker(s): Luke McKneally Steven Strong

Pioneering practitioners have been fielding Zero-Net-Energy residences for decades and the success formulae is now even being applied to moderate-income housing. The next Zero-Net frontier is the commercial and institutional sector which is an order-of-magnitude more challenging. Commercial & institutional facilities tend to be far more energy intensive, have much less eligible aperture for solar harvest and are less able to rely on the energy efficient philosophy of the occupants for success. This session will present the emerging next generation of Zero-Net-Energy commercial & institutional buildings powered by wind and solar in different climate zones from coast to coast.

Renewable Energy Technologies and Climate Change Mitigation

2:00 PM - 5:00 PM Tuesday, March 6
Workshop Speaker(s): William Moomaw Janet Sawin

This workshop is a must for anyone interested in gaining access to the most up-to-date summary of the status, advantages and disadvantages of all renewable energy technologies: solar, biomass, hydro, geothermal, oceans and wind. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has recently released a thousand-page report that is global in scope. The workshop presenters were two of the convening lead authors of the study and will present the results which provide examples from Europe, China, Japan and other countries that have important lessons for the US. We will discuss the ability and likelihood that renewable energy technologies can meet our energy needs, explained in terms of economic cost and the technical potential of each technology.