USGBC-LI's Peter Caradonna Foresees a Sustainable Future

As a 3^rd generation architect, Peter Caradonna eventually married (what else?) an architect.  But his life’s work truly started in the mid 1990’s, working on a branch library in Brooklyn.  Peter was handed the NYC Department of Design and Construction High Performance Building Guidelines.  Curious what such a building would be, Peter spent the weekend reading the guidelines, gaining a new understanding of “the future of our business.”  

Peter’s introduction to sustainability convinced him that architects could regain their former importance to society, becoming “a catalyst to a critical paradigm shift.”  Starting his own firm in 1996, He sought to learn everything he could about green building.

In 2000 he joined the US Green Building Council (USGBC), working on the programs committee for USGBC New York, one of the organization’s six original chapters.  Recruited to help start the Long Island Chapter, Peter became its first chair.  His leadership skills impressed the national organization, where he now sits on the Chapter Steering Committee.  USGBC now has over 79 chapters, and Peter enjoys a national network of bright, forward-thinking progressives to share ideas with anywhere he goes.

Of course, sustainability faces a huge challenge from entrenched business and political entities.  Peter says the green movement must work twice as hard to achieve its goals.  He also believes the next generation will use their life-long relationship with computers to take up this struggle, informed by a different understanding of the world.  “I can’t wait to see what they come up with,” he says.  “They’re my greatest hope.”

“Anywhere you go on earth,” Peter notes, “the human footprint is evident.  Even in the furthest wilderness areas.”  In addition to sustainability, he foresees restorative and regenerative systems to maintain the planet, even as our society grows exponentially.

For now, the current generation needs to determine the standards for making all buildings carbon neutral.  “And you know what?” Peter asserts.  “That’s not a bad way to end this generation’s work.”

Post written by David Sporn.

Originally posted on the USGBC-LI Blog

Green Drinks Babylon

A Force for the Sustainable Development and Future of Long Island.

Green Drinks Babylon is a monthly gathering of like-minded individuals committed to shaping our future and making Long Island a greener community. Come out and charge your eco-spirit and make some new connections.

Our 1st meeting is set for Oct 14th, 2009 @ Horace & Sylvia's Publick House in Babylon, NY.

Signup for Free@ Green Drinks Babylon

For more info email me @ emartin@advancedrestoration.com

We have a lively mixture of people from NGOs, academia, government and business.  Come along and you'll be made welcome.  Just say, "Are you green?" and we will look after you and introduce you to whoever is there.  It's a great way of catching up with people you know and also for making new contacts. Everyone invites someone else along, so there’s always a different crowd, making Green Drinks an organic, self-organising network.

These events are very simple and unstructured, but many people have found employment, made friends, developed new ideas, done deals and had moments of serendipity.


Find us on FaceBook.

Planetary Boundaries and the New Generation Gap

This is a great article I figured I would share with everyone.

by

Alex Steffen,

www.worldchanging.com

June 30th 2009

A sort of generation gap on global issues is emerging around the pace of change. The older generation, especially the older generation of well-heeled white men, today respond to our calls for rapid change by urging "realism" -- meaning an expectation of delayed action and minimal commitment. We saw this most recently in the U.S. debate about the Waxman-Markey climate bill, which both takes effect too slowly and demands too little, in comparison to what we know we need to do based on climate science.

Those of us with a little clearer grasp on reality know that every moment lost now has real consequences. Ecological crises and development challenges are combining in ways that make solving both issues much more difficult with every passing day. Clear thinking people -- and at this moment, polls show, most of us tend to be on the younger side -- get that we do not have decades to act. We hear the clock ticking.

We're about to hear a lot about "planetary boundaries." Planetary boundaries reflect the idea that the limits of the Earth to support human civilization can be measured across several natural systems. They're a scientific attempt to describe the base conditions for global sustainability. If we've going to thrive, we need to figure out how to do it within these limits.

