With in person events postponed, we thought we’d compile some of the many online and virtual learning opportunities. Stay engaged and maintain your professional credential while practicing social distancing!
Check out this Google Doc for more details.
Know of opportunities that aren’t listed in the Google Doc? Email us at usgbc-mogateway@mobot.org with your suggestion.
Congratulations to Maplewood Richmond Heights Middle School – Winner of the “Best of Green Schools” class of 2018 – an award presented by the Center for Green Schools and the Green Schools National Network.
Recipients are chosen by a jury of green school leaders and advocates from around the country, and selected based on their demonstration of real change in our schools.
In the words of Jennifer Seydel, head of the Green Schools National Network, “Every movement needs leaders, and this year’s Best of Green Schools honorees reflect the transformative leadership that is needed to move the green schools movement from niche to mainstream.”
MRHMS believes that sustainable schools provide all community members with the greatest opportunities for success. It has integrated sustainability and green practices into its curriculum, including lessons in gardening, aquaponics, urban chickens, beehives, composting and rain gardens.
Maplewood Richmond Heights was also recognized as 2nd Place Winner in the 2017-18 Green Schools Quest Middle School Category! This is the third time that MRH middle school has been acknowledged as a winner during the five years of the Green Schools Quest – clearly demonstrating leadership and creativity in response to the challenge to imagine and implement a new sustainability project for their school.
USGBC-Missouri Gateway Chapter Education and Green Schools Manager Hope Gribble attended a MRH Middle School Town Hall on Tuesday, May 8th to present students with both awards. At the ceremony, she stated “It’s not only what you learn, but also where you learn that matters! You have contributed to making where you learn an institution that represents the best environmental efforts in schools across the country. You truly are national leaders and innovators in school sustainability!”
Learn more on Maplewood Richmond Heights School District Website.
Bethel Lutheran Church, located in University City, is the first worship facility to earn ENERGY STAR Certification in Missouri. ENERGY STAR Certification recognizes efficient energy use in buildings. With an ENERGY STAR score of 81, Bethel Lutheran Church outperforms 81 percent of worship facilities nationwide. Their energy achievements are due to many years of work by the church’s Green Team, which has spearheaded their environmental ministry of caring for creation.
In 2010, Bethel became a Green Congregation working with the national Lutherans Restoring Creation (LRC) program. Since 2013, Bethel has been working to increase their energy efficiency, reduce their carbon footprint, and save money through the LRC’s Energy Stewards initiative. As a participating congregation, they began to measure their energy use in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, a free online tool that allows buildings to benchmark their energy use. Their initial results left plenty of room for improvement; they found that their baseline ENERGY STAR score was 36, well below average.
Johanna Schweiss (USGBC-MGC), Cindy Gross (Bethel Lutheran Church Green Team), and Linda Daniel (USGBC-MGC) with Bethel Lutheran Church’s final ENERGY STAR Application.
Bethel Lutheran Church conducted an energy audit in September 2013, and since that time their Board of Property and Maintenance has been working faithfully to implement big and small building improvements. These improvements include low and no cost changes such as sealing gaps around doors, as well as projects that required more investment but paid off with energy savings, including installing LED porch lights, installation of new heat pumps, furnace, and AC units, replacing windows, and transitioning to a zoned heating approach to reduce dependence on an old boiler. Bethel Lutheran installed solar panels in 2014.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the energy used by buildings in the United States is responsible for almost 40% of our national greenhouse gas emissions. By reducing their energy use, Bethel Lutheran Church not only lowered their energy bills, they reduced the environmental impacts associated with energy use, thus lowering their impact on poor regional air quality and global climate change.
“We are so inspired by Bethel Lutheran’s ENERGY STAR Certification. They are living their commitment to care for all of God’s creation,” stated Tracey Howe-Koch, coordinator of Missouri Interfaith Power and Light, a religious response to climate change. “By increasing their sanctuary’s energy efficiency, they are helping to ensure future generations are able to enjoy all that has been given to us. At Missouri Interfaith Power & Light we believe that people of faith are morally obligated to be good stewards of the environment. Bethel Lutheran is faithfully carrying out this charge and is a wonderful example of the impact one congregation can have.”
USGBC-Missouri Gateway Chapter Volunteers Linda Daniel and Martha Martinko perform the facility walk-through required for ENERGY STAR Certification.
Volunteers with U.S. Green Building Council – Missouri Gateway Chapter verified Bethel Lutheran’s ENERGY STAR application. Led by licensed architect Linda Daniel, volunteers confirmed that Bethel Lutheran’s energy and building data was correct and that the building meets EPA’s Indoor Environmental Quality and Thermal Comfort standards. Linda stated “As a volunteer, it is exciting to work with building owners as their facility begins to perform better, their energy costs go down, and they reduce their carbon footprint. It was an honor to work with this congregation. Bethel Lutheran has diligently worked over several years to earn this certification, and it’s my understanding that they intend to continue working to reduce their energy use.”
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About Bethel Lutheran Church
Bethel Lutheran Church, a member church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, located in University City, Missouri, is a worshipping community that has set as its mission to work toward a sustainable relationship with our earth home, to follow the non-violent witness of Jesus and work for the restoration of life for those threatened and diminished by violence, and to be in dialogue and community with many in a multi-cultural and multi-religious world, globally connected in our need and compassion.
For more information: http://bethelstl.org/
About USGBC-Missouri Gateway Chapter
U.S. Green Building Council – Missouri Gateway Chapter (USGBC-MGC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community of members, advocates, and practitioners that give voice to our commitment to improve human health, support economies, and protect the environment through green buildings. The Missouri Gateway Chapter serves the community by educating and advocating for green building principles and practices, and believes that everyone deserves access to green and healthy spaces. They run a voluntary energy benchmarking campaign which promotes the use of ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager and ENERGY STAR Certification.
