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Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE)
This week, I attended a symposium about Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing. PACE is a way for property owners to fund energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. The Massachusetts program is also looking at funding for resiliency measures. Secretary Richard Sullivan’s opening remarks reiterated the Governor’s commitment to a sustainable energy future in Massachusetts…
Greenbuild 2013
Last November I headed to Philadelphia to attend Greenbuild 2013, an annual conference dedicated to the green building movement. Attendees share ideas, learn from industry experts, and develop new ideas to advance this movement. The 10th annual conference was attended by almost 25,000 practitioners, manufacturers, contractors, government officials, citizens, students, and more.
Edward Mazria gave a presentation I particularly enjoyed. Mazria is the founder of Architecture 2030, an organization focusing on buildings, the largest consumers of energy in the world, to address and reverse climate change. The 2030 Challenge sets targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions…
Pie in the Sky
Each year, my family and I form a pie team for Community Servings’ annual Pie in the Sky fundraising event. The event, which has just completed its 21st year, raises money to provide meals and nutrition to the critically ill and homebound in Massachusetts. Community Servings provides meals to more than 800 individuals and families across 18 towns and cities, in support of its founding goals: to help its clients maintain their health and dignity, to preserve the integrity of their families, to provide nutritionally and culturally appropriate meals, and to send the message that someone cares…
Sustainability is Good Business
Last month I had the opportunity to attend the Boston Chamber event “Making the Business Case for Sustainability”. This was a panel discussion of the integration of sustainability into business with representatives Johanna Jobin from EMD Millipore, Carolyn Kaplan from Nixon Peabody LLP, and Tony Calandro from VOX Global. The panelists represented varying industries, from service to production, which provided a range of perspectives on what sustainability means to various sectors…
Sustainability on Campus
Arrowstreet invited Dennis Carlberg to speak to the firm about his efforts as the Director of Sustainability at Boston University. I was able to attend the discussion and I wanted to share the exciting things that are going on at this large university. As with any university or institutional campus, BU has a large environmental impact. BU understands it is important to reduce that footprint and in 2009 they created the Director of Sustainability position to do just that. Dennis Carlberg, the first to hold this position, jumped right into the role and has facilitated several programs over the last four years to create sustainable awareness and action on campus. Carlberg noted that one of the first things necessary to determine how to reduce the university’s footprint was to know exactly what their impact was. They assessed exactly how much energy, water, and waste that the university consumed and produced. Once that was determined then they could measure their success of the programs…
60+ Going Beyond the Hour
Started in 2007, Earth Hour is a yearly campaign to raise awareness of global warming and other environmental challenges and encourage people to participate on a global level to protect our planet. Individuals, organizations, and cities pledge to turn off the lights for the same hour on a set day each year. Earth Hour has grown from one city in 2007 to hundreds of thousands of people in 2013 in more than 150 countries and even outer space. The amount of electricity saved during that one hour of millions of homes and even major cities shutting of the lights is quite significant. However, saving the planet isn’t just about one hour that is why Earth Hour has grown to go “60+ Beyond the Hour”. One way that Earth Hour is encouraging people to go beyond the hour is through the “I Will If You Will” challenge. Individuals or organizations create a challenge which if met they are willing to do something in return to benefit the environment. From celebrities to cities challenges big and small have been made…