USGBC Advocate Update 9-18-2014

Conference Call About USGBC and ACC Collaboration

By popular demand, we will hold another call for those who could not join us for the calls on September 8th and 10th. Please feel free to share with your chapter network, but please keep it inside the chapter.

Date: Thursday, September 25th

Time: 2:00 PM ET

Call-In: 650-429-3300 code: 6747-6824#

Monthly Advocates Call October, 2014 - December, 2015

We a new webex and call-in info for the monthly advocates calls. Please update your calendars! The calls are still the same day and time, 3rd Monday of the month at 4:00PM ET.

Meeting Number:             755 323 730

Meeting Password:          Adv0cacy

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To start or join the online meeting

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Go to https://usgbc.webex.com/usgbc/j.php?ED=224635977&UID=507270947&PW=NODdlZjEzNDEy&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D

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Audio conference information

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Call-in toll-free number (US/Canada): 1-866-469-3239

Call-in toll number (US/Canada): 1-650-429-3300

October's call will focus on Building Benchmarking and Data Acess. 

Date: Monday, October 20

Time: 4:00PM ET

New report released: Better Buildings, Better Policy

Better Buildings, Better Policy spotlights the most recent four years of green building policymaking that builds an even stronger foundation for tomorrow’s green building, healthy community, and clean energy economy. While typically used as a political campaign cry, “Four more years!” could be a shout heard from green building advocates today as we release this new library of green building policy in the states.

Nominate Advocacy Volunteers

Submit your nominations for the Malcolm Lewis IMPACT! Award. 

Advocacy at Greenbuild

Do you have an issue that your chapter is advocating for? We will be unveiling a few new tools at Greenbuild, but we need your help. Is there a bill, ordinance, or issue that your chapter is currently working on and would like a quick tech shot in the arm to take it to the next level of engagement with elected officials. Please contact Christina Kuo via email with the who, what, and where by September 30th. 

Last Month of Summer

July Advocates Call

Thank you to all who participated in the July Advocates call. Sharon Grant and Ross Spiegel gave a great overview of the Building Better Codes Campaign. Liz Beardsley went over EPA's Climate Protection Plan (111d carbon emission reduction proposed rules). The call was recorded and you can listen to it here. Also, the slides are posted on Yammer.

Sharon Grant just posted a blog about a scientific survey of Idaho homeowners' views on energy efficiency upgrades and residential building codes. There are some pertinent and interesting findings for advocating for better codes.

The August Advocates Call will focus on Green Schools and Green Apple Day of Service.
Date: Monday, August 18th at 4pm ET. 

Legislator Green Building Tours

Sheri Brezinka, USGBC Minnesota and Emily Scofield, USGBC North Carolina presented on their chapter's legislator green building tour program. We have also developed a toolkit and you can listen to the presentation here.

Greenbuild Scholarships and more

Scholarship Application for Greenbuild 2014 is open!

Greenbuild will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana October 22-24, and there are three types of scholarships available this year.

•      Full-ride Greenbuild Scholarship: Full conference registration, travel stipend, three hotel nights, and one year subscription to Education @USGBC
•      Greenbuild, Affordable Homes, Sustainable Communities Summit Scholarship: Summit registration, Greenbuild full conference registration, and one year subscription to Education @USGBC
•      Affordable Homes, Sustainable Communities Summit Scholarship: Summit registration and one year subscription to Education @USGBC

Please pass this info along to any likely applicants, or apply for a scholarships yourself. Learn more from this article. Applications are open till August 4, so act fast!

We hope you will join us in New Orleans and continue the momentum started in Philly by attending the Affordable Homes, Sustainable Communities Summit on Tuesday October 21. Check out the great lineup.

Hat-Tip

H/T to USGBC Massachusetts for passing benchmarking ordinance in Cambridge, MA. 

