Upcoming events

• FREE SmartRegs Energy Inspector Training/Certification

  • When
    Fri, February 24, 2012
  •  
    8:30 AM - 4:30 PM
  • Location
    Alfalfa's, 1651 Broadway St Boulder, CO 80302
  • Spaces left
    0
  • Registered
    25 attendees

  Registration is closed

  RESCHEDULED! from 2/2

  
  

  The City of Boulder is offering trainings on the technical aspects of the SmartRegs prescriptive pathway for professionals interested in providing inspections.
  This training is required for city certification and the Class G license needed to complete these inspections.
  
  **Lunch will not be included, please plan accordingly
  Details:
  A SmartRegs Inspector Exam (lasting 1 hour) will be administered at the conclusion of the SmartRegs Inspector Training, beginning at 3:30pm.  The exam will cover critical material in the SmartRegs Technical User’s Guide and Inspector Training.  Building science principles will also be covered in the exam; inspectors not familiar with these principles are encouraged to study building science basics prior to attending this training.
  
  Staff from Populus Sustainable Design will conduct the training. The training will include:
  

  • Overview of approach and implementation;
  • Detailed description of how to perform assessment of existing conditions using SmartRegs prescriptive checklist;
  • Address issues of rounding and building conditions that fall in-between     checklist’s prescriptive options;
  • Guidelines and best practices for determining baseline conditions (for example, wall insulation, Furnace efficiency);
  • Guidelines for performance of blower door air infiltration testing and duct leakage testing;
  • Prioritization of improvement measures and how to use checklist    decision-making tool; resources for energy efficiency information;
  • Overview of likely energy efficiency improvement measures and best practices for achieving measurable results; and
  • Overview of health and safety building science issues, including carbon   monoxide testing,  adequate combustion air supply, soil gases, ventilation and moisture best practices.

  Recommended Reading:

  • SmartRegs Guidebook
    
  • Saturn Energy Auditor Field Guide by John Krigger and Chris Dorsi
    available for purchase at Saturn Bookstore

  To obtain a Class G license, inspectors must have one of the following in addition to passing the SmartRegs exam:
  
  New licensed contractors will be required to:
  

  • Complete a City of Boulder Contractor Licensing Application.
  • Provide a copy of A, B or C Contractors certificate issued by the International Code Council (ICC).
  • Provide a current copy of a 'Certificate of Insurance' as required by BRC 4-1-8.  City of Boulder as 'Certificate Holder' and 'Additional Insured.'
  • Pay the annual licensing fees as required by BRC 4-20-4.
  • D-9 contractors must provide one of the following:
  • • ICC or ICBO certification, RESNET certification, ASHI registration, A, B or C city contractor license, Architect or Engineer registration.

  If already licensed with the City of Boulder:
  

  • Provide a copy of current City of Boulder license certificate.
  • Pay the Class G license fee: $15

  Contact: CuzzolinoM@bouldercolorado.gov with questions
  
  

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• Commercial EnergySmart: Advanced Evaporative Cooling

  • When
    Tue, February 28, 2012
  •  
    7:30 AM - 9:00 AM
  • Location
    Westminster Recreation Center; 10455 Sheridan Boulevard Westminster CO 80020
  • Registered
    18 attendees

  Register

  Evaporative Cooling takes advantage of our unique climate here in Colorado, and can be used in most commercial cooling applications with tremendous energy savings.  Evaporative Cooling has been used successfully in a wide array of applications including: Office Buildings, Under floor Air Distribution Systems, Laboratories, Libraries, University Facilities, and Data Facilities.
   
  We will look at Direct Evaporative Cooling, Indirect Evaporative Cooling Strategies, Hybrid DX and Evaporative Cooling Systems, Psychrometric Analysis and Energy Analysis. 

  Presenter
  Bob Padgett, President and founder, Engineered Mechanical Systems, LLC., started with the Trane Company in 1987 then moved to Denver in 1992 where he has been active in the HVAC industry ever since. Bob is a recognized leader in Engineered Systems and Sustainable Design and has been involved in a number of LEED projects.

  NOTE: The location is the Westminster Recreation Center not the Fitness Center!  Use the google map below to zoom in to get more details.
  
  The physical address is on W 105th Ave! If headed north, We recommend turning left from Sheridan Blvd to W 105th. Then Go straight! Do not turn right onto N Sheridan Blvd.
  Parking for the Recreation Center is behind the building.
  
