Large Multifamily Boilers: How to Understand and Manage

Session 1: Wednesday, March 6, 11:00am-12:30pm

Session Chair: Jordan Bonomo, Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation
Session Speakers: Dan Rieber, Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation; Tom Sahagian, Enterprise Community Partners

Description: Large Multifamily Boilers can be intimidating, this session will explore large boilers, when to replace, how to update existing boilers to be more energy efficient and what controls make sense.

By the Numbers: Energy Data in MF Rehab/Retrofit

Session 2: Wednesday, March 6, 2:00pm-3:30pm

Session Chair: Sylvia Clark, Stonecipher and Clark Environmental Solutions, LLC
Session Speakers: Mary Jane Poynter, Vermont Energy Investment Corporation; Jason Block, Steven Winter Associates Inc.; D. Dickinson Henry, The Jordan Institute; Eric Gardner, New Ecology

Description: By the numbers: Energy hog or skinny cow? This hand-picked panel will discuss total energy use in multifamily buildings including existing buildings and those that have undergone energy retrofits. Speakers will provide data from NH, MA, VT and NY projects including benchmarking numbers, actual savings realized by multifamily buildings and retrofit cost data.

Blower Door Use in Multifamily (MF) Buildings

Session 3: Wednesday, March 6, 4:00pm-5:30pm

Session Chair: Andrew D’Agostino, The Community Preservation Corporation
Session Speakers: Tom Vitale, En-Tech Associates, Inc. and Brody Vance, Franklin Energy Services

Description: Two distinct methods for employing blower doors in multifamily buildings exist: one involving multiple doors and many staff members supporting a building-wide whole building tightness test before and after; the second involving individually pre and post-testing apartments and individually airsealing them. Learn the tips and tricks of both methods from these seasoned field professionals.

Multifamily Rehab: LEED, WAP, and DER

Session 4: Thursday, March 7, 8:30am-10:00am

Session Chair: Alison Keay, The Jordan Institute
Session Speakers: Darien Crimmin, WinnCompanies; William Zoeller, Steven Winter Associates Inc.; F.L. Andrew Padian, The Community Preservation Corporation

Description: This session will explore three distinct styles of affordable housing retrofit for durability, efficiency, and comfort. The first will be a deep energy retrofit of a large Boston MF property. The second, a LEED retrofit of a CT Housing Authority building and the third, a standard weatherization retrofit of a housing  authority complex in upstate NY. Presenters will discuss the pre- and post-energy usage in comparison to the projections, and why they succeeded or failed.

PartnerPREP: Portfolio-wide Energy Management for Affordable Housing

Session 5: Thursday, March 7, 10:30am-12:00pm

Session Chair: Erica Suarino, Steven Winter Associates Inc
Session Speakers: Bomee Jung and Brian Cheigh, Enterprise Community Partners, NYC Office

Description: Enterprise, a national leader in greening affordable housing, launched a program in NYC that attempts to move the market to a new portfolio-based model of energy management. The PartnerPREP program focuses on building the capacity within affordable housing organizations to establish and attain ambitious portfolio-wide energy management goals. This program bridges the need for simplification and coordination for the housing owners while cultivating a pipeline of retrofit, preventative maintenance, and training opportunities for energy efficiency vendors.

Combining building science expertise with an asset management focus, the program supports affordable housing owners and managers to become highly effective energy stewards of their portfolios. Over a two-year engagement, Enterprise analyzes the energy performance of a portfolio; develops a customized long-term energy management plan for the portfolio as a whole and for specific properties with high savings opportunity; helps build organizational capacity for operational improvements and portfolio-wide capital planning; and identifies financial opportunities and incentives to implement energy efficiency improvements.

This session will examine the Enterprise’s successes (and failures!) through a deep dive of one of our engagements.

Combined Heat and Power (CHP) for Multifamily Buildings

Session 6: Thursday March 7, 2:00pm-3:30pm

Session Chair: Heather Nolen, Steven Winter Associates
Session Speakers: Michael Bobker, Building Performance Lab, CUNY Institute for Urban Systems; Les Bluestone, Blue Sea Development Company, LLC; Lee Vardakas, Aegis Energy Services Inc.

Description: Want to know how well CHP works in multifamily buildings? Listen to owner/developers, experts and CHP technicians explain the ins and outs of how CHP works and why it works well in multifamily buildings. Speakers have years of experience operating CHPs in their buildings and will share why they chose it and how it has worked for their building.

