COTE Meeting Minutes for February 2002
February 13th, 2002

In attendance: Greg Albertson, David Damon, Lynne Deninger, Martine Dion, Kenneth Fisher, Jay Jacoby, Chris Leary, Charlotte Matthews, Timothy McKenna, Stephen Moore, Ron Swenson, Robert Thomas, Anke Van Hal, Mark Webster, & Nicole Wobus.

Announcements: Updates on the following items -

• DCAM Charette:
  • COTE represented by Charlotte Matthews, "What baby steps can be taken by DCAM in order to get to the next step?"
    
• Ten Shades of Green Exhibit:
  • BAC (Boston Architectural Center) to host the exhibit.
  • Date confirmed for the exhibit is September 2002.
  • Contributions and sponsorship is still needed so please contact Chris Leary of The Stubbins Assoc. for more information.
  • There is also a need to publicize the event so any assistance would be appreciated.
    

Focus Topic: Solar and Light in Green Architecture
(Number two of our four sessions.)

Anke Van Hal
architect, author,consultant, & PhD
Anke Van Hal Consultancy

• In the Netherlands, sustainable building has been a national priority.
  • Their goal was to create a "market driven" program.
• Anke discussed the history of the program as well as the progress leading up to the latest efforts.
• Several slide examples of buildings constructed through this program were shown.
  • System design (eg-heat pumps and PVs), site orientation, natural ventilation, & material selection were all integral to the projects.

Key Points:

• More hard data is needed to present more consise arguments.
• Notable (famous) architects/developers need to make sustainable building a priority (good press).

A post meeting discussion on how the United States might be able to increase consumer interest in sustainable design was held.

Robert Thomas
developer & historical restorationist

• Robert is developing a parcel of land in South Boston.
  • The original goal was to build a "green" building.
    • incorporating building intergrated PV cells (PV cladding).
  • Robert researched the various processes by which one would approach "greening" a building, including the step dictated by LEED and other certification programs.
  • Consulted by Katrina Cook at Conservation Services Group & Nicole Wobus of the Mass Energy Consumers Alliance, he was made aware of producing a building that could be part of the Energy Star rating program.
• After LEED proved to be too complicated and time consuming, the development would attempt to achieve an Energy Star rating.
• Energy Star offered a means of rating the building, which was an incentive for the owner (value & prestige), as well as, in some cases, mortgage rate reductions.

The key question at this juncture was: "Are PVs too costly to be incorporated?"

• After intensive research it proved to be too much for this project.

Key Points:

• PV's are not as adventageous for the smaller scale developer as they are to the home owner.
• Incentives such as the Fanny Mae/Energy Star mortgage or Wainwright Bank's "Green Loan" could be another way of getting "green" incorporated at this level.
• Robert's goal met a compromise, by providing PV-ready units that the owner could have the option to fit-out if they chose.
  

Next meeting will be held on March 13th at BSA, 52 Broad Street, Boston, MA.