Conference Agenda
Over 20 sessions were offered at Green by Design, including introductory, intermediate, and advanced workshops that focus on various elements of the Green Communities criteria (a set of nationally recognized green affordable housing standards) and other topics. Successful green building projects, including both multifamily and single family projects (locally and from around the country), were highlighted.

Click here to download the conference brochure (.pdf)

Green by Design 2009 Session Descriptions

Wednesday, June 10th, Pre-conference Opportunity
Habitat for Humanity Tour
Green Build Tour
Molly Berg, Habitat for Humanity of Minnesota
(Single Family Focus)
Habitat for Humanity affiliates throughout Minnesota help set the standards for energy efficient, healthy homes in their communities. Learn and experience the methods and materials that Habitat builders use to build clean, green homes. On this unique bus tour, participants will visit several sites under construction by affiliates building to Minnesota Green Communities criteria, located both within and outside of the Twin Cities metro. Lunch is included in the registration fee and participants will return in time for the Green by Design evening reception and program. To sign up for this special preconference opportunity, please contact molly@hfhmn.org.

Thursday, June 11th, Conference Sessions
8:00 to 9:00 a.m.
Welcome and Opening Plenary Session

Green Communities: Taking Lessons Learned from the National Initiative to the Next Level
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Dana Bourland, Enterprise Community Partners
In 2004, Enterprise set a bold goal to invest $550 million into the development of 8,500 green affordable homes. Five years later, Enterprise has funded over 14,500 Green Communities homes in nearly 30 states— demonstrating that green and affordable housing can be one and the same. Enterprise is expanding their commitment to Green Communities and deepening the expertise and financing they provide to affordable housing developers in order to build even greener homes and sustainable communities. Presenter Dana Bourland will share the lessons Enterprise has learned to date through extensive building evaluations and policy advocacy and will discuss how the next phase of Green Communities is transforming Enterprise and delivering significant health, economic, and environmental benefits to low-income families and communities across the country.

9:00 to 10:15 a.m.

Reducing Your Risk with Green Rehab: A Systems Guided Approach
(Part 1 of 2)
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Patrick Huelman, University of Minnesota, Cold Climate Housing Program
Steve Klossner, Advanced Certified Thermography
(Single Family Focus)
Rehab of existing homes can be a risky proposition. Many houses have current performance deficiencies – some minor and some major. The process of changes and upgrades can either make these better or worse. Almost all changes made will affect the flow of heat, air, and moisture. A "systems-guided" approach will ensure that your green rehab will enhance the performance of the home and reduce the risk of compromising the building envelope, mechanical systems, or indoor air quality.

Gone Green – What Have We Learned?
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Krista Egger, Advanced Energy
(Multifamily Focus)
In 2004, Enterprise set a bold goal to invest $550 million into the development of 8,500 green affordable homes. Enterprise has also invested in comprehensive analysis to measure the health, economic, and environmental benefits of green affordable housing. Krista Egger has completed building performance testing to verify Green Communities project performance on dozens of buildings (including several in Minnesota). She will share keys to success, best practices for maximizing performance, and how to avoid a few common mistakes.

Meeting the New Energy Code and Minnesota Overlay For Multifamily Buildings
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Mark Brengman, Steen Engineering
Russ Landry, Center for Energy and Environment
Bruce Nelson, Minnesota Department of Commerce, Office of Energy Security
Bruce Watson, Minnesota Housing
(Multifamily Focus)
This presentation will highlight key changes to the Minnesota Energy Code and to the Minnesota Overlay to the Green Communities criteria. Both go into effect this year for new multifamily buildings. The session will outline the technical requirements and point out approaches developers and architects can use to make sure the requirements are being met. Comparisons of common design options and the new requirements will be detailed throughout the presentation.

Specifying Products and Systems for Healthy Homes
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Cindy Ojczyk, Verified Green
(Single Family/Multifamily Focus)
Building systems and products that shape the buildings in which we live and work can have a negative impact on health, health care costs, and attendance at work or school. Knowledge of building practices that promote human health is important for creating healthy homes and communities.