Closing Forum: What will be the hot topics at BE25?

Session 7: Thursday March 7, 4:00pm-5:30pm

Session Chair: Paul Eldrenkamp
Session Speakers: Jean Carroon, Ryan Cook, Kate Goldstein, Martin Holladay, Nick Karas, Robert Leaver, John Straube, Fred Unger, and Jamie Wolf.

Description: The final session of the day will wrap up everything we learned at BE13 by forcing us to think out loud about where all our new-gained knowledge is taking us. The format: Seven NESEA practitioners and students will each offer 4-minute presentations on what they think the big hairy questions and challenges for the NESEA community will be in the year 2025. This will be followed by a period of quick-paced audience discussion. The 90 minutes will then wrap with a compelling preview of NESEA, 12 years hence. This closing session will offer an engaged response to the too-rarely asked question: “Just where are we going with all of this?“

Co-Chairs: Kristen Simmons, Kristen Simmons Architects; Laura Notman, Architect

Airtightness Performance of Whole Buildings: Design, Construction & Verifications Testing

Session 1: Wednesday, March 6, 11:00am-12:30pm

Session Chair: Caitríona Cooke, Conservation Services Group
Session Speakers: Wagdy Anis and Wei Lam, Wiss, Janney, Elstner, Associates, Inc.

Description: IECC 2012 and  ASHRAE 2010, now require air barriers in building enclosures for the first time. This means that LEED will now require them in certified buildings. The US Army Corps of Engineers, the Navy and Air Force, as well as the GSA all have new requirements for airtightness performance of whole buildings. There are several ways of achieving compliance in design, construction and verification testing. Testing procedures will be briefly reviewed as well as the newly developed test protocol.  The ASHRAE 1478 Research Project results, measuring the air-tightness of commercial buildings built after the year 2000, will be reviewed.  These conclusions regarding modes of commercial building air leakage will be shared with the audience.

Large Zero Net Energy Projects: Successful Design & Delivery Approaches

Session 2: Wednesday, March 6, 2:00pm-3:30pm

Session Chair: Jacob Knowles, Bard, Rao + Athanas, Consulting Engineers, LLC
Session Speakers: Ellen Watts, Architerra

Description: Most Zero Net Energy projects completed to date have been houses. As the scale of ZNE projects increases, greater design challenges promise exciting new concepts for advanced high performance buildings. What makes large ZNE buildings fly? This session presents successful strategies for overcoming design and delivery challenges, including architectural integration, energy load reduction, systems selection, life cycle costing, regulatory permitting, and integrated project delivery. Participants will review conceptual ideas, energy modeling, and BIM documentation for Architerra led projects in Massachusetts, New York and New Hampshire, gaining an understanding of critical choices and key decisions.

The Portfolio Challenge – How to Scale DERs Across Multiple Buildings

Session 3: Wednesday, March 6, 4:00pm-5:30pm

Session Chair: Kristen Simmons , Kristen Simmons Architects
Session Speakers: Coreina Chan and Kendra Tupper, Rocky Mountain Institute

Description: In this panel presentation, Rocky Mountain Institute shares the results of its 2012 Portfolio Energy Retrofit Challenge. The Challenge is a coordinated effort with partners New Buildings Institute and True Market Solution to work with six office and retail portfolios and determine a portfolio-wide strategy for implementing deep energy savings. An interactive Q&A session (min. 30 minutes) will follow the panel presentation
Context: Many building portfolio owners are saving energy in their buildings by replacing individual technologies and components with more efficient products. This one-for-one replacement leaves savings on the table. Owners could achieve deeper savings, but it is daunting figure out how to do that across a portfolio. Established management practices don’t support the added consideration of energy and building owners often think of energy management as a complication. Owners don’t know what’s possible in their buildings. How low can their energy use go? What reduction goals are reasonable? What’s the best way to phase improvements across buildings? How should owners prioritize?
In this session, participants will learn how the Challenge’s portfolio approach:
• Determines what to do in a portfolio of buildings at lower cost than a building-by-building approach.
• Streamlines whole-systems energy analysis and measure selection.
• Ascertains what’s technically possible before deciding what’s implementable, and before making major capital commitments in the portfolio.
• Determines when to implement deep retrofits in a portfolio by piggybacking off of other planned building expenditures.

