Upcoming GreenerU webinars
From time to time, GreenerU hosts webinars and workshops on topics ranging from climate neutrality and energy efficiency measures to climate action planning and facilitation. Watch this space for upcoming GreenerU webinars featuring stories from your peers, lessons learned, and best practices in sustainability and climate change mitigation.
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Past webinars
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Climate action planning with a historic preservation mindset
Friday, November 22, 2024
3–4 p.m. ET
Historic New England (HNE) is the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive historic preservation organization in the United States. In 2023, they completed an institutional Climate Action Plan and made a commitment to addressing “the global climate crisis through actions that will reduce or eliminate our greenhouse gas emissions, promote the resiliency of our properties, engage our communities, and advance climate justice and energy equity.” But with 41 historic properties they needed to start somewhere. The first site climate action plan was developed for Casey Farm (1702), a working farm in Saunderstown, R.I. HNE embarked on a pilot climate action planning process that involved members of the community in developing a set of goals and strategies that weave the principles of historic preservation with a modern understanding of sustainability. Today, Historic New England continues this journey with a climate action planning effort for an historic urban property, Pierce House (1683), located in Dorchester, Mass.
In this webinar, Historic New England joined GreenerU to discuss their climate action planning journey and what that means for historic preservation efforts at some of the nation’s oldest properties. They also shared how planning efforts have helped strengthen and prioritize their fundraising efforts. Guest panelists included:
- Joie Grandbois, Sustainability Coordinator, Historic New England
- Ben Haavik, Property Care Team Leader, Historic New England
- Katy Pomplun, Institutional Giving Officer for Preservation, Historic New England
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Greening your house of worship with GreenerU
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
7–8:30 p.m. ET
GreenerU’s Eruc Grunebaum and Simon vonNieda presented during an online gathering hosted by Green Newton. Eric and Simon shared insights on how congregations can implement energy projects, with real-world examples from nonprofits and houses of worship that have significantly reduced their energy use.
This free webinar was hosted by Green Newton, the Climate Action Task Force of the First Unitarian Universalist Society in Newton, and the Boston Catholic Climate Movement.
Click here to watch the recording of the GreenerU presentation.
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Green energy incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act: how the final regulations shaped up
Wednesday, September 25, 2024
1–2 p.m. ET
President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022, creating unprecedented opportunities and incentives for businesses, individuals, and institutions to invest in electrification, renewables, and efficiency measures—from electric vehicles to EV charging stations to solar PV. New with this legislation is the opportunity for nonprofit organizations to get a cash refund for the value of tax credits ordinarily out of their reach. Now, regulations have been developed for direct pay to nonprofits, and green energy tax expert Jerome L. Garciano is here to share his thoughts and take your questions.
Guest speaker Jerome L. Garciano, senior counsel with elite global law firm Akin, is an attorney and certified public accountant with an extensive background in real estate development, tax incentive transactions, and tax credit project financing.
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Getting buy-in for your big ideas
Thursday, June 22, 2023
2–3 p.m. ET
Vibrant. Exhilarating. Complicated. Messy.
We’re not talking about your love life. We’re talking about working in an institutional setting, where getting things done is no simple task. If you’re looking at launching a major initiative, an interdepartmental project, or moving forward with your climate action goals, you need to draw from a different toolkit than your job description outlines—you need to be persuasive.
The ability to communicate an idea effectively is as important as the idea itself. This webinar is about getting buy-in for your ideas through discovery and effective communication, with a focus on benefits (the why). Join the conversation to discover how you can navigate complicated relationship structures and find ways for everyone to win through your ideas.
Norm Young is the former Associate Vice President of Facilities Planning and Management at the University of Hartford. He is currently an independent consultant advising on all aspects of facilities operations, management, and business development in primarily higher education.
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New green energy benefits for nonprofits in the Inflation Reduction Act
Thursday, March 2, 2023
2–3 p.m. ET
Passage of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act created unprecedented opportunities and incentives for businesses, individuals, and institutions to invest in electrification, renewables, and efficiency measures—from electric vehicles to EV charging stations to solar PV and more. New with this legislation is the opportunity for nonprofit organizations to get a cash refund for the value of tax credits ordinarily out of their reach.
