The USGBC NH Chapter promotes, educates, and advocates for sustainability in New Hampshire with the intent of transforming the built environment to one that supports a healthy community built on social responsibility, environmental stewardship and economic prosperity.

What is LEED? 

LEED has really proven its value.  It’s the most recognized and widely-used certification program in the world.  It’s supported by a network of over 185,000 LEED credential holders.

Click here for an interesting article on why LEED certification matters  

SUMMER MEET UP: BACKYARD BREWERY 

Please join the USGBC NH Board of Directors at the Backyard Brewery in Manchester, NH on July 23, 2019 at 6:30pm for our summer chapter meet up.

The meet up is free to attend and is open to anyone. NH USGBC members will receive a free beverage courtesy of the NH USGBC.

Please be sure to register by Saturday, July 20, 2019. You can register here.

We hope you can join and look forward to seeing you there!

GREEN EGGS: River House Tour

Registration is now open for the River House Tour, Wednesday June 5, 2019 at 4:00pm at 120 Lyme Road, Hanover, NH

The River House was a USGBC NH Chapter Building of the Year Award recipient in 2018.

The River House is a high-performance LEED Silver, Gut Re-Hab of an existing house.  Originally constructed in 1994 of standard materials and methods, it is sited on an exceptional piece of property on the bank of the Connecticut River in Hanover, NH.  Surrounded on nearly all sides with either river water or wetlands, the design and construction was subject to the NH Shoreline Quality Protection Act and the Town of Hanover Wetlands Protection.  Several outbuildings and a gravel drive were removed to improve the permeability of the site and the building stayed within the original footprint, except for a covered walkway to the front door.  All the runoff from the roof is either directed into drip edge infiltration trenches, collected and piped to a rain garden viewable from the basement windows or to a drywell on the north side of the driveway.

The material palette for the house was kept simple and low maintenance.  The exterior showcases a thin cement panel rainscreen, meticulously designed and installed around window openings with minimal need for trim and therefore paint.  The interior uses white oak plank flooring throughout, and recycled content porcelain tile in all three bathrooms.  All plumbing fixture locations remained in place and the old fixtures were removed and donated.

Even though there were minimal structural and internal partition changes, the renovation was transformative, and not just skin deep.  As the palette is restful on the eyes, the mindful attention to details that enhanced the energy performance and minimized the environmental impact on the inhabitants and site is soothing on the psyche. Primarily heated with just 2 mini-split heat pumps, the poetic simplicity of this gabled building worked to strengthen the integrity of the envelope to achieve a marvelous blower door test of .35 ACH50.  The quiet presence of the river always remained the focal point of the project, both for its beauty and need for protection. Again and again this site gives back with its tranquil views and sightings of bald eagles, coyotes and wild turkeys.

REGISTER

ANNUAL MEETING

 What a year! To cap it off, we got together to celebrate the most sustainable projects of the year (a tie!), announced the Chapter's 2019 board, and donated a substantial gift to Manchester's Salvation Army. All in all, a great success! Click here for a more detailed recap! 

 

GREEN EGGS: Bensonwood Facility Tour

Join Bensonwood for a live tour of their newly operational computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) facility in Keene, NH. We'll tour the 110,000 SF factory floor that includes production lines for walls, floors, and roofs. These building systems can improve the built environment by combining robotic fabrication and human craftsmanship. The panels serve Unity Homes and Bensonwood projects and are also a resource for other building professionals who want to take advantage of off-site fabrication for high performance building enclosures.  In addition, a 136,000 kw photovoltaic array was just installed on the roof.

CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM THE TOUR HERE!

Green Building Education Services

The New Hampshire Chapter has secured a discount to program offered by Green Building Education Services for programs, credentials, education, exam prep, and testing materials for our NH membership. These materials can assist with USGBC programs and help with education support for your building professional needs. The programs available are:

LEED GREEN ASSOCIATE - 15 Hour Package

LEED AP BD+C                    - 30 Hour Package

WELL AP                            - 6 Hour Package

Receive a discount of 25% on any purchased products with discount code: USGBCNH25

Click here to get started.

Partner with local community colleges through Community Green

The Center for Green Schools recently launched Community Green, a program to support community colleges in bringing green building training and education opportunities to their campuses. Through this program USGBC is offering all public two-year institutions a first free year of USGBC membership, which now includes a revised benefits package created specifically with the college in mind. Please spread the word about this exciting opportunity to the community colleges in your area and to contact Vanessa Santos to get involved. We are seeking chapter leaders who are able to offer their expertise as guest speakers and/or advisors for college members as they work to develop green building courses and training opportunities, so please contact Vanessa if you're interested.