Bringing Net-Zero Energy from Design to Operations

Session 4: Thursday, March 7, 8:30am-10:00am

Session Chair: Laura Notman, Architect
Session Speakers: David Del Rossi; Jackie Henke, TD Bank

Description: In this session we’ll share the story of TD Bank’s first net zero energy store located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Since it opened in May of 2011 we’ve monitored its actual performance compared to modeled performance to ensure we’re tracking at net zero energy. What makes this presentation unique is that we’ll share the lessons learned that we encountered as we looked at the monthly consumption of this store location comparing modeled versus actual performance and the modifications we made to systems from interior and exterior lighting, HVAC systems and plug load impacts. We’ll share the small items that made a large difference, but are not picked up in typical commissioning efforts, and the differences we found between our modeling assumptions and actual conditions to help shine a light on these items so the audience members leave with real take away data to bring back to their projects. Finally, we’ll include some context as to how this LEED platinum store design fits within TD Bank’s formal Enterprise Green Buildings Program which is a framework of how we approach the life-cycle of TD Bank retail and corporate projects across North America.

Case Study: The North Shore Community College Health Professions and Student Services Building: Campus Zero Net Energy

Session 5: Thursday, March 7, 10:30am-12:00pm

Session Chair: Carolyn Sarno, NEEP
Session Speakers: Peter Fourtounis, LEED AP, Elkis Manfredi Architects; Eric Friedman, DOER

Description: Case study presentation on the design and operation of the Commonwealth’s first state funded ZNEB. A 58,700 SF academic building which houses the North Shore Community College’s Allied Health Professionals Programs, it includes laboratory spaces, classrooms, offices and assembly spaces.The Health Professions building, at the time of the opening dedication in the fall of 2011, was the second largest building project in the country designed to achieve a Zero Net Energy goal. In this workshop, we will begin by discussing the policy decisions of the Commonwealth to raise the standard on high performance building design and the impact on public projects. For pre-occupancy, a critical look at the design strategies used to conserve, reduce, and generate on-site energy will reveal major challenges the Team faced during the design process. This exploration questions the effectiveness of the strategies and tools for predicting energy consumption vs. production.
Are we there yet? Although the design and construction is complete, the journey to post occupancy measurement and verification continues. For this leg of the journey, we will review how the building systems are performing and the lessons learned for future large-scale Zero Net Energy projects. In the end, all memorable journeys have moral imperatives. Join us if you are interested in learning more about this collaborative and integrated design effort.

Three Completed Commercial Passive House Projects: Center for Energy Efficient Design, Malcolm Rosenberg Center for Jewish Life and Hickory Hall

Session 6: Thursday, March 7, 2:00pm-3:30pm
Session Speaker: Adam Cohen, Structures Design/Build, LLC

Description: This presentation will cover three completed Passive House commercial Projects:
1. The Center for Energy Efficient Design: the first Passive House Public School, completed in November 2010, including 2 years monitored data.
2. The Malcolm Rosenberg Center for Jewish Life at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia: a mixed use assembly building with a complex usage pattern and significantly different zoning requirements. The final solution uses the elegant minimalism of German principles while maintaining the US comfort requirements.
3. Two 40,000 SF dormitories at Emory and Henry College in Emory, Virginia : Elm Hall, a standard construction building completed in 2010 and converted to Passive House, and Hickory Hall, now under construction on the same quad as Elm Hall.

Closing Forum: What will be the hot topics at BE25?

Session 7: Thursday March 7, 4:00pm-5:30pm

Session Chair: Paul Eldrenkamp
Session Speakers: Jean Carroon, Ryan Cook, Kate Goldstein, Martin Holladay, Nick Karas, Robert Leaver, John Straube, Fred Unger, and Jamie Wolf.

Description: The final session of the day will wrap up everything we learned at BE13 by forcing us to think out loud about where all our new-gained knowledge is taking us. The format: Seven NESEA practitioners and students will each offer 4-minute presentations on what they think the big hairy questions and challenges for the NESEA community will be in the year 2025. This will be followed by a period of quick-paced audience discussion. The 90 minutes will then wrap with a compelling preview of NESEA, 12 years hence. This closing session will offer an engaged response to the too-rarely asked question: “Just where are we going with all of this?“

Track Co-Chairs: Robert Leaver, New Commons; Bernice Radle, Buffalo Energy

The City is a Whole System

Session 1: Wednesday, March 6, 11:00am-12:30pm

Session Chair: Robert Leaver, New Commons
Session Speakers: Robert Leaver, New Commons; Bernice Radle, Buffalo Energy

Description: How do cities work? What conditions are pushing cities in the Northeast to focus on becoming more resilient? In becoming more resilient, how does the polis, or the energetic vibe of the people, make a place a soulful, whole system in action? What building and energy practices are making cities more resilient? What can we do to get good sustainability projects done in cities? As practitioners, what do we need to learn next about cities? These questions will be addressed in both the presentation and facilitated conversation.