Last year, a group of scientists led by the Stockholm Resilience Centre took a shot at defining those boundaries. They found three hard targets:

Climate Change: Stabilized concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at 350 ppm

Stratospheric ozone layer: A decrease of five percent in column ozone levels at a given latitude with respect to 1964-1980 values

Ocean acidity: Concentration of carbonate ions in surface sea water of the Southern Ocean should not fall below 80 µmol per kg-1


In addition, they defined seven other boundaries for which specific hard targets were more difficult to pin down but which nonetheless demanded attention: freshwater consumption and the global hydrological cycle; deforestation; interference with the global nitrogen cycle; terrestrial biodiversity; chemicals dispersion; marine ecosystems.

We're in the process of straying beyond every single one of these boundaries. Of course, each of these boundaries is a massive issue in its own right, the subject of a global debate involving hosts of experts and advocates; but put them together -- as we must, since they are all tied together and affect one another -- and we begin to see just how massive the ecological crisis at hand is.
But, as useful as the concept of planetary boundaries is, it also leaves out another critical interplay, the one between human aspirations and abilities and the very real generational thresholds we face.

We are headed towards a peak population of at least nine billion people shortly after mid-century. Almost all of those people will aspire to greater prosperity, quite reasonably in most cases (I think that trying to talk the world's poor out of their aspirations is a fool's game). That means we need to expect to see billions more people reaching for what they see as the good life.

At the same time, we can't repeat the path to wealth that made the developed world rich. We've already exceeded the planet's biocapacity; we're already beyond the planetary boundaries, meaning that business as usual has prohibitive environmental costs. We're running out of places to dump and spew waste without dire human cost. We've also used up a tremendous share of the planet's easy bounty -- from old trees to cheap oil to big fish to virgin metals -- meaning that conventional resource and energy use will largely come from more and more difficult (and often more and more ecologically costly) stocks. Peak everything will not only make getting rich the old fashioned way more expensive, it will also make it more destructive. The combination of what are technically known as declining stocks (less good stuff to use) and shrinking sinks (fewer places to safely put the bad stuff) will make development far more difficult for the world's poor this century than last.

Adding to that difficulty is the on-going waste of human potential, and the growing costs of lost opportunities to engage the world's poor in transforming their own situations.

Think in terms of medicine for a moment. We're starting to get our heads around the fact that compared to treating disease, preventing them is far cheaper, more effective and happier for the patient. Prevention, though, to a certain degree demands early commitment. Start a lifelong exercise, nutrition and stress-reduction program in your teens, and your results will be profoundly better than someone who starts one at 60 after a lifetime of smoking, eating junk food and working too hard. For that 60 year-old, it's still worth getting healthier, but there are hard limits on how healthy he will ever get.

What applies to medicine also applies to human development, especially now in countries with very young populations: the degree of sustainable prosperity we are capable of achieving depends to some large extent on how good a start we get, how quickly.

Even another two decades of the status quo will make many of our goals nearly impossible.

Needless deaths, injuries, sicknesses and malnutrition today will impose an astronomical cost on us over the coming decades. Missed opportunities to educate children (especially girls) leave lifetimes of limited opportunities. The trauma of conflict and collapse, of natural disasters or of family tragedies, could combine with the strains of living in extreme poverty to leave hundreds of millions with a lifelong difficulties coping. The disillusionment of a generation of young people, who find themselves trapped in corrupt or failing states, or simply shut out of opportunities for dignity and work in the global economy, can turn them away from productive engagement with the problems around them and turn some of them towards extremism and terror. As much as we want to believe in an endless potential for human transformation, the reality is that people's energies, spirits and opportunities for growth are themselves limited resources.

Right now, we're squandering them in mind-boggling volumes, and that waste has costs. With every passing year, the task of raising billions of people out of poverty to become parts of stable, democratic states with functioning economic, legal and health systems becomes more difficult.

And all this while climate vulnerabilities, food shortages and rising energy costs begin to undermine even the progress much of the developing world has managed so far. There are generational thresholds for change, and it is possible to fail to act boldly enough to move through them.