Super Moon Weekend

Upcoming Events

July Advocates Call: Building Better Codes

Monday, July 21, 2014, 4PM ET

We will have guest speakers to talk to us about building codes. 

webex link: https://usgbc.webex.com/usgbc/j.php?ED=224635977&UID=507270947&PW=NODdlZjEzNDEy&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D

Green Building Tours for Legislators: A Primer

Wednesday, July 23, 2014, 3PM ET

Join us for an overview of how some of the chapters have developed their own green building tours for legislators.

webex: https://usgbc.webex.com/usgbc/j.php?MTID=m151702e9df6ebfdc163c09ffce02aa14

EPA Proposed Clean Power Plan Rules, aka EPA 111(d), aka President Obama's Climate Change Proposal

Wondering what the new EPA proposal – sometimes referred to as 111(d) – has to do with green building and LEED? USGBC has prepared a FAQ explaining why green buildings can and should play a role in plans that states will be developing over the next few years.  

Some states have been very active in promoting energy efficiency in buildings; however, not all states are prepared to account for this sector’s energy savings. We at USGBC are working with other national organizations to propose solutions that states can use. In the meantime, chapters can engage with like-minded groups to show state air regulators why building efficiency must be part of the solution. And, local chapters and members should consider supporting building energy efficiency at one of the EPA hearings to be held in late July. Here is the link on Yammer to the FAQ on the proposed rules.

Department of Agriculture Grant

The Department of Agriculture issued a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for loans and grants related to farm and off-farm labor housing. Pre-applications for the grants and loans will be scored for selection based on a variety of factors, and projects that plan to achieve LEED for Homes certification will gain up to 45 points. Use of the LEED Operations and Maintenance program can gain projects an extra 5 points on their pre-application as well. To learn more about this funding opportunity, see the Federal Register notice.

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-07-01/pdf/2014-15358.pdf

International Market Briefs

As USGBC looks overseas to foster further momentum in our mission to transform the built environment, we are excited to announce our latest real-time data platform: international market briefs.

To complement the U.S. state market briefs released in the spring, these new data visualizations give a snapshot of what LEED looks like in countries across the globe. You can now find a direct link to both the state and country market briefs on the right-side of the advocacy campaigns page.

Chapter Potpourri

Delaware Passes Landmark Energy Efficiency Bill

In the wee hours of the morning of July 1 as the 2014 session drew to a close, Delaware’s General Assembly surprised and delighted efficiency supporters, passing a bill to enable ratepayer-funded programs and allow utilities to deliver those programs to their customers. Read more about it.

World Cup Fever

"Indoor Air Quality in Green vs. Conventional Multi-family Low-income Housing"

A recent study published by the Harvard University School of Public Health looks at the health impact of in door air quality.

"Indoor air quality is an important predictor of health, especially in low-income populations. It is unclear how recent trends in “green” building affect the indoor exposure profile. In two successive years, we conducted environmental sampling, home inspections, and health questionnaires with families in green and conventional (control) apartments in two public housing developments. A subset of participants was followed as they moved from conventional to green or conventional to conventional housing."

Monthly Advocates Call

We had a very informative June Advocates call with special guests, Pamela Brookstein from Elevate Energy and National Campaign Co-Chair, Tony Richardson. They both spoke about their efforts to green the Multiple Listing Services around the country to include green fields for homes listed for sale. You can listen to the recording of the call, here. Also, Pamela shared with us some information regarding the resources available to green the MLS in your area.

July Advocates Call
The July Advocates Call will be on Monday, July 21, 2014 at 4pm ET. We will talk about Building Better Codes with our two national campaign co-chairs. Sharon Patterson Grant and Ross Spiegel.

Federal Update - Energy Week

As part of the so called energy week the House yesterday sent two efficiency bills to the Senate. The first, H.R. 4092, Rep. Matt Cartwright's Streamlining Energy Efficiency for Schools Act, boosts energy efficiency programs at schools. The other, Rep. Adam Kinzinger's H.R. 4081, directs DOE to report on using thermal insulation to save energy and water with water heating devices.

For more information about H.R. 4092 please click here and here.

Full Moon and Friday the 13th

Today is a very rare astronomical occurrance, Friday the 13th coinciding with a full moon. The last time this happened is October 13, 2000. The next time the two will happen again is August 13, 2049.

June Advocates Call

A quick reminder about the June Advocates call on Monday, June 16th at 4pm ET. We will have Pamela Brookstein on to talk about Greening the MLS. She has exciting research to share. Also, this article highlights the need for better advertising and highlighting of green homes.

To add the monthly advocates call to your calendar with the webinar information, just click through this link and download the iCal.