Efficiency, Durability or History: Pick Two?

Session 2: Wednesday, March 6, 2:00pm-3:30pm

Session Chair: Bernice Radle, Buffalo Energy
Session Speakers: Jean Carroon, Goody Clancy; Bill Rose, University of Illinois

Description: Historic buildings make our cities livable and attractive. Almost by definition, they’re resilient — otherwise they would not have survived this long. But they’re also energy hogs, by the standards of what NESEA practitioners try to design and build. Adding insulation on the inside can compromise exterior durability; adding insulation to the exterior compromises history; not adding insulation at all burdens the stewards of these buildings with high operating costs and large carbon footprints. What’s the best balance of these three priorities of efficiency, durability, and history? This important and far-ranging conversation between two of our greatest thinkers about historic preservation may not give you any easy answers, but you’ll come out with a much keener sense of the right questions to be asking in your preservation practice.

Avoiding Disaster: Resource Resilience in Energy Systems

Session 3: Wednesday, March 6, 4:00pm-5:30pm

Session Chair: Robert Leaver, New Commons
Session Speakers: Steve Hammer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Alexander “Sandy” Taft, National Grid; Sukanya Paciorek, Vornado Realty Trust; Carl Spector, Air Pollution Control Commission, City of Boston; John Dalzell, Boston Redevelopment Authority

Description: We’ve got three feet of storm-surge water over a hundred city blocks. We’ve got a half-dozen really angry high-level people with conflicting priorities in the same room trying to fix things: City Hall, the utilities, engineer, architect, developer, and tenant associations. Even worse, we’ve put an MIT energy planning professor in charge. What happens when the arguing and finger-pointing stops and they get to work on solutions? What can we learn about how we should be designing our future buildings and energy systems in cities?

What Small Cities are Doing… Buffalo, NY and Northampton, MA

Session 4: Thursday, March 7, 8:30am-10:00am

Session Chair: Bernice Radle, Buffalo Energy
Session Speakers: Chris Mason, City of Northampton Sustainability Coordinator; Catherine Tumber, author of Small, Gritty and Green; Chris Hawley, City Planner in Buffalo, NY.

Description: Big cities too often get the spotlight when it comes to sustainability, but there are a lot of really cool, innovative things happening in our smaller cities that we need to know about. From creative zoning codes, solar initiatives, food production, sustainable community planning and promoting energy efficiency city-wide, smaller cities are taking the lead and continue to raise the bar. Learn about how Buffalo is overhauling its zoning code and how Northampton is promoting green communities and why the smaller cities are small, gritty and green.

Planning for Resilience and Rebuilding in an Era of Climate Change: The NYC Response

Session 5: Thursday, March 7, 10:30pm-12:00pm

Session Chair: Bernice Radle, Buffalo Energy
Session Speakers: Hilary Beber, NYC Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability; Lesley Patrick, CUNY’s Institute for Sustainability

Description: Cities across the country are developing sustainability and resilience plans that address the challenges of climate change. NYC is a city of islands with nearly 600 miles of coastline and the majority of its carbon footprint (75%) embedded in buildings. Buoyed by their concern of rising tides in low-lying areas, NYC has developed a multipronged approach to respond to rising temperatures and tides. Learn from two experienced speakers about NYC’s vulnerability to climate change and the multifaceted approach to changing the City’s carbon footprint.

Using LEED Neighborhood Development Standards to Drive Neighborhood Retrofits

Session 6: Thursday, March 7, 2:00pm-3:30pm

Session Chair: Robert Leaver, New Commons
Session Speakers: Elizabeth Humstone and Margarita Iglesia, Boston Architectural College

Description: The neighborhood serves as the context for what gets built. This session will demonstrate how LEED-ND standards are applied to do retrofits in neighborhoods. Examples include neighborhoods in: Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Ontario. The specific LEED standards we will examine in practice: Smart Location and Linking, Neighborhood Planning and Design, and Green Infrastructure and Building – including water and energy provision and discharge. Specific foci include: redevelopment, mixing uses, increasing density, transportation, energy grid and bringing nature into the city.