The brutal reality is that failure is possible in human societies as well as in ecological systems. There are points beyond which societal problems start to become effectively impossible to solves. And when you combine the two -- an on-going societal meltdown with massive ecological degradation -- the result can be real, catastrophic failure that lasts for generations, perhaps effectively forever.

Both the planetary boundaries we're exceeding and the generational thresholds we're failing to step through ought to be matters of concern for every person on the planet. We know now that in a thousand extremely practical ways we're all tied together through webs of ecological interdependence, global economics, culture, disease and public health, conflict and terror. It may be possible for large failures to happen while much of the rest of the world improves; some large failures may even be inevitable. But widespread failure to spread stability, human welfare and a reasonable degree of prosperity will ultimately doom any level of progress we make in keeping within our planetary ecological boundaries. And ultimately, a planetary collapse will leave no one -- not even the richest and best situated -- unaffected. Our children's hopes are dependent on the futures other children inherit.

This is why bright green solutions are so important. We here in the developed world need to not only redesign our lives to reduce our own impact; we need to reinvent prosperity itself, so that billions of people around the world can take the innovations we create and make their own versions of sustainable prosperity. And the reality is that it must be us; to think otherwise is to willfully ignore the massive disparity in research funding, institutional capacity and education levels that exists between the wealthy and the poor on this planet. (Besides which, we're responsible for causing many of these problems.)

We must also do it quickly. We need to do it yesterday. We can't simply plan to cut our own impacts down to a level that could be shared by everyone over the next four or five decades.

Even if we had that long a time to reduce our impacts -- and we don't -- there is no way the rest of the word can get stable and sustainably prosperous in that time frame unless we lead the way right now. Anything less than an all-out effort now is morally inexcusable. Small steps, incremental reductions, slow plans -- unless these are tied to big, systemic and quick solutions, they will not be enough. We need a bright green future, right now.

All that is the bad news.

Here's the good news: We can build that bright green future. We have the technological prowess, the design insight and even many of the working examples we need to transform our systems and reinvent our cities. We have the money. We may even be gaining the most needed components, vision and political will.

Here's the better news: Not only can we build it, but we'll be better off when we live in it. We will be better off in a stable world than a collapsing one, rather obviously. (It is a monumental failure of our public debate that our choices are still understood as an option between "going green" and the status quo; when in fact they are transformation or imminent ruin.) But most of the evidence indicates that we will be better off in a bright green future than we are now in our dark gray present: better off in crass material terms, with more disposable income, more comfortable homes, nicer communities and better food, but also better off in terms of quality of life, health, time demands and stress. What we gain outweighs what we lose, by far. Put simply, I believe that in almost every way a bright green future would be a better choice than the status quo, even if there were no planetary crisis at all.

There are plenty of reasons for despair and cynicism these days. But it's really important not to underestimate the power of the politics of optimism, the power of actually having better ideas and answers. They are especially powerful when the people opposing us have nothing whatever to offer besides a white-knuckled grasp on a broken status quo. Their only weapons are fear, uncertainty and doubt. It's time we counter with optimism, vision and examples. We need to counter with a future that works.

In the months leading up to Copenhagen we need to insist on the fierce urgency of now: on why we cannot wait, why we have no more time, why half measures and stalling tactics are no longer acceptable; why, in short, the day for real change has come. We need to make that point ring in the media, in political debates, in our corporate boardrooms, in our community meetings, in our classrooms, in our churches and at our cultural events. Everywhere people talk about who we are and where we are going, we need to loudly demand actual reality-based realism... and a bright green economy.

This summer is the calm before the clamor. This fall, we need to let the world know what time it is.

The Enertia Home

This a great video. Really amazing green building technique. This is a segment from the Science Channel's Eco-Tech.

That New House Smell

Love That New Home Smell?

Today's new-home construction materials contain an excessive amount of chemicals that evaporate and off-gas into VOCs, or Volatile Organic Compounds. Kitchen and bathroom cabinets, moulding and paneling, drywall, flooring and roofing materials are manufactured using toxic chemicals such as Urea-Formaldehyde and phenolic resins. Paints, stains, and sealants are used extensively in just about every room in the house, and contain VOCs that can cause serious health effects. A newly-constructed house will have a significant amount of VOCs in the air because the rate of off-gassing for VOCs is highest initially. This accounts for the “new house smell” that most new home buyers experience. After several weeks the rate of VOC off-gassing from building materials will decline; however, the off-gassing will continue at a slow and continuous pace and the gases will remain in the air for many months, and possibly years.

