To initiate, develop and accelerate the implementation of green building concepts, technologies and principles that promote environmentally responsible, prosperous and healthy places to live and work.
Understanding the environmental, social and economic benefits of sustainable landscapes is essential for designers, developers, investors, and policymakers who influence land development and want better results.
Barbara Deutsch, Executive Director of the Landscape Architecture Foundation based out of Washington, DC, will visit St. Louis September 12 & 13 as featured presenter on the Landscape Performance Series, an interactive tool designed to show value, quantify benefits, and make the case for sustainable landscape solutions.
Mentor Deadline Extended to September 8 School Deadline September 15
More than 100 local schools have participated in the Green Schools Quest and implemented sustainability projects at their schools since the program launched four years ago. Student-driven projects at these schools have impacted nearly 100,000 students, teachers, and community members.
Join us in our quest to create a sustainable future, one project at at time!
Participating schools and mentors can't say enough about the positive impact this program is having in advancing their schools' sustainability initiatives.
As we gear up for the 2017-18 school year, we are seeking both Green Mentors and Schools!
Emily Andrews, Executive Director of the USGBC-Missouri Gateway Chapter, and Nick Bristow, Senior Associate and Sustainability Manager at Forum Studio and Board Chair of the USGBC-Missouri Gateway Chapter, responded to the St. Louis Business Journal's August 18 cover story on the LEED green building rating system in a commentary piece titled LEED gets it right.
Membership makes the USGBC-Missouri Gateway Chapter's work to support buildings of all kinds to green their design and operations possible. Join to show your support of our efforts to green the places we all love!
And membership benefits you as well; join to receive free or reduced entry to all of USGBC-Missouri Gateway Chapter's educational events, access to opportunities to build relationships with our community of almost 500 members, and eligibility to serve on Chapter committees, community projects, and board of directors. Build your knowledge, build your network, and build your community by becoming a USGBC-Missouri Gateway Chapter member!
From August 8 to October 9, new and renewing members will be entered into a drawing for:
If you're a current member and you encourage a friend or colleague to join, you'll also be entered into the raffle - once for each new member you refer. The member making the most referrals will win a
Forest Park Forever membership!
Presented in partnership with the City of St. Louis, BOMA St Louis, Downtown STL, Inc., and IFMA St. Louis Chapter.
On January 27, 2017, the City of St. Louis Board of Aldermen unanimously passed an energy benchmarking ordinance that requires municipal, institutional, commercial and multifamily residential buildings whose square footage is equal to or greater than 50,000 to track and report their energy and water usage annually to the City's Building Division. Privately owned buildings are required to benchmark and submit data by April 1, 2018 using the free, online tool ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager.
The USGBC-Missouri Gateway Chapter, the City of St. Louis, and partners are co-hosting three opportunities to learn how to comply.
Introduction to the Building Energy Awareness Ordinance, Step-by-step overview of how to benchmark energy and water use in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, and compliance instructions.
October 25, 12:00 - 1:30 pm
Missouri Botanical Garden's Commerce Bank Education Center
Introduction to the Building Energy Awareness Ordinance, Step-by-step overview of how to benchmark energy and water use in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, and compliance instructions.
Submitted for approval of 7 GBCI CE Hours and 7 AIA/CES LU
From the Philosophical to the Spigot . .
Join USGBC-Missouri Gateway Chapter for a full-day Continuing Education Blitz focused on water policies, use, access, and quality in the Mississippi River Basin.
Who owns water in the United States? Who determines its use? Who protects it? The answers to these questions are, in some ways, both everyone and no one.
And yet in a time of increased demand and growing climate instability, not just in the United States, but around the world, the answers-and the questions-are more important all the time.
On
October 17, 2017, 8:00AM-5:00PM, join us for an exploration of water justice through the perspective of river systems - from local to global, urban to agricultural, individual to corporate - trying along the way to determine a better future for our most valuable resource.
Professor of Urban Policy and Health at The New School in New York, Dr. Mindy Fullilove is a board-certified psychiatrist who explores the ties between environment and mental health. She is known for her work on the concept of "root shock,"the traumatic stress reaction to the loss of some or all of one's emotional ecosystem. Root shock can result from events such as natural disaster, development-induced displacement, or war, as well as changes that play out more slowly such as those that accompany gentrification. At the community level, root shock is defined by the loss of interpersonal ties and the "capital"-social, cultural, political, and emotional-that is vested in collective connections.
Dr. Fullilove will give a lecture at the Pulitzer on public health and the built environment, addressing the ways in which serial forced displacement, deindustrialization, and environmental degradation have undermined American society. Her lecture will explore how building solidarity across lines of race, class, religion, and gender is essential to solving the problems these harmful practices have created.
This lecture is co-sponsored by the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis as part of the Grand Challenges for Social Work, the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, and the Pulitzer Arts Foundation.