Closing Forum: What will be the hot topics at BE25?

Session 7: Thursday March 7, 4:00pm-5:30pm

Session Chair: Paul Eldrenkamp
Session Speakers: Jean Carroon, Ryan Cook, Kate Goldstein, Martin Holladay, Nick Karas, Robert Leaver, John Straube, Fred Unger, and Jamie Wolf.

Description: The final session of the day will wrap up everything we learned at BE13 by forcing us to think out loud about where all our new-gained knowledge is taking us. The format: Seven NESEA practitioners and students will each offer 4-minute presentations on what they think the big hairy questions and challenges for the NESEA community will be in the year 2025. This will be followed by a period of quick-paced audience discussion. The 90 minutes will then wrap with a compelling preview of NESEA, 12 years hence. This closing session will offer an engaged response to the too-rarely asked question: “Just where are we going with all of this?“

Track Co-chairs: Jess Lerner, Green on the Inside; Jamie Wolf, Wolfworks, Inc.

Building the Generative Economy

Session 1: Wednesday, March 6, 11:00am-12:30pm

Session Chair: John Abrams, South Mountain Company
Session Speakers: John Abrams, South Mountain Company; Marjorie Kelly, Tellus Institute

Description: Climate change and economic inequalities are requiring an economy that is based less on more and more on enough. Our ability to collaborate in new ways and employ democratic structures that encourage widespread ownership, community accountability, and common stewardship of resources will become essential. Our challenge is to begin to understand how the transition will occur, how we’ll position ourselves to be resilient and responsive, and what all this means for our lives and livelihoods. Ms. Kelly will be available to sign copies of her latest book, Owning our Future, following this session.

Resilient Urban Waterways

Session 2: Wednesday, March 6, 2:00pm-3:30pm

Session Chair: Henry MacLean, Timeless Architecture
Session Speakers:Vivien Li, The Boston Harbor Association; Anamarija Frankic, Green Harbors Project; Henry MacLean, Timeless Architecture

Description: Established on its estuary in 1630, Boston has become one of the most vital urban centers in the United States, and yet suffers from unresolved challenges with its waterways and harbor, exacerbated by global climate change and sea level rise. Protecting the integrity and restoring the ecology of Boston’s watersheds and waterfronts is an essential ingredient in assuring the resiliency of the City and the opportunity for a thriving Boston Harbor into the future.

Resilient Capacity

Session 3: Wednesday, March 6, 4:00pm-5:30pm

Session Chair: Jesse Selman, Coldham & Hartman Architects
Session Speakers: Jesse Selman, Coldham & Hartman Architects; Kate Stephenson, Yestermorrow; Jacob Deva Racusin, New Frameworks Natural Building; Megan McNally, Rusted Grain

Description: This session explores examples of how community engagement can build our skill base, redevelop regional-based trades, and empower under-served and disenfranchised populations to have a role in the development of climate change resilient homes and neighborhoods. We will introduce strategies that focus not just on building materials, methods, and energy sources, but our personal practitioner challenges and successes working collaboratively with people, owners, and community to create resilient communities in an era of climatic uncertainty.

Systems Literacy: What You Didn’t Know You Knew!

Session 4: Thursday March 7, 8:30am-10:00am

Session Chair: Jamie Wolf, Wolfworks
Session Speakers: Jamie Wolf, Wolfworks; David Foley, Holland & Foley Architects; Anamarija Frankic, Green Harbors Project

Description: Systems thinking employs visual, verbal, and mathematical tools to look beneath the surface of events to the systemic structures beneath. Using these tools allows us to find where real leverage can be applied to best effect. We’ll apply these useful tools to familiar challenges in design, engineering, and construction, learning how to make effective use of this knowledge in our daily practice.

Sensing Resiliency

Session 5: Thursday, March 7, 10:30am-12:00pm

Session Chair: Amelia Amon, Alt. Technica
Session Speakers: Amelia Amon, Alt. Technica; Justin Good, the Sanctuary at Shepardsfield; Elizabeth DiSalvo, Trillium Architects

Description: Just as strong, healthy bodies look and feel better, thriving, diverse ecosystems are more beautiful, sonorous, temperate, and adaptable. How can we employ our sensory abilities in design for resiliency? How can multi-sensational, quality-of-life strategies improve our bloated buildings, unstable infrastructure, and disconnected communities? Can a lean, fit, elegant aesthetic make resiliency more appealing than emergency preparedness? We’re inviting your input on how resiliency appears, sounds, smells, tastes, and feels.