There have been many cases of homeowners who have developed mysterious health ailments shortly after moving into a new home.


Products that emit VOCs in Newly Constructed or Remodeled Homes:
Paints & varnishes
Building materials
Carpeting
Wallpaper
Vinyl flooring
Glues & adhesives
Cabinets and built-in bookcases made from pressed wood
Roofing shingles

All of these products are now available with low or no VOCs used in the production of these materials. New green products are made available every day. Stores like The Green Depot are popping up all over Long Island. Usually these products are cheaper as well as more sustainable.

What Makes A Product Green?

An important tool in the effort to build greener buildings and live greener lives is the selection of products and materials that were made using environmentally friendly processes and are used in environmentally friendly ways.

Green products are available for just about any daily need, and the ways they are green are many and varied:

They are energy or water efficient
They use healthy, non-toxic materials; they are made from recycled or renewable sources
They make current products you use more efficient or more durable
They are recyclable or biodegradable, among many other things.

But among all the truly green products comes the risk of “greenwashing;” that is, products that are advertised as green without truly offering environmental or health benefits. The directories below will help you sort through the claims and find the products that best meet your needs. But please note: Inclusion or exclusion of any product in these directories does not represent endorsement by ASID or the U.S. Green Building Council:

• GreenSpec Directory: The online GreenSpec® Directory lists product descriptions for over 2,100 environmentally preferable products. Products are chosen to be listed by BuildingGreen editors. They do not charge for listings or sell ads.

• GREEN BUILDING PAGES: Green Building Pages is an online sustainable design and decision-making tool for building industry professionals and environmentally and socially responsible consumers.

• GREEN2GREEN: Green2Green.org features comprehensive information regarding green building products, materials and practices. The site offers side-by-side comparisons of products using a variety of environmental, technical and economic criteria.

• OIKOS: Oikos is a World Wide Web site devoted to serving professionals whose work promotes sustainable design and construction.

• THE GREEN GUIDE: National Geographic’s Green Guide offers staff-written reviews of a host of products, ranging from appliances, home furnishings and home improvement products to personal care and pet supplies.

• GOOD TO BE GREEN: Good To Be Green is a directory of green building products, sustainable building materials and green building service providers. Products must: be made out of recycled materials; ensure a low environmental impact during the construction, operation and/or demolition of the building; conserve
natural resources like energy, wood and water; and improve air quality.

Questions To Consider When Buying A Green Product or Material

• MANUFACTURER COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY
• Is there a written, working environmental policy in
  place? Is it easy to find on their Web site or product
  literature?
• Does this policy strive to make important
  improvements in manufacturing, reducing and reusing
  first, then recycling?
• Do they comply with their industry’s voluntary testing
  programs?

• EXAMINE THE PRODUCT’S COMPOSITION
• What are the raw materials used to create the product? And where do they come from?
• Did the materials come from renewable resources?
• Is the manufacturing process energy efficient?
• Does the manufacturing process release harmful
  substances?
• Are adhesives needed to make the product viable? What are they using?
• Are coatings or finishes needed to make the product
  viable? What are they using?

• EXAMINE OTHER ASPECTS OF THE PRODUCT
• Does the product nurture the health and well-being of
  its occupants?
• Does the product do the job well?
• How much energy does it use?
  Does the product release VOCs? At what rate?
• How is the product packaged and transported?
• How is the product installed and maintained?
• Does it have a color or texture that can lead to reduced
  lighting energy or an expanded range of thermal
  comfort conditions?
• Can the product be maintained in a benign manner?
  Using safe cleaning products?

• EXAMINE STRATEGIES FOR DISPOSAL
• Is the product durable? Biodegradable? Recyclable?
• Can the parts be separated for recycling?
• Can it be made into something else?
• Can the product be returned to its manufacturer at the
  end of its useful life?