Low-E Windows: Does One Size Really Fit All?
Ken Modeen, Marvin Windows and Doors
(Single Family/Multifamily Focus)
This session will discuss Low-E coatings now available from manufacturers and how to determine which type is best used in a given application. You will discover how an overall lowering of energy costs is possible with thoughtful selection from the palette of Low-E coatings currently on the market.

10:45 a.m. to Noon

Reducing Your Risk with Green Rehab: Testing In and Testing Out
(Part 2 of 2)
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Paul Morin, The Energy Conservatory
Jimmie Sparks, Neighborhood Energy Connection
(Single Family Focus)
As changes and upgrades are made to existing homes, there can be significant changes in heat, air, and moisture flows. To reduce your risk, you must "test in" to determine existing conditions and guide the rehab approach, scope, and sequence. Once the project is completed, you must "test out" to ensure that the changes will be effective and not compromise the overall integrity of the building envelope, mechanical systems, or indoor air quality. This session will explain these testing processes and emphasize their importance in green rehab.

Electrical Considerations for Long-Term Energy Efficiency in a Home
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Cindy Ojczyk, Verified Green
(Multifamily Focus)
Many small steps can be implemented in a home during construction and rehabilitation to promote electric energy efficiency. Steps and strategies that lead to energy conservation, independent of occupant behavior, will be covered in this session.

Evaluating, Improving, and Greening Multifamily Buildings
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Don Hynek, Wisconsin Division of Energy Services
(Multifamily Focus)
Multifamily buildings are not immune to ice dams, mold and moisture problems, odor complaints, or high utility bills. What works best to rehab them is not just about saving energy, but in fixing (or preventing) these problems. Learn how to apply what we know about building science to the complex problems of bigger buildings, bigger systems, and multiple residences in one building shell. The emphasis will be on objective quality measures as opposed to inspection—especially building and systems evaluation, whole-building testing and air sealing, unit-level blower door testing and compartmentalization, and getting ventilation right.

Thoughtful Landscapes in a Changing World
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Fred Rozumalski, Barr Engineering
(Single Family/Multifamily Focus)
Climate change will stress our landscape. Hotter summers and less frequent but more intense storm events, among other effects, make it clear that it is time to increase carbon sequestration (by plants) and decrease fossil fuel consumption. Learn new ways to build and manage landscapes to create a healthier, more resilient environment. This session focuses on solutions to the problem of climate change and, specifically, landscape techniques that reduce the use of fossil fuels, fertilizers, pesticides, and water while increasing carbon sequestration. It begins with the basics: soil, water, and plants.

Designing and Installing Efficient Ductwork
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Pat O'Malley, Building Knowledge
(Single Family/Multifamily Focus)
Performance testing on Minnesota Green Communities demonstration projects has shown that we consistently design and build tight building envelopes, but we struggle to design and build efficient ductwork. This session will highlight the importance of integrated design to provide better duct distribution, teach how to accurately calculate system requirements, and explain the best way to design returns. Installation details, including the fittings, transitions, and duct sealing, will be shared, and performance testing as a tool for continuous improvement will be discussed.

1:30 to 2:45 p.m.

General Assessment Strategies for a Successful Rehab
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Michael Anschel, Verified Green
(Single Family Focused)
This course is designed to help the remodeler properly assess the condition of an existing home and take the necessary steps to ensure the rehab will be successful and safe. It will feature a discussion on the costs of these rehab strategies and how to plan for additional improvements. The course will also focus on attics and basements, and the testing required in order to avoid creating an unsafe condition in the home. (Note: This session was previously offered at the 2008 Green by Design.)

Greening Foreclosure Remediation: Case Studies
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Todd Baumann, Common Ground
Sarah Hannigan, Northern Communities Land Trust
Jodi Slick, Common Ground
(Single Family Focus)
Through its Acquisition-Rehab-Resale program, Northern Communities Land Trust and its contractor Common Ground have incorporated Green Communities criteria into foreclosure remediation efforts in Duluth. This session will feature case studies of four homes with rehab scopes ranging from updating finishes to deconstruction/reconstruction. Selection of properties, budgeting, funding strategies, green features, marketing, and lessons learned will all be addressed in the session.