Acting Like It’s Tomorrow Today: The Future as our Client

Session 6: Thursday, March 7, 2:00pm-3:30pm

Session Chair: Jess Lerner, Green on the Inside
Session Speakers: Jess Lerner, Green on the Inside; David Foley, Holland & Foley Architects

Description: History is filled with futures that never were, based on the momentum of the present. The future is notoriously fickle to predict, so let’s experiment. Bring your creativity to paint some desirable, dynamic, and resilient futures together. What do they look like, and how do they work? We’ll then trace them back to our present selves and ask, “What can we do today to create that tomorrow?”

Closing Forum: What will be the hot topics at BE25?

Session 7: Thursday March 7, 4:00pm-5:30pm

Session Chair: Paul Eldrenkamp
Session Speakers: Jean Carroon, Ryan Cook, Kate Goldstein, Martin Holladay, Nick Karas, Robert Leaver, John Straube, Fred Unger, and Jamie Wolf.

Description: The final session of the day will wrap up everything we learned at BE13 by forcing us to think out loud about where all our new-gained knowledge is taking us. The format: Seven NESEA practitioners and students will each offer 4-minute presentations on what they think the big hairy questions and challenges for the NESEA community will be in the year 2025. This will be followed by a period of quick-paced audience discussion. The 90 minutes will then wrap with a compelling preview of NESEA, 12 years hence. This closing session will offer an engaged response to the too-rarely asked question: “Just where are we going with all of this?“

Track co-chairs: Bill Stillinger, PV Squared; Rob Meyers, South Mountain Company

Renewable Energy Markets in the Region and Beyond

Session 1: Wednesday, March 6, 11:00am-12:30pm

Session Chair: Bill Stillinger, PV Squared
Session Speakers:  Jessica Lillian, Solar Industry Magazine; Laurence Mackler, Solaire Generation

Description: In 1974, when NESEA was first organized, solar PV and wind were fringe novelties not seriously considered by energy professionals. Today renewable resources are promoted and developed through a mainstream global infrastructure. This session examines the state of renewable markets, demonstrating the interdependence among regional and national policies, equipment manufacturers and distributors, and how “clean energy” meets customer demand today and in the likely future.

Maintaining a Secure and Resilient Electric Grid

Session 2: Wednesday, March 6, 2:00pm-3:30pm

Session Chair: Joel Gordes, Environmental Energy Solutions
Session Speakers: Chris Lotspeich, Celtic Energy; Guy Warner, Pareto Energy Ltd.; Timothy Roughan, National Grid

Description: This session reviews the drivers behind the need for grid resilience such as climate disruption, possible cyberattacks, the growing complexity of the electric system and other issues around grid reliability. Microgrids hold the promise to improve grid performance by integrating distributed demand and supply options with “smart grid” technologies. Systematic design is needed to overcome conflicting business interests and incentives in order to produce high-performance buildings integrated with efficient microgrids.

The Frontiers of Renewable Resource Technology

Session 3: Wednesday, March 6, 4:00pm-5:30pm

Session Chair: Bill Stillinger, PV Squared
Session Speakers: Frank van Mierlo, 1366 Technologies; Lyle Rawlings, Advanced Solar Products; Kristin Brief, Ambri Inc

Description: Refinements in our use of the all-important solar energy resource continue today in ways that improve its efficient conversion and storage, moving us closer to a clean energy future. This session presents innovators focused on new designs for solar and wind energy technologies and advanced battery and other storage. Rather than survey “what’s cooking in the laboratory”, the speakers are leading technological solutions that are advanced enough to attract serious commercial interest.

REC Markets Across the Northeast

Session 4: Thursday, March 7, 8:30am-10:00am

Session Chairs: Rob Meyers, South Mountain Company
Session Speakers:  Jason Gifford, Sustainable Energy Advantage; Steven Kaufman, Clean Asset Partners; Kevin Quilliam, SREC Trade

Description: The creation and trading of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) are essential to the financing, development, and operation of clean energy projects today. Exactly how they function varies according to a state’s policies and regulations. This session will present an overview of REC activity today. Speakers actively involved in REC aggregating and trading will address the strengths and weaknesses of the several REC markets that have emerged in the northeast.