• COST CONSIDERATIONS
• What is the price range for the product?
• Does the manufacturer provide life cycle cost analysis
  on this product?

USGBC: Long Island Chapter

I am now a member of the Long Island Chapter of the United States Green Building Council.

The U.S. Green Building Council is a 501(c)(3) non-profit community of leaders working to make green buildings available to everyone within a generation.

This is the place to:

Certify your green building
Join USGBC as an organization
Join a chapter as an individual»
Sign up for courses and workshops
Purchase LEED Reference Guides
Learn about Greenbuild 2009
Sign up for e-newsletters
Become a LEED AP
Learn about green building

The U.S. Green Building Council is the nation's foremost coalition of leaders from every sector of the building industry working to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work.

USGBC's core purpose is to transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated, enabling an environmentally and socially responsible, healthy, and prosperous environment that improves the quality of life. USGBC-LI works to bring these values to the communities of Long Island.

The Strategic Plan 2009-2011

Vision:
The purpose of the Long Island Chapter of the US Green Building Council is to mirror and advance the core purpose of the US Green Building Council locally; to transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated, enabling an environmentally and socially responsible, healthy, and prosperous environment that improves the quality of life.

Mission
The USGBC-LI is committed to working with our fellow Long Islanders to improve our quality of life by improving the quality of the structures we build, and the environment in which we all live, work, and play. We are committed to leaving the world a little better than we found it so that future generations have an unfettered opportunity to do the same.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Long Island’s economy has been driven by the real estate and building sectors. With these sectors at the core of the economic meltdown, the challenges for Long Island are particularly pronounced. The Presidential blueprint for addressing these challenges features energy efficiency in the built environment. Energy efficiency opportunities are abundant on Long Island. Both the interior and exterior atmosphere benefit as a result. Existing buildings account for 40% of U.S. energy use. A 25% improvement in efficiency would lower our carbon footprint by 10%, equivalent to the total output of the United Arab Emirates, the world’s third largest oil producer. To the list of efficiency benefits add energy independence and security. Over the last decade, the U.S. Green Building Council has set the bar for the new built environment. USGBC national has marked 2009 as the year for expanding its influence with the theme for Greenbuild 2009 being “Main Street – Beginning the Conversation.” The Long Island chapter of the USGBC has already established itself at the forefront, with eleven out of thirteen municipalities requiring Energy Star standards plus a role in crafting one of the country’s most rigorous municipal LEED standards for new commercial construction. Now, having supported the development of Long Island Green Homes, the residential energy retrofit program, the chapter is poised to establish itself as a model for suburban Main Street and partnered with the Town of Babylon to launch The Babylon Project. This project was designed and positioned to take this Long Island Initiative nationally.

The members of the USGBC-Long Island have come together to change Long Island’s status from the “birthplace” of suburban sprawl into one of leadership in environmental stewardship, through the construction of environmentally sound, healthy, and profitable buildings.

HISTORY OF CHAPTER
The Long Island Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council owes its foundation to the vision, and initiative of Catherine Shawn. Catherine Shawn was instrumental in assembling a group of like minded professionals and instilling in them the belief that together they could make a difference. It was her inspiration and driving force that propelled Peter Caradonna to believe that he could help start a local Long Island Chapter.

On August 9th, 2005 the Long Island Chapter Organizing Group held a successful Inaugural Event that helped begin the process of membership leading to the first official Board elections.

In November 2005, the first Board of Directors of the newly recognized Long Island Chapter of the USGBC was elected to a term beginning January 01, 2006.

I: Challenges
Many challenges face the Long Island community and must be responded to by the Long Island Chapter. Not only do we face the political and economic issues of the era, but how do we educate the community in the benefits of green construction and change the perception that green does not have to cost more.

The challenges for the chapter are both organizational and operational in responding to the community’s needs.

Challenges include:
Continuity in administrative staffing with integration of paid staff with our volunteer members

Increased value to membership

Change perception from “green costs” to “green saves” to address perceptions that green building is not cost effective and to make an effective case for green building to the financial community.

