Results tagged “greenbuilding”

Always wanted to retrofit your ancient farmhouse for energy efficiency, but feared the task would be too much for you—not to mention far too expensive? Well, now you have a model for such an undertaking in the Massachusetts Super Insulation Project. Sponsored by the state (in spirit, not monetarily), the undertaking will provide a model for future low-energy, environmentally friendly building codes and incentives.

Boston's largest property owner, Equity Office Property Trust (affiliated with the Blackstone Group), has plans to green up its buildings, adding bike racks and energy efficient climate control systems to help the earth and make us feel warm and fuzzy. Boston is the beginning of the company's experiment with green touches, which may be extended to other areas. The city requires new construction to be LEED certified (though not to the gold level, like the Macallen Building), but we have so many existing buildings that the requirement hasn't had much impact. Equity Office and Boston Properties Inc. are among the first to start renovating existing buildings. There's high demand among companies for green touches, and greening a building can even improve worker productivity, so it looks like this may become a trend.

The Sustainable Endowments Institute, which is based in Cambridge, has published its second annual College Sustainability Report Card. The Institute issues grades for schools in several green-friendly fields: Administration, Climate Change & Energy, Food & Recycling, Green Building, Transportation, Endowment Transparency, Investment Priorities, and Shareholder Engagement. The endowment and investment fields are crucial to the report because they indicate whether or not a school is putting its money where its mouth is and investing in...

The city of Boston unveiled new plans today to hold private developers to a more environmentally friendly standard. The Globe reports that the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) will incorporate these regulations into building codes for the city.

In the greatest celebration of Evacuation Day the cannon was drawn from Pasadena to Cambridge. The feat was a bit different from the schlep Henry Knox would make from upstate New York to Dorchester Heights – but still a page in a historic battle. Perhaps a better sign of spring than crocus or forsythia the rivalry between MIT and Caltech has begun in full force. Each year creative, technically challenging, and often quite humorous pranks...

The Cambridge Chronicle reports today on the re-emergence of an old tradition at the Baker House Dorm at MIT. Apparently, every few years since the early 1970's students in the building have relieved their mid-semester stress through the traditional "Piano Drop" -- coinciding with the last official day to drop classes. The concept is quite simple, the Chronicle points out: A group of students throw a 700-pound piano off the building's roof just to watch...