Interconnections, Net Metering and Caps

Session 5: Thursday, March 7, 10:30am-12:00pm

Session Chair: Fran Cummings, Peregrine Energy Group
Session Speakers: Carrie Cullen Hitt, SEIA; Timothy Roughan, National Grid

Description: Differing perspectives claim that regulated utilities are either enablers of grid-connected renewable energy or obstructionists to its orderly deployment. This session discusses three current issues: reliably interconnecting solar generators to the existing distribution (or transmission) system; the ability of hosts to obtain retail credit for their kWhs irrespective of local demand; and the rationale behind establishing a ‘cap’ on the total amount of non-dispatchable generation that can be safely accommodated on the grid.

Stand-Alone vs. Grid-Connected PV Systems

Session 6: Thursday, March 7, 2:00pm-3:30pm

Session Chair: Joel Gordes, Environmental Energy Solutions
Session Speakers:  Adam Thurrell, PV Squared; James Dunn, Future Solar Systems LLC; Lyle Rawlings, Advanced Solar Products

Description: With increasing frequency, severe weather events have been disrupting conventional electric service. How did actual PV systems perform during such events? We discuss the merits of PV systems operating when tied to the grid or independent of it; options for backup generators and energy storage; wiring schematics acceptable to electrical inspectors and the utility; and a summary of the current costs of alternative configurations.

Closing Forum: What will be the hot topics at BE25?

Session 7: Thursday March 7, 4:00pm-5:30pm

Session Chair: Paul Eldrenkamp
Session Speakers: Jean Carroon, Ryan Cook, Kate Goldstein, Martin Holladay, Nick Karas, Robert Leaver, John Straube, Fred Unger, and Jamie Wolf.

Description: The final session of the day will wrap up everything we learned at BE13 by forcing us to think out loud about where all our new-gained knowledge is taking us. The format: Seven NESEA practitioners and students will each offer 4-minute presentations on what they think the big hairy questions and challenges for the NESEA community will be in the year 2025. This will be followed by a period of quick-paced audience discussion. The 90 minutes will then wrap with a compelling preview of NESEA, 12 years hence. This closing session will offer an engaged response to the too-rarely asked question: “Just where are we going with all of this?“

Track co-chairs: Matt Root, Conservation Services Group; Satpal Kaur, Chris Benedict R.A.

H2OUSE – Everything You Ever Needed to Know About Residential Water Consumption and Conservation

Session 1: Wednesday, March 6, 11:00am-12:30pm
Session Chair:TinaMiller, Cambridge Housing Authority
Session Speaker: Peter Yost, BuildingGreen

Description: Water is energy-intensive; energy is water-intensive. That is the case for using water wisely. This session will lay out the relationships between energy and water and guide both building professionals and their clients through water-smart design, specification, installation and operation of all things residentially liquid.

Managing Heat, Water, Vapor, Air and Light

Session 2: Wednesday, March 6, 2:00pm-3:30pm

Session Speaker: Chris Benedict, Chris Benedict, R.A

Description: Decreasing the use of fossil fuel in buildings demands that the building enclosure be designed to do the heavy lifting! This is especially true for those attempting deep energy retrofits, passive house certification and zero energy. This session will explore the basics of managing the things that matter most to the energy performance of the building, while simultaneously making the building safer, healthier, and more durable.

Mechanical Systems

Session 3: Wednesday, March 6, 4:00-5:30pm

Session Speaker: Andy Shapiro, Energy Balance

Description: Learn the basics of selecting a home’s mechanical systems to provide comfort and efficiency. Learn how building enclosure efficiency affects the system choices you make. Learn a process to choose the best overall heating, cooling, hot water and ventilation system to optimize comfort and energy savings. By the end of the session, you will understand the basic components of the mechanical systems for a home, and will have a tool to guide the discussion of the choices that must be made. Examples will be presented of some typical mechanical systems choices for efficient homes.

