The Hickory Consortium works vigorously with the public sector to advance the use of green construction practices. We do this through planning, designing and managing the construction of housing. Our partners include non-profit developers, local governments, housing financers, and city agencies. Some of these projects, like our flagship multi-family project at Erie Ellington, are prototypes that are considered so successful they serve as models for such development internationally.

We also provide hands-on technical assistance to CDCs around the country through workshops, charrettes, and direct consulting. This assistance covers all areas of building and renovating single and multifamily housing as well as small commercial and midrise developments. It helps build competence in green building for project managers and CDC directors trying to get a foothold in these technologies.

Some of the leveraging we have accomplished for CDCs has been to support policy initiatives in sustainable building led by government and non-profit entities, and to develop their construction standards to reflect green priorities. We have consulted to the Boston Department of Neighborhood Development (DND), the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, and to the Rhode Island Housing Finance Corp. to green their standards for publicly funded housing, affecting thousands of low-income houses in the New England area. Please see our Eco-Dynamic Spec Program, below

We also have partnerships or affiliations with housing-oriented entities at local, state, and federal levels, including the National Congress of Community Economic Development (NCCED); the Healthy Building Network (HBN), the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); the Mass. Technology Collaborative (MTC); the Green Roundtable, and New Ecology Inc. (NEI), among others.

The mission of the Quality Modular Building Task Force is to advance the US modular housing industry through improvements in environmental performance and quality without increasing the cost of manufacture. Now in its sixth year, it was initiated by Hickory member Josephine Carothers, who obtained its initial funding and operating costs through the US Department of Energy Building America Program and continues to spearhead it.

A collaborative venture, Task Force members include the top executives of some of the leading US modular manufacturers, as well as major suppliers to the industry. The Task Force partners have included the Consortium for Advanced Residential Building (CARB), the Industrialized Housing Partnership, and the University of Central Florida (UCF) Housing Constructibility Lab. Task Force objectives have ranged from examining the efficiency of factory construction processes to working with building science teams and national government laboratories on topics such as energy conservation, optimization of site set-and-finish process, ventilation, moisture and mold control.

These research and development results and lessons have been shared and built upon though annual Task Force conferences, as well as papers and reports. Results have also been leveraged as offerings to the modular industry through help from the US DOE and EPA (Energy Star Homes). Hickory has demonstrated commitment to building with modular through its projects. Recently, the Hickory Consortium inaugurated a modular R&D facility, Andrew Jackson Laboratories, under the auspices of Greentech Housing, a modular manufacturer in Worcester, MA.

Among the important outcomes of this collaboration has been recognizing the interdependence of energy-efficiency and quality building methods. The Hickory Consortium therefore wrote "Energy Star for Homes: A Guide for Modular Home Manufacturers", a comprehensive manual and construction management tool for modular companies, completed in 2003. It is available for $150.00 by calling the Hickory Consortium at 978-287-6950

This program serves as a bridge between the makers of green building and its lenders, underwriters, and third party evaluators.

Financers are key in determining whether a building project can be funded: whether it is worth the risk, and what those risks are. Therefore, lenders have the power to screen for green, energy-efficient building, as well as to create loan pools, loan products, and incentives for quality and performance. As they become informed, this powerful stakeholder group is strategically positioned to create a lending culture that promotes sustainably built housing.

However, the economic payback of green building is not widely demonstrated yet, nor has enough data been assembled to allow for mainstreaming of capital loan programs in green development. It is not yet widely perceived that green building does not necessarily cost more, and can have an economically attractive payback. The mission of the Financers Forum is to help these groups evaluate risk by providing data and financing scenarios, help them identify what lending solutions are appropriate for different situations, and help them identify opportunities to incentivize and facilitate green development.

Past and current participants in the Financers Forum include: the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, Boston Community Capital, Lend Lease, Inc., LISC, Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation, Boston Private Bank, Fleet Banking, Wainwright Bank, Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, and The Green Roundtable.

Hickory member Bill Reed was a principal advisor in the recent landmark report "The Costs and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings" developed for the Sustainable Building Task Force, a group of over 40 California State Agencies, and partly sponsored by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC).

Providing others the whole toolkit to build sustainably lies at the heart of Hickory's interests. We know that it can be difficult to get on top of all the practical issues and risks that green building appears to entail. To that end, we offer educational workshops, presentations, and seminars; we also offer assistance in implementing actual projects.

