University of Massachusetts Amherst
IN-4: Innovation 4

The UMass Green Building Committee, a cross-disciplinary group comprised of faculty, staff, and students and chaired by Jim Cahill, director of UMass Amherst Facilities Planning, has announced the publication of the Green Building Guidelines. The Green Building Guidelines outline and prioritize the strategies for sustainability that are most important to the UMass Amherst campus. The Guidelines use the US Green Building Council's LEED rating system as a framework and address sustainable site development, water efficiency, materials and resource use, indoor air quality, and energy efficiency. Design teams for all new UMass Amherst buildings are using these guidelines to design a greener campus. In 2007, University of Massachusetts President Jack Wilson signed the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment. The same year, University of Massachusetts Amherst Chancellor Thomas Cole established the Environmental Performance Advisory Committee (EPAC) to assess ways to reduce the environmental impacts of the campus. In 2008, Governor Deval Patrick signed Executive Order 484 which included the provision that all state buildings be certified under the LEED rating system. At the same time, UMass Amherst made the commitment to achieve LEED-Silver or better for all new construction and major renovations. In 2010, EPAC created the Green Building Committee to focus efforts on sustainable design and building on campus. During the summer of 2010, the Green Building Committee met biweekly to produce a document which is based on, but not limited to, the LEED for New Construction rating system. The committee reviewed the LEED credits and prerequisites and established priority and feasibility levels for each based on the environmental realities and mission of the University. The Green Building Guidelines provide a framework for approaching new construction and major renovation at UMass Amherst by focusing the conversation on the aspects of green building most important to the campus. They are intended to be the beginning of a dynamic conversation between designers, UMass stakeholders, and users of new buildings. LEED points are not the end goal of these guidelines; rather, they will be a by-product of the design of high performance buildings. The Green Building Guidelines are available to the public through the UMass Amherst Facilities Planning website: www.umass.edu/fp/gbGuidelines.pdf. More information can be obtained by contacting UMass Amherst green building researcher Lawson Wulsin at 413-577-1787 or lwulsin@art.umass.edu.