  
  Detailed information on the Westminster Recreation Center including directions
  
  

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• Advanced Green Building Seminar Six-Pack

  • Start
    Wed, March 07, 2012
  •  
    9:30 AM
  • End
    Wed, April 11, 2012
  •  
    11:30 AM
  • Location
    REI Community Room 1789 28th St Boulder, CO 80302 United States
  • Spaces left
    39
  • Registered
    6 attendees

  Register

  Continuing Education Credits
  1 hour through BPI for each session
   2 hours LU. HSW.SD for each session
  

  USGBC LEED Professionals- GBCI for 2 CE Hours for each session

  
  Advanced Green Building Seminar Six-Pack
  
  Ready for the next level?  If you already have a strong knowledge of green building and are looking to become an expert then these two hour seminars are designed for you.  You will not be bored.
  
  The classes are divided into discrete topics, which will permit you to sign up only for those topics that are of greatest interest and usefulness to you.  You can register for each class a la carte or save $$ with 4 or 6- packs.
  
  The topics are:
  

  • Mechanical Systems – March 7th
    How to we keep our houses comfortable year-round using as little energy as possible for Heating, Cooling, and Ventilation? How do we decide between the seemingly endless options for mechanical systems? How do these system choices effect each other and the other elements of home construction? How do these decisions effect compliance with building codes? Learn all about a selection, installation, and integration of high performance mechanical systems to prepare yourself for the future!
    
    
  • Building Envelope – March 14th
    Walls, Roofs, and Floors separate the inside from the outside. While seemingly straightforward, there are a staggering number of possibilities for how this basic function is accomplished. Learn about the latest and greatest thinking about insulation materials and techniques that are currently on the market, as well as some emerging materials through the lens of energy performance, durability, health, cost, and embodied energy. You will never look at a wall or roof the same way again!
    
    
  • Indoor Air Quality – March 21st
    The ability to breathe clean fresh air in our homes is perhaps the most valuable benefit of living in a “green home”. Learn how choices of building materials and construction techniques effect our health! Learn how to identify and eliminate toxins from our homes, and how we can use ventilation and filtration strategies to cost effectively make our homes better places to live!
    
    
  • Resource Conservation – March 28th
    The market is changing fast! Become familiar with Environmental Product Declarations and how these emerging tools can equip you to make informed choices. Cut through the marketing hype, and learn the truth about the impacts of building materials and how to choose between them!
     
  • Passive Solar – April 4th 
    Passive Solar design is a powerful ally when done right. Learn how to approach passive solar design for the Colorado Front Range. This class will help you to get a grip on this complex subject that will improve your understanding of all homes – not just those that are obvious in their passive solar features! Learn how to get more “free” energy from the sun!
  • 
    
  • Design for a Changing Climate – April 11th
    Our world is changing. This class will start with a close look at climate predictions for Boulder County and the Front Range, and what this will mean for residential home design and construction. Learn how proper design, materials, and construction strategies can reduce the negative impacts of these changes! Participants will learn basic, cost effective strategies to build homes that protect the health, safety, and welfare of its occupants in the face of a changing climate!

  
  We will delve deeply into each subject, looking at specific real-world applications, discussing theory, and analyzing comparative strategies.  The classes will be highly interactive with round-table discussions, mini-presentations by participants and frequent Q&A..  The classes will be customized to respond to the specific interests of the attendees.
  
  The seminars are taught by one of Colorado’s most respected green building lecturers, Ron Flax, RESNET, BPI, LEED AP. 
  
  About the Trainer: Ron Flax, RESNET, BPI, LEED AP, is a Project Manager at Rodwin Architecture & Skycastle Homes, and has been a member of the sustainable building community for the past 15 years. Ron has extensive experience in both the design and construction world, and is one of Boulder's leaders in Building Science.  Ron has a Masters in Architecture, is a certified HERS rater and has worked as a green building consultant for homeowners, architects, and custom and production builders.  He has recently completed a deep green retrofit of his own home, and exploring how to make sustainability truly affordable for everyone.
  

  Training Partners:

                  

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• 10-Session Business Planning Series for Boulder County Contractors

  • When
    Fri, March 09, 2012
  •  
    8:30 AM - 11:30 AM
  • Location
    Boulder SBDC at the Boulder Chamber Center, 2440 Pearl St, Boulder, CO 80302.
  • Spaces left
    9
  • Registered
    1 attendee

  Register

  10-Session Business Planning Series
  

  Don't miss this incredible opportunity to create a business plan, have all your specific questions answered about running your businesses effectively, have someone hold your hand through the process, and hear directly from experts on marketing, financing options, managing your finances and more!
  
  Attend a very low cost comprehensive 10-session business planning series. Ten seats will be subsidized by Boulder County for this series aimed to assist small retrofit and green building businesses, especially Energy Retrofit and Weatherization businesses who plan to participate in Boulder County's EnergySmart program.
  