Commissioning Multifamily Housing
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Allyssa Kuseske, Questions & Solutions Engineering, Inc.
Matthew S. Malinosky, Questions & Solutions Engineering, Inc.
(Multifamily Focus)
What is commissioning? Why is it necessary on multifamily housing and how can it be implemented effectively? All of these questions and more will be answered in this introductory session. It will discuss how commissioning fits into the green building process and how to apply commissioning to multifamily residences. The session will end with lessons learned from a recent Minnesota Green Communities’ multifamily demonstration project that also sought LEED certification.

Passive House Energy Standard
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Tim Eian, TE Studio
(Single Family Focus)
This session is an introduction to the Passive House energy standard. Passive House represents today’s highest third-party certified energy standard for buildings, with the promise of reducing the total energy consumption of buildings by up to 90 percent while providing superior comfort and indoor environmental quality – all at little or no additional up front cost. When combined with renewable energy systems such as solar photovoltaic or solar thermal, Passive House puts true zero energy buildings and carbon neutrality within reach.

Environmentally Friendly Construction Waste Management
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Mike Otto, Mike Otto Construction
(Single Family/Multifamily Focus)
This course is designed for the construction professional who would like to reduce their construction waste, learn how to effectively recycle their waste, and implement a waste management plan. Strategies described will include reducing demolition and construction waste, as well as recycling and reusing materials. Success relies on managing the waste reduction plan and equally important is tracking your waste so you know you've succeeded.

3:15 to 4:30 p.m.

The Price is Right: Cost Implications for Rehab and Weatherization
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Michael Anschel, Verified Green
(Single Family Focus)
In single family rehab projects, sometimes things that look simple turn out to be complex, and things that look complex are, in fact, simple. This course is designed to look at the actual costs for improvements, repairs, weatherization, and energy efficiency improvements, while creating a healthy and safe home and environment for the occupants. It will look at real world examples and solutions for problems in order to gain an understanding both of how to resolve these issues and the planning process.

Affordable Green: A Case Study
Richard Klimala, BCB Construction
Gail Merriam, Neighborhood Development Alliance
Jimmie Sparks, Neighborhood Energy Connection
(Single Family Focus)
Many discussions of green building projects fail to discuss one key ingredient: additional construction costs. See how the Neighborhood Development Alliance—working with LHB Architects, Neighborhood Energy Connection, and BCB Construction—funded and developed two highly energy efficient homes for sale to moderate income home buyers. The side-by-side twin homes, the first LEED Gold projects in St. Paul, are targeted for sale to families at or below 80 percent of area median income.

Continuous Improvement: Building Evaluation and Learning
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Jorge Lopez, Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership
William Weber, University of Minnesota, Center for Sustainable Building Research and School of Architecture
(Multifamily Focus)
This session will highlight the process of building construction, testing, monitoring, evaluation, and construction corrections at Viking Terrace Apartments (a Minnesota Green Communities demonstration project). The research conducted included a large interdisciplinary team of researchers, builders, residents, and the developer/owner. Presenters will share how testing and the results were used to improve the project and to inform subsequent Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership projects.

Implementing a Sustainable Community Program
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Click here to view responses from workshopattendees (.pdf)
Robert McLean, Hunt Utilities Group
Dan Frank, Initiative Foundation
(Policy Focus)
In pursuit of a sustainable, healthy community, Pine River partnered with the central Minnesota-based Initiative Foundation to leverage knowledge and resources. Through the proven framework of the Initiative Foundation's Healthy Communities Partnership, Pine River is taking steps toward a greener future that will positively impact its quality of life, its economy, and its environment. This session will cover the steps and strategies being taken to give participants deeper insight into how a healthy community program is built.

Remediating Mold, Radon, Asbestos, and Other Hazards Lurking in Our Homes
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Mike Otto, Mike Otto Construction
(Single Family/Multifamily Focus)
This course will help you gain an understanding of why hazardous substances and materials exist in homes and the importance of remediation. It will identify common remediation needs, including materials and locations. Proper testing for hazards and best strategies for eliminating or encapsulating them will be highlighted.

Click here to download the full conference agenda.