Technical assistance is directed at developers, architects, builders (including subcontractors and the team in the field), project managers, and those in charge of putting together project financing - the whole team. Technical assistance might include practical contractual and performance issues, design, specifications, and establishing project priorities to get the most out of sustainable goals. Assistance in process planning, review of drawings and specifications, and contract coordination and construction management are also offered. Because building performance goals need to be met, commissioning and follow-up data collection are available.

Our workshops and seminars have been given to Boston's Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), and Third Sector New England, among others, as well as to many Community Development Corporations, and through annual events such as Build Boston and the Sustainability Forum of New Ecology, Inc (NEI). Our technical assistance clients include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); the University of Central Florida, Kansas Metropolitan Energy Center, as well as architects and builders.

In addition, we present widely at major building conferences throughout the US. Among these are the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), Citizens Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA), the Urban Land Institute (ULI), Affordable Comfort and the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

Specifications, and how they are applied, drive the way houses are built. They are complex, and crucial to integrating new technologies into the building industry. The Hickory Consortium developed the Eco-Dynamic Specification to clarify the how-to's, and in the process save energy, costs, time, people's health - and the environment. Our specification is different from most of what is offered by other consultants in that it consists of two parts: instructions on how to ride the bicycle, and personal guidance in the subtleties of doing so. The Eco-Dynamic Spec is the oldest of such specs in the country and the most comprehensive.

Not everyone can use the same specifications. Therefore, we tailor the Eco-Dynamic Spec to serve the needs of our individual clients. Some of these are building departments, city agencies, or housing finance corporations, who may want a set of recommendations, a guideline, or a legal standard. Some of our clients are developers, both public and private, who might implement it to assure a successful building project.

Our clients have included The City of Boulder, Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development, the State of Connecticut, and the Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation, as well as many Community Development Corporations.

Sustainable power is electricity generated from renewable sources (sometimes referred to as "Green Power"). It is does not deplete non-renewable resources and has minimal environmental impact. Its generation produces fewer of the emissions associated with acid rain, smog, or climate change. Because it is decentralized and distributed, catastrophic events such as the August 14, 2003 East Coast Blackout in the USA are less likely and can be recovered from more quickly. Among its many other benefits is that it augments traditional energy supplies and produces jobs though the development of a new industry. If a building is energy efficient, it becomes less expensive both to buy and to operate: This becomes even more true when the building is linked to sources that provide power sustainably.

Increased use of green types of electricity will continue to transform sustainable energy from a niche market to a major source of power supply. We encourage this goal by seeking out market and government incentives to implement products, systems, and technologies in highly visible building contexts. Hickory is currently consulting on the two largest photovoltaic arrays in New England, now under construction. We are also working on a multifamily building project, which will have a biodeisel combined heat and power system, the first in the country. This system uses renewable soy-based biofuel to produce electricity, hot water, and heat for the building. We support using biofuels, wind power, photovoltaics, solar thermal systems, geothermal, and other sources of alternative energy and were among the first to engage in R&D for the application of these to buildings in the 1970s.

We work with partners such as the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, as well as building products manufacturers and housing providers to accomplish these ends.

The Hickory Consortium and its member manufacturers and engineers have conducted research and development in the areas of building products and processes for over thirty years, nine of them as R&D grantees of the Department of Energy's Building America Program. Keeping abreast of R&D provides awareness of cutting edge industry issues and allows for the kind of catalyzing efforts the Hickory Consortium provides.

Ongoing research activities include materials and building systems work being done at Greentech Housing. This is focused on refining integrated modular housing mechanical assembly in the factory, and combined heat and domestic hot water units. Other research includes building performance testing (commissioning); renewable sustainable wood and finishes; low VOC indoor finishes; and elimination of PVC resin products in housing. We continue to evolve the Eco-Dynamic Specification ™, now a separate Hickory program.

Our partnership with Hickory member Tamarack Technologies has produced innovations in indoor air quality, including trademarked air handling and heating systems. The Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems (CMPBS), another long-time Hickory member, has developed analytical tools for sustainability principles which include benchmarked and peer-reviewed datasets. CMPBS designs and creates prototypes in open building typology that highlight life cycle design. Built projects extend to Mexico and China, and consulting includes greening the US Pentagon.

We have partnered with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on systems dynamics. Long-time research partners include the University of Central Florida Housing Constructibility Lab and the National Renewable Energy Laboratories, among others.