  “One of our goals for the residential EnergySmart program is to stimulate our local economy. We want to ensure that our local contractors and building professionals are well positioned to take advantage of this stimulus money and be successful once this program ends in three years. We think this business development program will help our local businesses make profitable and sustainable business decisions and continue to play an integral role in the health of the county’s economy,".
  
  Using Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurship’s FastTrac GrowthVenture program as its base, this series features a variety of presenters – business specialists, entrepreneurs - with successful track records in marketing, business finance, law, accounting and entrepreneurship to help local businesses succeed in the short and long term.
  
  Topics include: Creating meaningful financial projections; How to bid on jobs and make sure you are profitable; Developing a Dashboard to stay on track; Developing a Creative Brief and (with input from specialist panel) Building an effective grass roots marketing plan; legal and organizational issues; and, Using research for competitive advantage and getting capital to help your business grow.  
  
  Detailed Agenda coming soon
  
  Spring 2012 Series Dates & Times:
  March 9 (8:30am - 11:30 am)
  March 16  (8:30am - 11:30 am)
  March 23  (8:30am - 11:30 am)
  *March 30 OFF*
  April 6  (8:30am - 11:30 am)
  April 13  (8:30am - 11:30 am)
  April 20  (8:30am - 11:30 am)
  April 27  (8:30am - 11:30 am)
  *May 4 OFF*
  May 11  (8:30am - 11:30 am)
  May 18  (8:30am - 11:30 am)
  May 25  (8:30am - 11:30 am)

  Cancellation Policy
  We must receive your cancellation by 2 weeks prior to the training at 5 pm for a full refund. No refunds will be given after that time. All refunds will be minus a $25 administrative fee.
  BGBG also reserves the right to cancel and/or reschedule the training if registration is low. 
  

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• Brown Bag Series: FOUR MILE FIRE REBUILDS: Greening after the Black

  • When
    Tue, March 13, 2012
  •  
    12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
  • Location
    REI Community Room, 1789 28th St, Boulder
  • Registered
    3 attendees

  Register

  CEU's for this course:

  1 hour  LU|HSW|SD from AIA          

  
  

  Rebuilding Green in the Canyon Case Studies:
  More than a year after the 6,000-acre Fourmile Fire destroyed 169 homes west of Boulder, some are beginning to rebuild. Join the Guild as we explore 3 unique building processes all focused on sustainability as well as fire mitigation.

  The Howze –Ryan Mountain Home, designed by Henry Mueller Design, Inc., was designed to utilize conventional building materials to create a Net-Zero residence. The super insulated shell incorporates a 2x4 staggered stud configuration developed by NREL in their Habitat for Humanity affordable Net-Zero house design. The building also incorporates PV and solar thermal systems along with passive solar design strategies to create a cozy mountain home.

  Brian Fuentes will present  to us 2 different straw bale projects.  The 1448 Gold Run project is based on using as many local resources as possible for the lowest possible embodied energy footprint.  As building energy use goes to Net Zero with efficiency and renewable power, embodied energy becomes the larger concern for the building's overall carbon footprint.  Local trees from the recent fire are being salvaged for the structural timber frame and all decking, sheathing and other wood required for the project, straw bale walls with local earthen plaster are being used for wall insulation.  Sustainability is also about creating jobs for people, and by salvaging local forest resources rather than having them shipped in, this project aims to displace some cost associated with the shipping of lumber with local and meaningful employment for the building industry.

  At 88 Misty Vale Ct. we explore a prefab straw bale home.  The structure was designed to meet the stringent passive house standard and the straw bale wall panels were built in a shop and then craned into place on site. This allows for straw bale construction year round without risk of the walls being exposed to weather. The project features extreme energy conservation due to a super insulated envelope, very low air leakage, LED lighting, efficient appliances and mechanical equipment, straw bale and heavy timber carbon sequestration and a 6 kW PV system.

  How can a house rediscover its physical site and historical context in the wake of a devastating forest fire? For Renée del Gaudio Architecture, the answer was to nestle a compact, low-energy house into a prominent granite outcropping.  Exposed beams, rusted steel, and industrial sized doors draw on the vernacular architecture of Colorado’s mining and barn buildings and make the house fire-resistant. The house is decidedly green, incorporating an open floor plan with cross ventilation, passive solar heating, a 3.5kw solar array, and zero maintenance materials.

  Hear directly from the architects and builders involved in these projects.