Missouri Energy Policy Conference Offers Chapter Member Discount
October 3 & 4, 2017
With the theme Energy Driving the Economy, MEPC 2017 sessions include:
Health of Utilities in Age of Distributed Generation
Grid Modernization - Where, How and Why
The Economics of Energy Efficiency
Economic Impact of Federal Policy and Research
Microgrids in Action - Midwest Case Studies
Infrastructure - The Bottom Dollar - Need and Impact
Missouri Regulatory & Legislative Happenings
NEW THIS YEAR: Attendees are encouraged to participate in structured discussion groups on Infrastructure and Grids, Energy Efficiency and Microgrids. Help move energy policy discussions forward so Missouri and the Midwest can benefit from policies leading to economic growth.
Participants will learn skills and methods to effectively engage in community-based design through professional fee-based projects. The Public Interest Design Institute curriculum is structured around the Social Economic Environmental Design (SEED) process and metric, which provides a guide for practice, documentation, and showcasing of public interest design projects. Successful completion of this AIA, ASLA, & USGBC accredited program qualifies participants for 13 HSW CEUs/PDHs and certification as a SEED Professional.
Registration is discounted for members of AIA, ASLA, USGBC, & the SEED Network.
Greenbuild is the world's largest conference and expo dedicated to green building, bringing together industry leaders, experts and frontline professionals dedicated to sustainable building in their everyday work. Greenbuild recently announced that Neil deGrasse Tyson will present the conference's Closing Plenary.
The 2017 conference will take place at the Boston Convention & Exhibit Center. An early registration discount ends on
September 7th.
Are you looking for a way to diversify your green building design & delivery skills? Interested in learning about an incredibly rigorous, science-based building method that is all over Europe and gaining traction in the U.S.? Are you familiar with the PassivHaus design method and always wondered how it could be applied to commercial buildings? Then you might be interested in an intensive 5-day course on September 18th-22nd in Pittsburgh that will prepare professionals for becoming either a Certified Passive House Designer (CPHD) or Consultant (CPHC). You'll learn from trainers certified by Germany's PassivHaus Institute - and be eligible to take the exam yourself! Plus you can explore the variety of green buildings (LEED, Living Building Challenge, Passive House, & a 2030 District!) that make Pittsburgh the nation's most livable (and affordable) city.
Today, Green Business Certification, Inc (GBCI) unveiled Total Resource Use and Efficiency (TRUE). TRUE is the new brand identity for the Zero Waste Rating System.
The TRUE Zero Waste certification system enables facilities to define, pursue and achieve their zero waste goals, cutting their carbon footprint and supporting public health.
According to the EPA, the average American generates 4.4 pounds of trash each day. TRUE is a whole systems approach that helps organizations understand how materials flow through their facilities and identify redesign opportunities so that all products are reused. TRUE-certified projects meet a minimum of 90 percent waste diversion for 12 months from landfills, incinerators (waste-to-energy) or the environment.
Currently, there are 88 TRUE-certified facilities around the world. TRUE focuses on helping businesses, industrial sectors and schools quantify their performance and find additional ways to move toward zero waste. Microsoft, Tesla, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Nature's Path, Earth Friendly Products, Raytheon, Cintas and Northrop Grumman, among others, have facilities certified under the program. The TRUE Zero Waste certification, previously administered by the U.S. Zero Waste Business Council, was acquired by GBCI in 2016.
Preparation for the 2017 Solar Decathlon is underway! T
he U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon is a collegiate competition of 10 contests that challenge student teams to design and build full-size, solar-powered houses. The winner of the competition is the team that best blends design excellence and smart energy production with innovation, market potential, and energy and water efficiency.
Washington University's solar decathlon team contributed an article about their CRETE house to the
USGBC-Missouri Gateway Chapter's blog. Construction of CRETE House is currently taking place on the North campus of Washington University, it will be disassembled and shipped to Denver, Colorado where the team will put it back together in time for the Solar Decathlon competition in October.
This year,
two Missouri schools--Missouri S&T and Washington University--are competing in the Solar Decathlon. You can follow their progress on their respective Facebook pages
here and
here.
EXPAND: Grow the knowledge of green building and sustainability in our community.
PARTICIPATE: Get involved in educational programs, special events and community projects to showcase your company's leadership.
EXPOSURE: As a Chapter Sponsor, your company will be:
Listed on our website which receives 6,500 visitors and 60,000 page views per month.
Included in our monthly e-newsletter with over 5,000 subscribers.
Recognized at monthly programs, with an average attendance of 100.
LEARN: Keep up with the latest green building trends and technologies and earn continuing education hours.
ALIGN: Differentiate your company as a leader in the sustainability movement in your community.
USGBC-Missouri Gateway Chapter Sponsorship includes numerous benefits - from complimentary Chapter memberships and monthly program passes to exposure on the Chapter website, e-news and at events.