Energy Calculations for Everyone

Session 4: Thursday, March 7, 8:30am-10:00am

Session Chair: Kevin McCarthy, Trinity Financial
Session Speaker: Bruce Harley, Conservation Services Group

Description: In order to understand energy use, a little math can go a long way. Do you know how much energy your home uses, or how it compares with similar homes? Do you know how the R-value of insulation relates to the R-value of a wall or roof assembly? This session will introduce some critical numbers and calculations to address basic energy use in buildings. Participants will receive a framework that will allow them to be informed when making design choices. Not everyone likes numbers, but to paraphrase Lewis Carroll’s Cheshire Cat: if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there. In order to define high performance, one needs to use concrete metrics; in order to design for high performance, one needs to use the right inputs. This session will help participants understand the inputs and the metrics in a way that the most math-phobic participants will feel comfortable with.

Building as a System

Session 5: Thursday, March 7, 10:30pm-12:00pm

Session Chair: Kristina Eldrenkamp, Albert, Righter & Tittmann Architects, Inc.
Session Speaker: David Keefe, Vermont Energy Investment Corporation

Description: A building is more than walls, floors and a roof. It is a system balanced with invisible underlying connections similar to a human body. An improvement to one part of a building can sometimes cause unanticipated effects on another part of the building system. This session focuses on becoming able to predict and/or diagnose these effects, primarily in order to prevent the negative ones. No prior technical knowledge is needed.

The Green Architects’ Lounge – “Sprout Follies”

Session 6: Thursday, March 7, 2:00pm-3:30pm

Session Chair: Matt Root,Conservation Services Group
Session Speakers: Chris Briley, Green Design Studio; Phil Kaplan, Kaplan Thompson Architects

Description: Doing something new often does not go perfectly the first time. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Join the entertaining hosts of the Green Architect’s Lounge podcasts (sans cocktail recipe and song of the show) as they talk about beginner follies when building high performance buildings. Chris and Phil will discuss the fundamentals of “green” design for building and design professionals, how to avoid others’ mistakes, and answer many questions from the audience.

Closing Forum: What will be the hot topics at BE25?

Session 7: Thursday March 7, 4:00pm-5:30pm

Session Chair: Paul Eldrenkamp
Session Speakers: Jean Carroon, Ryan Cook, Kate Goldstein, Martin Holladay, Nick Karas, Robert Leaver, John Straube, Fred Unger, and Jamie Wolf.

Description: The final session of the day will wrap up everything we learned at BE13 by forcing us to think out loud about where all our new-gained knowledge is taking us. The format: Seven NESEA practitioners and students will each offer 4-minute presentations on what they think the big hairy questions and challenges for the NESEA community will be in the year 2025. This will be followed by a period of quick-paced audience discussion. The 90 minutes will then wrap with a compelling preview of NESEA, 12 years hence. This closing session will offer an engaged response to the too-rarely asked question: “Just where are we going with all of this?“

Track co-chairs: Mark Price, Price Sustainability Associates; Marie McMahon-Meehan, National Grid

Construction Matters: Enclosure Design and Commissioning Through Construction

Session 1: Wednesday, March 6, 11:00am-12:30pm
Note: This session had to be moved after the Invitation to Attend was printed. This was formerly Session 4 of this track.

Session Chair: Tara Ikenouye, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.
Session Speakers: Chris Benedict, Chris Benedict R.A.; Andy Shapiro, Energy Balance, Inc 
Description: How does a tough New York architect collaborate and contend with a tough New York contractor to implement the design of her beautifully detailed Passive House apartment buildings? How does building enclosure commissioning help achieve quality during the design and construction process? Join accomplished designers Chris Benedict and Fiona Aldous as they present on the challenges of achieving quality, high performance and energy efficient designs.

Advanced Water Issues: What the Pros Can Teach You

Session 2: Wednesday, March 6, 2:00pm-3:30pm

Session Chair: F.L. Andrew Padian, The Community Preservation Corporation
Session Speakers: John Tooley, Advanced Energy; Gunnar I. Baldwin, LEED AP, TOTO, USA Inc

Description: Water usage and management is not just a building decision, but as we saw in recent widespread droughts, it’s a statewide and regional issue. The water that we use and often do not reuse in our homes is small in comparison to some of the other water we don’t consider in our daily consumption, such as washing cars and watering lawns. Lifestyle choices can negate all the savings you get from your 1.1 gallon shower head. Learn both ends of the water use and conservation balance with these two professionals who live and breathe water.

Measured Retrofit Results: 10 Simple Things That Work, 10 Simple Things That Don’t

Session 3: Wednesday, March 6, 4:00pm-5:30pm

Session Chair: Ian Finlayson, MA Department of Energy Resources
Session Speaker: Michael Blasnik, M. Blasnik and Associates