  About our Presenters (more coming soon)

  Brian Fuentes with builders Seth Murphy and Matt Buckner 

  Henry Mueller

  Renee del Gaudio 

  
  

  
  

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• Video Recording Session- CREATE YOUR OWN Co-Branded Commercial!

  • When
    Sat, March 17, 2012
  •  
    8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
  • Location
    Downtown Boulder Location TBA
  • Spaces left
    23

  Register

  We are completely re-designing our website with better functionality, member chat features, public forums for members to offer expert advice to homeowners, and a much more engaging Member Directory!  We are moving into a much more community based and socially interactive platform, as we branch out of the local area and look toward a more state-wide role in the Green Building movement.  

  As a part of the launch of these new features, we are adding this discounted opportunity to create a co-branded video. 
  

  ****************************

  PRODUCE A CO BRANDED VIDEO  COMMERCIAL about your company's services for $250+/- depending on the volume of interest!

  Sign up by early March to have a 1-1:15 min infomercial professionally created to help you in your outreach! These videos will be Guild branded and we will co-market them on your behalf. Check out our sample video to learn more! (below)

  We plan to launch a campaign in the spring to announce "Who are the members of the Guild?" We'll be featuring these videos on our website, Facebook, and potentially through our partner media outlets. These videos will also be able to be posted on your Business Member Profile as part of our new website & directory (look for that late March). PLUS you will own your video and be able to use it anywhere you'd like to have a video ad! 

  If a picture is worth a 1,000 words, a video is worth much more. Your video can literally become viral with community submissions and social tagging overnight!!! 

  This is also great way to use your membership status to help set you apart from the crowd... and helps us share who you are! There will never be a better deal to get such an amazing group rate on your video marketing, so email  or call me to find out more and get signed up. 

  We have a limit of 25 spots for the first round of videos. 

  Dates for filming will be Saturday March 17th and ONE other weekday the following week. Please use the registration form to indicate your preference. 
  

  What will you need to bring: 
  

  • pictures on a thumb drive or disk- up to 10
  • digital logo in EPS or other vector format
  • other marketing collateral in digital format
  • Answers to these questions: 
  • • What is your Product/ Serivce? 
    • Why do I (the client) need it? 
    • How do I get it? 

  How long will it take? 

  Plan for 30 minutes for filming - we will coordinate individually the timing. 
  The final completed video will be in your hands approximately 45 days after shooting- Just in time for our new website launch!!! 

  Show details
• How to Create Green Value from Green Investments

  • When
    Thu, May 10, 2012
  •  
    9:30 AM - 11:30 AM
  • Location
    REI Community Room, 1789 28th St, Boulder
  • Registered
    Nobody

  Register

  CEU Credit:    

  2 CE hour credit for real estate agents and broker
  

  
  

  Green building professionals, suppliers and realtors are the key to getting green investments turned into economic value recognized by appraisers and the financial institutions. Today the financial community provides little or no values for green/sustainable features in residential property.  We need to work together to change this and your understanding of how you can play a key role is critical.
  
  Learn what has been done in other parts of the country to gain value for green investments and what is happening locally with the MLS and Appraiser forms that you need to leverage to help push this effort forward. 
  
  Also find out how realtors sold “green homes” for 15% more than similar non green homes in the North West and where can you get the most value for your investment and improve your ROI when building more energy efficient homes.
  
  Finally, financial assistance is available for green/sustainable home improvements, learn how and where to find it. 
  

  Trainers:

  Elizabeth Million
  Elizabeth grew up in Boulder and worked as a real estate appraiser owning and managing her own appraisal company Million & Associates Appraisal Service before starting her career as a mortgage loan branch manager. She brings an extensive appraisal background to the mortgage sales world. Prior to joining Bank of America as a home loan manager Elizabeth joined Washington Mutual as a regional appraisal manager and then eventually fell into mortgage sales and became a branch manager for Washington Mutual managing multiple mortgage loan offices throughout the state of Colorado. Elizabeth is a member of the State of Colorado Governors Energy Office - Working Retrofit Group sitting on both the Finance and Appraisal/Greening the MLS committees, a board member of CHFA State Lender Advisory Board and the Boulder Board of Realtors Government Affairs Board.  

  David W. Scott, Colorado Landmark, David Scott is an EcoBroker® and a Green Realtor®, with Colorado Landmark Realty. Prior to joining Colorado Landmark, David worked internationally in multiple facets of the ski and sport industry both in the United States and in Europe. He was part of management at Head Ski, Koflach/Blizzard USA, Nevica USA and Snowell North America. As a consultant he was a key member of the planning, development and management team that brought the Tamarack Resort in Idaho from a dream to a reality.

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