For more information: www.usgbc-mogateway.org.
About Missouri Interfaith Power & Light
Missouri Interfaith Power & Light (MO IPL) is a religious response to global warming and aims to engage, equip, and educate Missouri faith communities to be stewards of God’s creation by addressing the environmental and social justice consequences of climate change. MO IPL is one of 40 state affiliates of Interfaith Power & Light and works with congregations to model energy stewardship in their communities. There are over 14,000 congregations involved in national IPL programs.
For more information: www.moipl.org.
About ENERGY STAR certification
ENERGY STAR is a voluntary program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) helping businesses and individuals save energy and fight climate change through superior energy efficiency. Through ENERGY STAR, the nation’s most energy efficient buildings can earn ENERGY STAR certification. Since 1999, tens of thousands of buildings and plants across America — such as schools, hospitals, skyscrapers, retails stores, and manufacturing plants — have earned EPA’s ENERGY STAR for superior energy performance. On average, ENERGY STAR certified buildings use 35 percent less energy and cause 35 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than similar buildings.
For more information: https://www.energystar.gov/buildings/press-room
The 25×20 Voluntary Energy Benchmarking Campaign challenges buildings in the St. Louis Region to benchmark their energy use. Energy benchmarking is the key to unlocking potential energy and cost savings. Since the campaign was launched, businesses, local governments, houses of worship, schools, and institutions have pledged to benchmark their energy use! 25×20 participants include Clayco, now featured in a benchmarking case study.
PROJECT BACKGROUND
Clayco has been using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager to benchmark their St. Louis office since 2007. Using this tool gave them a baseline, as well as the motivation to raise their score. As a result of energy saving strategies and building improvements that they have implemented since 2007, their ENERGY STAR score has more than doubled. Clayco has already met their goal to reduce their energy use 25% by the year 2020!
STRATEGIES AND RESULTS
Four years ago, Clayco implemented on-going commissioning of the building, and has more recently started monitoring-based commissioning (Both of these commissioning strategies are new paths for enhanced commissioning in LEED v4). Through monitoring-based commissioning, they were able to realize energy savings with improvements to their economizer and morning warm up controls. They achieved even greater energy savings by updating their 1994 HVAC building management system programming with the latest 2016 energy savings controls, without any added cost.
Since taking the 25×20 Energy Benchmarking Pledge, they have seen months with as much as a 40% energy savings from their 2013 baseline. This amazing reduction in energy usage has helped Clayco reach their 25×20 goal several years ahead of schedule. They will also be close to ENERGY STAR Certification by the end of the year.
As well as energy savings, there have also been improvements to the interior environment including: greater amounts of outdoor air, faster regulation of temperature to within the thermal comfort zone, improved acoustic quality, and more responsive thermostat control. Through monitoring-based commissioning, potential issues have been resolved before they become an occupant issue. Clayco has been implementing changes based on user feedback, and has enough feedback to conclude that user comfort has increased along with the energy savings.
ABOUT CLAYCO
Clayco is a full-service, turnkey real estate, architecture, engineering, design-build and construction firm, which was founded in 1984. Clayco has over 1,645 employees, offices in Chicago and St. Louis, and projects across the country.
You can view the full case study online here. Visit the 25×20 page of our website to see a full list of participants, browse other benchmarking case studies or take the 25×20 pledge! Contact Chapter staff at usgbc-mogateway@mobot.org to be featured in a benchmarking case study.
Click here to view a list of seminar attendees.
Presented in partnership with the American Society of Landscape Architects-St. Louis Chapter, Missouri Botanical Garden, BiodiverseCity St. Louis, and the Academy of Science of St. Louis.
More than half of our planet’s 7 billion people now live in cities. As our urban areas expand, so does the need for high performance landscapes and regenerative design.
In this presentation we will discuss the interrelated nature between soils, plants, humans and ecosystem function. Site design and maintenance strategies that provide multiple ecosystem services and improve human health and well-being will be discussed, along with case studies illustrating project success and failures.
OBJECTIVES:
SPEAKER:
Heather Venhaus, Principal at Regenerative Environmental Design (Austin, Texas)
CONTINUING EDUCATION:
2 GBCI CE Hours and 2 AIA/CES LU HSW
WHEN:
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
8:00 – 10:00 am
WHERE: MBG’s Commerce Bank Center for Science Education, 4651 Shaw Blvd. 63110 (Park and enter on the WEST side of the building)
FEE: $30/USGBC-MGC Members, ASLA, Missouri Botanical Garden, and Academy of Science Members; $45/Non-members
REGISTER: Click here to register online.
FREE EVENING PROGRAM THE EVENING BEFORE
Upcycling our Urban Ecosystems
A free evening program on the topic of Upcycling Our Urban Ecosystems will be offered from 5:30-7:30pm on Tuesday, September 8, 2015. The program will begin with appetizers and networking, then presenter Heather Venhaus will challenge attendees to think broadly about all outdoor spaces and recognize their untapped potential. Click here to learn more!
QUESTIONS? Contact USGBC-Missouri Gateway staff at usgbc-mogateway@mobot.org or (314) 577-0225.
QUESTIONS? Contact USGBC-Missouri Gateway staff at usgbc-mogateway@mobot.org or (314) 577-0225.
Environmental Injustice in STL
LEED Safety First Pilot Credits for Re-Entering, Cleaning, and Disinfecting Buildings
Continue the Quest! A Primer on the 2020-21 Format and Themes
LEED v4.1 EBOM Technical Workshop
copyright USGBC - Missouri Gateway Chapter 2013