Jerome L. Garciano of Polsinelli Law Firm is an attorney and certified public accountant with an extensive background in real estate development, tax incentive transactions, and tax credit project financing. He joined GreenerU’s Eric Grunebaum for a presentation and discussion to share his insights and the latest updates on the Inflation Reduction Act, and what types of incentives higher education, independent schools, and the nonprofit sector can pursue in 2023.
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Looking ahead: beyond BERDO
Thursday, November 10, 2022
9:30–10:30 a.m. ET
Boston’s BERDO—the Building Energy Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance—was developed to help the city achieve its climate goals of all buildings reaching net zero emissions by 2050. Building owners need to reach significant reductions to meet five-year incremental goals or face fines.
But some building owners are finding BERDO requirements challenging to meet from a financial standpoint. How will building owners plan for updated standards as they become more stringent down the road? What is the best way to deal with deferred maintenance? What financing opportunities are available? What are the additional benefits that can help justify first costs?
This open discussion featured guest Brian Palm, Assistant Head of School at Catholic Memorial School. Mr. Palm’s background includes a facilities management approach that encourages the development of a durable campus with sustainability at its core. He has served as chairman of the science departments at both Brooks School and Maimonides School. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College with a degree in environmental biology and geography, and also earned a Master of Science from Oxford University in environmental policy and management with a focus on energy policy.
We were also pleased to welcome Bill Nickerson, Executive Director of the Boston Industrial Development Financing Authority (BIDFA). BIDFA promotes economic growth and employment in the City of Boston by issuing bonds that finance the capital needs of the city’s businesses and institutions. It is guided by Boston residents with professional expertise in real estate development and finance.
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Running effective meetings (that are also productive and—yes—fun)
Wednesday, November 15, 2022
2–3 p.m. ET
Many of us have run dozens, even hundreds, of meetings for years. But how many of those meetings advanced your agenda or produced actionable results?
This educational webinar offered a series of basic guidelines for best practices in running consistently effective meetings. Establishing good meeting etiquette, being thoughtful about preparing your agenda, and developing an action-oriented mindset are all tools that can turn your meetings into opportunities to advance your goals.
In this webinar, we shared the anatomy of a great meeting, from preparation to facilitation to following up. There was an exercise on developing an internal agenda to help you think through an effective meeting from start to finish. Participants also received meeting templates and other resources.
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Leveraging STARS to advance your sustainability goals
Wednesday, September 28, 2022
2–3 p.m. ET
AASHE STARS inventorying, analysis, and submission is a lengthy and complex process—one that can be all-consuming for an institution. But one of the purposes of STARS is to provide a baseline of data to help your institution understand the next steps toward implementing sustainable solutions.
Meghna Tare, chief sustainability officer at the University of Texas at Arlington, joined us to talk about how UTA took STARS reporting to the next level to make the data accessible and clear to campus stakeholders.
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Ramping up sustainability in K12 schools
Thursday, September 15, 2022
3–4 p.m. Eastern
Featuring:
- Cameren Cousins, Director of Sustainability, The Fenn School
- Allison Guerette, Campus Sustainability Coordinator, Phillips Academy Andover
- Emily Umbarger, Sustainability Director, Interlochen Center for the Arts
A recent study published in the Lancet from a survey of 10,000 young people (ages 16-25) in ten countries, including the U.S., showed high levels of climate anxiety among respondents. K12 schools are responding with more sustainability curriculum, greenhouse gas emissions and other sustainability inventories, climate action planning, and energy-efficiency measures. This insightful discussion featured sustainability representatives from three schools that have taken different steps toward sustainability and climate change mitigation efforts at their campuses. Find out how they got started.
Recent Webinars
In this webinar from November 22, 2024, Historic New England joined GreenerU to discuss their climate action planning journey and historic preservation efforts.
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One of the key innovations of the IRA is the introduction of direct pay options for nonprofit organizations, allowing them to receive cash refunds for green energy incentives previously out of reach. In this webinar, green energy tax expert Jerome L. Garciano provided insights into these new regulations and answered pressing questions from attendees.
More
Vibrant. Exhilarating. Complicated. Messy.
We're not talking about your love life. We’re talking about working in an institutional setting, where getting things done is no simple task. If you’re looking at launching a major initiative, an interdepartmental project, or moving forward with your climate action goals, you need to draw from a different toolkit than your job description outlines—you need to be persuasive.
More