Federal Update

New advocates are joining the effort to advance federal leadership in school facility modernization. Congressman Sean Maloney (NY) introduced H.R.4826, 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act. The bill utilizes the thinking of previous school modernization efforts advanced by former Congressman and Green Schools Caucus Chairman Ben Chandler (KY).  If passed, the bill would authorize $6.4 billion annually for FY 2015-2020 for school modernization, renovation, and repair. The funds are to be spent by local education agencies (LEAs) with increasing percentages on public school modernization, renovation, repairs, or construction that are certified, verified, or consistent with any applicable provisions of green building criteria, including LEED. USGBC provided feedback on the legislation prior to introduction and will be working with Congressman Maloney on the next steps to advance the legislation.

Update May 30, 2014

Detroit skyline with Canada across the river.

Mid Year Meeting Round-Up

It was wonderful to see so many of you in Detroit last week. I hope that everyone who attended enjoyed a city that I learned to love before I moved to DC. I would like to give a BIG shout out to the Detroit Regional Chapter for hosting. 

And a special Advocacy hat tip to Debra Sypien, Brett Little, Ian Tran, Davor Grgic, Shannon Stage, Kathleen Kirkpatrick, Jeremy Cohen, Andy Garay, Brian Imus, and Grey Lee for leading on advocacy at Mid Year Meeting.

Federal Update

Last Wednesday, while community service projects were happening all around Detroit, the Advocacy staff, a few members of the Michigan chapters' advocacy committee, and a national board member visited the offices of some of the Members of Congress based in Detroit. It was an excellent opportunity for the chapters to get to know the district office staff of Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, and Congressman Gary Peters. We talked about federal tax incentives for green homes and the future of the Shaheen-Portman energy efficiency legislation. It looks like tax incentives related to energy efficiency for homes and broader energy efficiency legislation in Shaheen-Portman is stalled as we move into the Summer months and deeper into election season. We will update you if and when it becomes unstuck in the Washington political mud.  

Michigan chapter members and board member, Davor Grgic in Senator Carl Levin's office

On the Detroit People Mover

Meeting with Senator Debbie Stabenow's staff

May Advocates Call

Here is the recording for the May Advocates call as well as accompanying Power Point. Thank you to everyone who participated. 

June Advocates Call - Highlight Green Homes/Greening the MLS

Please join us on Monday, June 16th at 4pm EST for our monthly advocates call where we will talk about the green MLS and other efforts to highlight green homes. Here is the link to the webex; it will also add a reminder to your calendar.

Bi-Weekly Potpourri

Building Codes and Green Building

article on the role that building codes play in the green building market online from Builder and Developer Magazine.

Massachusetts School Building Authority and LEED v4

The MSBA Board of Directors approved an updated Sustainable Building Design Policy that was the result of recent revisions to the Massachusetts Energy Conservation Code, the US Green Building Council’s “LEED for Schools” Version 4, and the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (“CHPS”) National Core Criteria.

USGBC on Instagram

Check out our Instagram account. We took the Internet on a tour of our office this week.

USGBC Advocacy Update

May Advocates Call - From Defense to Offense: Tools to help manage tough advocacy situations

We will go over tools available to advocates to help them manage tough advocacy situations. This will be an abbreviated version of the presentation that will be given at Mid-Year Meeting during the Chapter Advancement Summit.

Date:  Monday, May 19th

Time: 4pm - 5pm EST

Link: https://usgbc.webex.com/usgbc/j.php?ED=224635977&UID=507270947&PW=NODdlZjEzNDEy&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D

Preview of Future Monthly Advocates Call Topics
June:     Greening the MLS
July:      Building Codes
August:  Green Schools
September:  Benchmarking and Data Access
October: Affordable Housing
November:   Leadership with LEED/LEED v4 advocacy
December:  Election 2014 wrap/ 2015 preview - federal and state.

Mid-Year Meeting

Hope to see some of you in Detroit next week for Mid-Year Meeting. I will be facilitating a few sessions, as well as being available for questions.

Residential News

Two updates in the green residential world:

1.  A market report released by the National Association of Homebuilders showing that green home building will double by 2016.

2.  An updated version of the Green MLS Toolkit is now available.