January 15, 2010
Dear Sponsors, Friends, and Members of the NC Triangle USGBC Chapter,
I think USGBC's National CEO, Rick Fedrizzi, captured it perfectly when he recently described 2010 as a truly overwhelming year; not because of an economy in dire straits or a gloomy real estate market, but because of our movement's success in the face of this adversity.
In North Carolina alone, despite the declines in the building market, we've seen the number of LEED certified buildings reach over 200, which represents annual growth of a staggering 67%, and pushes the total amount of certified square footage over 23 million. Our state also now has over 4,000 LEED Accredited Professionals, which speaks to the growth and demand in our market locally. But as you all know, LEED is simply one piece of our work as a charitable non-profit organization to develop a more sustainable North Carolina.
The true drivers of our success in transforming the building marketplace are our volunteers, who continue to demonstrate amazing passion for the triple bottom line of sustainability. To that end, 2010 marked a number of great successes for our chapter. This fall our Emerging Professionals Committee hosted another great service event with Builders of Hope, aiding our members in leveraging their knowledge and passion for sustainability to help underserved populations in our community. We also launched a beautiful new website that is increasing local access to chapter events and resources
This fall we expanded GreenNC, our annual conference with the NC Solar Center, to include over 20 education session qualifying for LEED AP continuing education credit as well as our first annual gala, "Save it Forward," where we recognized unsung leaders in sustainability throughout our community, including in our local schools and government. Thanks to the hard work of our chapter's advocacy committee, this past month the NC Building Code Council has endorsed a 2012 energy conservation code that will significantly increase the energy efficiency of new commercial and residential buildings.
Perhaps most significantly though, in 2010, our chapter was awarded USGBC's National Chapter Challenge Grant which has supported us in the hiring of our first Executive Director. After reviewing a huge number of candidates, the Board of Directors is incredibly pleased to welcome Laura Klauke to our chapter community as our ED. She has worked with the chapter as an Operations Director in a part time capacity since Fall 2010 and will begin her full time role as ED in 2011. Please make sure to introduce yourself to her at an upcoming event and join us in congratulating her on this exciting new role.
Overall, these were truly tremendous accomplishments. I want to specifically recognize and thank our outgoing Chair, Bae-Won Koh, for his unyielding passion and dedicated leadership throughout 2010. However, knowing Bae-Won, he would insist that I point out that these successes were really accomplished by you, our USGBC Chapter Community. As chapter leadership, we are perpetually overwhelmed with awe and appreciation for your passion and commitment.
Of course our work here is never complete - challenges still lie ahead in the final adoption of the energy efficient code; children still attend unhealthy schools; and low-income families still struggle to maintain homes with unaffordable heating and cooling bills. The good news is that we are the change we want to see in the world and in our community - we are the designers, builders, and operators of green buildings for this and the next generation. And if 2010 was any indication, 2011 will be a year of nothing less than amazing growth and transformation.
Thank you all again for the market-changing and life-changing work that you do for our community and for our planet.
Sincerely,
Will Senner
Chair
North Carolina Triangle Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council
