Maryland Green Building Network

May 1, 2001  –  6:30–8:30 pm

Chesapeake Bay Program Office  –  Annapolis, MD

 

 

Attendees

Darragh Brady, Ziger Snead Arch.

Wendy Bratzel, Ecological Design Assoc.

Mark Bundy, DNR

Jessica Burgard, Design Collective Inc.

Bill DeLoache

Julie Gabrielli, AIA-COTE

Marie Halka, AA County EDC

Janet Harrison, Harrison Arch.

Bion Howard, BEST

Chip Jackson, St. Mary’s College

James Kantor, Parallax

Fariberz Mahjouri, Thermomax

Sean McGuire, GBN Coordinator

Jonathan Meyer, Meyer Sons Builders

Jim Nicholson, MD Energy Administration

Kim Schaefer, TerraLogos

Charlie Schlauch, GHK Assoc.

Jeannie Sikora, NAHB Research Center

Stuart Stainman, Patapsco/Back Trib Team

Susan Van Buren, MDP

Sherif Wahdan, AIA-COTE

Laura Zeiher, L2DS Environmental

 

 

Introductions and Announcements

 

Governor Executive Order on Energy Efficiency and Green Power & First Meeting of the Maryland Green Building Council: On March 13, the Governor signed the Executive Order, “Sustaining Maryland’s Future with Clean Energy, Green Buildings, and Energy Efficiency.”  As dictated by the executive order, the first responsibility of the newly created Maryland Green Building Council is to develop green building criteria to be used for all future state owned and leased facilities.  Wednesday, May 2 will be the first meeting.  Sean will keep the GBN informed of their proceedings and outcomes.  Mark Bundy conveyed that while there are significant short-term goals within the executive order, there is a tremendous opportunity the GBN has in participating in and helping to shape sustainability options for Maryland’s future.  The MGBC will be operating for years to come, and this is an open door for the GBN to think about and develop long-term, sustainable options for the state.

                                               

Picture Maryland: Where Do We Grow From Here: Wearing his Tributary Team Coordinator hat, Sean informed the Network that Maryland’s Tributary Teams worked with the Baltimore Sun and other funders to develop a Smart Growth booklet.  The booklet highlights the principles of Smart Growth, how planning and zoning decisions are made, and how the public can be more involved in the planning process.  The booklet will be distributed in the Earth Day section of the Baltimore Sun.  Sean also brought several copies for members to disseminate in their offices.  If anyone would like copies for themselves or their office, please contact Sean McGuire at 410-260-8727.

 

Calendar of Events: Sean reviewed the calendar of events included on previous e-mails, including:

 

 

Maryland’s Energy Incentive – Geri Nicholson, MEA

As Maryland is a national leader in energy efficiency and conservation issues, these are very exciting times.  Just a few examples include the recent Executive Order signed by the Governor, HB 20 – the Energy Tax Incentive Bill signed last year, and this year’s HB 8 that provides tax incentives for implementing green buildings approaches in newly constructed or rehabilitated buildings.  And looking down the road, next year looks promising to enact residential green building incentives.

 

Specifically, HB 8 addresses commercial buildings of at least 20,000 sq/ft and located within a priority funding area or brownfield.  Rehabilitations must also lie within PFAs and cannot expand its size by 25%.  The tax credit is 8% for new and 6% for rehabilitations with a maximum of $120 sq/ft, along with several other energy efficient tax credits.

 

MEA is tasked with developing the green building and energy efficient standards and ensuring they are consistent with other state agency activities.  In the coming months, MEA will develop appropriate budgets, the administrative infrastructure, and begin to hire new positions.

 

Million Solar Roofs: MEA is re-energized with this program and applications are due by June 1.  To implement the program, a contract is signed with a homeowner who then goes out and secures their P/V system.  Administrative costs are thereby reduced and the timing is much faster, which in turns assures the P/V system will get on the roof quickly.  The incentive provides for $3,600 per kw and $1,800 from 0.5-1 per kw.  The program will also be available next year.

 

For complete information on all of the issues above, please check out MEA’s website at www.energy.state.md.us.

 

 

Baltimore Row Housing Template – Mark Bundy, DNR

Through a very generous grant from MEA, DNR initiated a project that would develop a template to be used by companies conducting renovations and gut-rehabilitations in Baltimore low-income row houses.  The template will inject green building approaches, materials, and techniques in how they conduct their renovations.  The goal is to make the green building aspects to cost the same as current constructions expenditures, as well as to provide an example of how other cities can incorporate green building approaches.

 

Mark explained the reason the ITB process to be completed was the incredible quality of all the submitted bids.  In the end, though, the group awarded the contract included Julie Gabrielli and Bion Howard.  Their project will begin on June 1.  They will begin by contacting and working with 2 Baltimore development companies, and the project should be completed by the end of the year.