Expand knowledge and education programs.

Meet the demand for green building with regards to increasing the capacity and training of many sectors such as building trades, designers, developers, and code officials.

Meet the educational needs through the address the education needs for building owners, operators, and occupants on how to manage, operate, and inhabit green buildings.

Creating and maintaining consistent revenue streams to the chapter to maintain programs and operations.

Expand membership base and community involvement.

Developing meaningful and productive relationships with other Long Island not-for-profit organizations.

II: Principles
Promote triple bottom line by promoting and creating solutions that clarify and strengthen a healthy and dynamic balance between environmental, social and economic prosperity.

USGBC-LI will strive for honesty, openness and transparency.

Promote Design with nature - harmonizing human activities and natural systems.

Support efforts to develop affordable LEED-certified housing (in conjunction with municipalities, LIHP, Sustainable Long Island, and Habitat for Humanity).

Support efforts of other organizations in helping to expand ‘green’ residential development (such as LIBI, Neighborhood Network, Vision Long Island)

Reconfigure workplaces, homes and communities in consonance with eco-systems to mitigate building impacts.

Increase access of populations to the benefits of green building by educating building owners and occupants in mobilizing public and private capital for green building projects.

AGENDA: Goals and Objectives
Goal 1: Serve as the portal for USGBC national and the go-to organization for green building on Long Island.

Objectives:
1.1 Transform our web-site into a resource-rich, go-to destination for green searches from throughout the nation. Launch the national web-zine and blog-site, Green Burbs as a core attraction

1.2 Create Resource directory providing access to relative links and a directory of local providers.

1.3 Clearinghouse for policy makers and other advocates.

1.4 Develop relationships with media contacts at the local and regional level.

1.5 Develop replicable process for disseminating information to media contacts.

1.6 Build off the energy efficiency retrofit operations of Long Island Green Homes through directorship of The Babylon Project to promote Green Homes’ operations in other municipalities across Long Island and around the state.

Goal 2: Education - Increase the awareness and level of education to the general and professional communities on the benefits of green construction. Educate professionals and trades in green construction processes and techniques as well as occupants in green building operations and maintenance policies.

Objectives:
2.1 Provide education to building owners and users about the role of the built environment in climate change and resource depletion and the tools available to reduce carbon footprints and resource use associated with the built environment.

2.2 Promote the use of LEED programs, particularly Homes, Neighborhood Development, and Existing Buildings.

2.3 Offer technical training for both professionals and tradespersons in the region, work to promote good sustainable practices in their day-to-day businesses, and provide materials and resources to designers and builders at all levels in support of LEED guidelines and process.

2.4 Encourage the integration of relevant aspects of green building into the curricula of secondary, undergraduate, and graduate education.

Goal 3: Reach out to develop alliances with the building community, i.e. LIBI, AIA, etc.

Objectives:
3.1 Establish a steering committee of building stakeholders and NGOs who work in this area like Neighborhood Network, Sustainable Long Island, LIHP, Habitat for Humanity (provide not just a seat at the table, but entire table at the gala).

3.2 Partner with industry trade associations, professional societies, and other organizations. USGBC will continue to work with an ever‐widening range of public, private, and non‐profit organizations in pursuit of its strategic goals and objectives.

Goal 4: Organizational Stability and Growth

Objectives:
4.1 Develop consistent financial resources in order to provide capacity for growth in order to fully achieve our mission

4.2 Development of specific indicators and metrics to measure organizational growth with respect to; finances, LEED projects, program developments, membership perceived value, outreach and institutional involvement.

4.3 Develop a paid administrative staff.

4.4 Evolve the board of directors’ role, structure, and composition to provide the vision, high‐level strategic guidance, organizational direction, financial resource development, and diplomacy necessary to achieve USGBC-LI’s strategic priorities. Diversify the USGBC-LI board.

Goal 5: Expand the green building market

Objectives
5.1: Analyze, aggregate and disseminate information that demonstrates the environmental, health, social, and economic benefits of green buildings.

