2012 Spring Session: Evening Multifamily Building Analyst Classes:

10 Thursday Evening Sessions,  6 - 9 PM

May 24th - July 26th

Get the BPI Certification you need, and still get to work!

If you are an energy professional working in multifamily buildings or just want to learn more about energy audits in multifamily buildings, this is the certification for you. GreenHomeNYC is bringing in some of the top trainers in the city, including one of the people who helped to develop this certification, at a schedule that meets your work schedule, so that you can be certified by BPI as a Multifamily Building Analyst.

REGISTER HERE

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GreenHomeNYC and the Urban Assembly for Green Careers Want to Cut Your Building’s Energy and Water Bills by up to 40%.

If you are a building owner, manager, coop/condo member, super, bookkeeper/comptroller, or just want to learn how multifamily buildings use and waste energy and water, you need to take the Energy Efficient Building Operator class held every Thursday night from 6-8pm for ten weeks starting April 26th.

Multifamily buildings in NYC use 3-6 times more energy and water per square foot than our single family counterparts, and very simple steps can help you reduce those costs.  This class is not designed to sell you products, but rather, to walk you through a sensible series of steps and make a plan to reduce your costs.

Register here!

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It’s almost time for NESEA’s BuidingEnergy - the most established and most cross-disciplinary renewable energy and high performance building conference in the region, March 6-8 at the Boston Seaport World Trade Center, http://www.nesea.org/be12/

With an expected 4,000 attendees, this year’s BuildingEnergy has an impressive contingency of people from our state participating in the conference’s 80 accredited educational sessions and high-level trade show. Hailing from NY are 24 Speakers, 7 Planning Committee Members and a handful of Exhibitors.

NESEA Night, aboard the “Spirit of Boston” for dinner and a cruise around the Boston Harbor, presents the perfect opportunity to get to know these sustainable rock stars and other regional professionals - architects, engineers, builders, policymakers, developers and building managers - in the energy efficiency and renewables sectors.

Hope to see you there!

Every year around this time, I write to implore folks to come to the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) Building Energy (BE) Conference in Boston, March 6-8. Over the last 35+ years, the best minds in the Northeast have annually gotten together to help building owners, architects, engineers, planners, building scientists, facility managers, and plain old people understand what is happening in the industry of new construction and rehab/retrofit of buildings at BE. You’ll hear from the best people in concentrated tracks talk about the cutting edge in: single family homes; renewable energy; multifamily buildings; campus and community buildings; health care; mechanicals and renewable heating systems; green financing; game changers; an entire track dedicated to working within whole systems in action; and for you smarty pants in the group, a track for you, “What the Pros Wanna Know”. (more…)

Some excerpts from our friends at Brownstoner: Welcome to the Hot Seat, where we interview folks involved in Brooklyn real estate, architecture, development and the like…

BS: Can you explain the mission behind GreenHomeNYC?

SL: GreenHomeNYC was created to make going green accessible to New Yorkers. We’re a community-oriented, volunteer-run organization whose mission is to facilitate the adoption of sustainable building methods and materials by owners and occupants of small residential and commercial buildings in New York City. Our free programming connects folks, ranging anywhere on the spectrum from green novices to green professionals, with local experts and actionable information to help them improve the energy, environmental performance and overall sustainability of the spaces in which they live and work.

BS: What’s the green movement looking like now in Brooklyn? What are the strengths and weaknesses when it comes to this borough’s energy uses?

SL: I think the green movement in Brooklyn is on an upward trajectory; it’s becoming both more mainstream and DIY at the same time, but there is still a very long way to go…

Read the entire article at: Brownstoner

During a recent Green Careers meeting, a new member of our group asked a very important question: how does one stay abreast of green building news and policy developments? In a fast-growing industry, it’s good to know what’s going on and who the experts are. So we in the Green Careers group decided to put together a list of a few web resources that you might find helpful as you consider a transition into a career in green building.

Remember, this is just a place to start and the list is not at all exhaustive. If you have any other suggestions for websites you read regularly, please post them in the comments below.

Building Science:

www.homeenergy.org

www.buildingscience.com

www.buildinggreen.com (as well as their excellent subscription service, Environmental Building News)

bpi.org (technical standards and good tech newsletter)

www.greenbuildingadvisor.com (check out their multiple blogs, such as the Green Building Curmudgeon and Musings of an Energy Nerd)

www.heatinghelp.com

www.energyvanguard.com (blog)

Events around NYC:

nypassivehouse.org

www.nyas.org

Calendar for the Center for Architecture (AIANY)

Joseph Schaffer, PE, Green Environmental Associates, Metuchen, NJ

What did your life look like before you started Green Environmental Associates?

Prior to deciding to work for myself, I was doing site civil engineering for commercial developers, projects like big box retail and mega subdivisions.  My work has always revolved around design and engineering in land development.  This type of work requires the ability to balance hardcore science and site specific conditions in the field with fuzzier disciplines, like urban planning theory, construction tolerance, and environmental concerns.

Describe your “Eureka!” moment that shaped your decision to start your own company.

To make a real impact, I believe that a professional must really understand the existing approach to development and work to change that approach from the inside the system.  However, that desire for change must be integrated into the mission of the company.  I met my business partners while working on a corporate advisory board and we found that common ground.  So we started Green Environmental Associates to reflect a mission of bringing change from the inside. We’re not just consultants, but partners in shaping our client’s future.

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Beth Forer, Eisner Design, New York, NY

What did your life look like before you worked in the green building field?

I’ve had several careers.  I started off in academics, majoring in Russian Studies at the University of Michigan, with the intention of going into journalism or the foreign service.  I always liked designing and making things, and when I took an elective in Industrial Design, I loved it and decided to go to graduate school in ID.  However, my real love was ceramics, and I worked as a potter for years and got very involved in the fine craft movement.  This was a wonderful part of my life.  After my son was born, I got a job with a more regular schedule, doing product development for a commercial ceramics manufacturer.  Not surprisingly, it barely drew on my knowledge and experience with clay and was more about making objects cheaper and faster with the most mass appeal.  However, I did get to travel to China several times, to remote places where the ceramics factories are located, and that was an unforgettable experience.

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Alison Kling, Assistant Vice President of the Energy Policy Department, NYC Economic Development Corporation.

Alison, thank you for speaking with me. Now what does that job title mean? What do you do – what does your job entail?

EDC is an economic development organization, doing a lot of development, planning and real estate transaction services, and our group - there are seven of us - focuses on energy policy. We’re the advisors to the Mayor and City government on New York City energy policy. So basically that’s everything from energy efficiency and clean supply policy initiatives to representing the City in regulatory cases in front of the New York State Public Service Commission, and working with the utilities. A lot of it is working with the Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, working on the PlaNYC energy initiatives. We helped write the energy chapter of PlaNYC and now we’re in the implementation phase, so that’s also everything from supply to regulation to public and private sector energy efficiency to fostering the renewable energy market and making it stronger in the city. In a nutshell that’s what we’re doing - and it’s a lot of policy work and then also project specific things that support that policy and research, and studies and outreach. (more…)

One of the goals of the Green Career Transition Group is to provide information and resources to individuals interested in pursuing a career within the sustainable development and energy efficiency industry. The Green Career Transition Group does not provide technical job training, but we do attempt to help current professionals leverage their existing skills and educational background to enter the green economy sector.

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