January 25, 2017, Boston and Greenfield, MA - As the federal government’s commitment to fight climate
change becomes more uncertain, a group of sustainable energy practitioners are shoring up their resolve to
work regionally to build healthier, more durable, energy efficient buildings and communities. Approximately
2,500 professionals from every field related to buildings and the codes that govern them will gather at
the BuildingEnergy Boston Conference + Trade Show, March 7-9, to share best practices and provide an
actionable model for climate change mitigation.
“NESEA has been holding conferences for architects, engineers, and builders for more than 30 years,” said
Conference Co-Chair Heather Nolen of Steven Winter Associates. “We’ve built a reputation as a one-stop
venue for all things related to sustainable energy in our buildings. Conference topics provide attendees with
techniques for immediate use on current projects as well as inspiration for future endeavors.”
“What separates this year’s conference from those in the past is that we’ve reached far beyond our singlefamily,
residential roots to address much larger buildings and communities. As the urgency of mitigating
climate change increases, we’ll be there to answer the call,” said Jennifer Marrapese, Executive Director of the
Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), which hosts the conference.
This year’s program, which features more than 60 sessions and workshops and 100 exhibitors, is
unprecedented in its diversity. Sessions focus on buildings of all types and sizes, and there are several case
studies of high-performance building projects on college campuses and the techniques used to engage
occupants in their operation.
“The most effective way that we, as professionals, can mitigate climate change is to ensure that our largest
buildings are as efficient as possible. But it’s not just about the buildings anymore. Our sessions go beyond
energy. They address the whole system—from how much energy it takes to produce and transport our
building materials, to how our buildings are designed to operate in the context of a smarter and cleaner grid, to
whether building occupants know how to operate their buildings to minimize their environmental footprint,” said
Conference Co-Chair Stephan Wollenburg, an independent energy consultant in Worcester, MA.
One example of this whole-systems focus is the opening plenary session, which will be given by Dr. Craig
Jones of Circular Ecology. Dr. Jones is an embodied energy, carbon footprint, and life cycle assessment
expert. In 2012 he was listed as #14 on Building Design's list of the most influential people in UK sustainability.
He provided data to carbon footprint the construction of the London 2012 Olympics and tailored an embodied
energy and carbon database for the $22 billion Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, which aspires to be the first zerocarbon,
zero-waste, and car-free city. Dr. Jones’ session will provide a visual overview of how our own local
consumption can have unexpected impacts—even on the other side of the world.
Other themes of this year’s conference include:
• Water, water everywhere: How to heat water efficiently, how to conserve it as a natural resource, how to
build for resilience where flooding is an increasingly present threat. This year’s BuildingEnergy Boston
Conference features a number of sessions on water, including a not-to-be missed hands-on opportunity to
learn from Gary Klein on how best to configure your DHW system for energy efficiency.
• Occupant behavior: We all know that a building is only as efficient as the occupants that use it. As South
Mountain Company concluded in a white paper several years ago, “There are no net zero buildings, there
are only net zero occupants.” This year’s conference features several sessions to ensure that energy
efficient projects perform as intended and that the occupants know how best to optimize the building for
efficiency and comfort.
• Community-scale solutions: Buildings are not insular. Several of this year’s sessions focus on scaling
energy efficiency and resiliency solutions to the community and neighborhood level. In one such session,
a group of leaders who call themselves “Boston Women Leading Change” will dive deep into ideas and
solutions they generated from a June 2016 trip to Copenhagen that can readily be applied to cities in the
Northeast, including stormwater management, wind energy, transportation planning, district heating, and
social resiliency.
• New technologies: The BuildingEnergy Boston trade show floor will feature the latest in sustainable energy
technologies including energy storage solutions, charging technologies for electric vehicles, and more. In
addition, two “lightning round” conference sessions will highlight succinct, practical information on many
products and services, such as the advantage of chilled beam systems and extracting value from energy
management data.
BuildingEnergy Boston 2017 features industry experts from the Northeast and beyond, including: Patrick
Deegan of DAC Technologies, Thomas RC Hartman of C&H Architects, Stephanie Horowitz of Zero Energy
Design, Declan Keefe of Placetailor, Katrin Klingenberg of PHIUS, Andrea Love of Payette, Bill Maclay of
Maclay Architects, Ty Newell of University of Illinois, Christopher Nielson of Bruner/Cott, Karl Rabago of Pace
Law Center, Marc Rosenbaum of South Mountain Company, Cooper Schilling of Kieran Timberlake, John
Straube of RDH Building Science Laboratories, Paul Torcellini of National Renewable Energy Laboratory,
Kohta Ueno of Building Science Corporation, solar pioneer Steven Strong of Solar Design Associates, who
installed photovoltaics on the White House in the 1970s and again in 2014, and many more.
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To register for the conference, click here.
For a list of conference sessions, click here.
For a list of conference speakers, and their biographies, click here.
About BuildingEnergy Boston
The BuildingEnergy Boston Conference + Trade Show is the region’s leading event for professionals and
practitioners working to build a more sustainable world. It brings more than 2,500 industry leaders and
emerging professionals together for three days to learn from and share ideas with each other. Hosted by the
Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), this year's event is March 7-9, 2017 at the Seaport World
Trade Center. Register at nesea.org/be17.
About NESEA
Formed in 1974, the mission of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (www.NESEA.org) is to
advance the adoption of sustainable energy practices in the built environment. NESEA does this by connecting
professionals to each other and to information. This organization facilitates collective learning between all
of the professional disciplines that contribute to the built environment. NESEA serves architects, planners,
engineers, manufacturers, builders and policy analysts in public and private companies in the 10 Northeastern
states.