5.2 Identify gaps in the green building delivery chain and build capacity to bridge them.

5.3 Analyze the market and identify key stakeholders by researching comparable markets, identifying and incorporating elements from other municipal initiatives.

Goal 6:Increase advocacy efforts for the voluntary inclusion of green building procedures in new construction, existing buildings, and major renovations

Objectives:
6.1 Assess City and County policies and resources and advocate for; Low impact development requirements, Preferential permitting for green buildings, Develop incentives for green building practices, and Reduce barriers to green building.

6.2 Develop "starter kit" for states/local governments including model guidelines, model legislative language, and common indicators, utilizing USGBC resources and tools.

6.3 Develop database of information on state/local successful initiatives.

6.4 Serve as a resource to local businesses of all sizes and functions on greening business operations, products and services.

6.5 Develop Speakers Bureau available to businesses and organizations interested in how to be more sustainable.

6.6 Assess and promote municipality integration of sustainable design principles into the core competency skill-set of the County/Town planners, architects, engineers, and project managers.

6.7 Survey stakeholders to identify most important information needs, gaps and sources; generate additional data from regional summits.

6.8 Develop media-oriented materials to expand visibility and impact with building industry and mainstream consumer press.

6.9 Maintain and strengthen working relationship with New York Chapters (Upstate and NYC) on statewide issues.

Goal 7: Transform the programs committee into the nerve center for all programs, salons, workshops and events where previously little coordination and logistical support existed.

Develop a brand identity and consistency that positions the chapter as the experts in the field within our region through interesting topics and programs.

Objectives:
7.1 Create a committee structure with tools and procedures that were previously lacking.

7.2 Create Monthly Salons - Develop monthly salons that recur consistently throughout the year as opposed to ad hoc. Salons are an intimate classroom style atmosphere about 2 hours in length (45 minutes networking and 1 hour and 15 minutes for presentation and Q&A. Salons are usually topical and product and technology related.

7.3 Monthly Salons serving two regions - USGBC-LI membership is drawn from Nassau and Suffolk counties covering 1,200 square miles of some of the most populous and congested regions in the nation. USGBC-LI recognizes that travel considerations to salons during peak rush hour times would be difficult at best. Therefore, the chapter will host two salons, one serving Central/Western Long Island and the other serving Eastern Long Island. This strategy will maximize the ability for all members to enjoy the educational value of the chapter salons.

7.4 Create Salon 1 - Audience is generally Nassau County and Western Suffolk. Salons will be held the first Wednesday of every month.

7.5 Create Salon 2 - Second presentation for the east end membership comprising Central/Eastern Suffolk County including the North and South Forks. Salon 2 presentations are scheduled ad hoc.

7.6 Create Programs - Programs are major evening presentations often with a panel discussion and multimedia presentation. Programs are 3 hours in length (1 hour networking/dinner and 2 hours for presentation and Q&A.

7.7 Develop a sales package that excites and entices potential presenters that USGBC is the premiere organization to show their products, services and technologies.

7.8 Change the negative revenue structure into a profit center by charging appropriate fees to presenters and membership alike.

7.9 Recruit new committee members to support the stated goals and objectives.

7.10 Develop quarterly workshops in conjunction with USGBC National.

7.11 Organize tours of LEED Certified properties
7.12 Offer coordination and logistical support by serving as the conduit for other USGBC-LI committees’ program activities

IV: IMPLEMENTATION [years 1-3]
Develop action plan for operation to ensure sufficient income to meet or exceed financial plan.

Recruit Chapter and Program Sponsors.

Continue Annual Awards ceremony.

Hire a full/part-time administrative assistant and Executive Director.

Host regional summits and local programs to expand the local membership base, provide networking opportunities for existing and potential new members, address issues of national and regional interest, and heighten awareness and support for green building efforts at the regional level.

Develop and distribute Annual member satisfaction survey that will provide dynamic feedback to the benefits of local Chapter membership.

Spread energy efficiency retrofits for existing building retrofit operations to municipalities across Long Island and the state.