Monthly Forum: Sustainable Building Materials

GreenHomeNYC’s next forum, Sustainable Building Materials, is about trends in sustainable construction methods and materials. Currently the construction sector supply chain is responsible for over 1/3 of global emissions, but there are new programs, changes to laws, and more widely adopted sustainable materials that allow for the industry to decarbonize.

The event will focus on how we design, construct, and demolish buildings to reduce the amount of embodied carbon involved with a project and how we can recycle materials when they reach their end of life.

Embodied carbon is the emissions associated with the extraction, manufacturing, transportation, installation, maintenance, and end-of-life stage of building materials. Unlike operational carbon, these emissions are released upfront, becoming locked in as soon as construction begins. Reducing embodied carbon is critical to meeting our emission reduction goals. Read more about decarbonization and embodied carbon here.

Date: 8/19

Time: 6:30 to 8pm (doors open at 6. Come early for refreshments!)

Location: Hӓfele America Co. 20 W. 22nd Street 2nd Fl New York, NY 10010

Presenters for this event include:

Jesse Weiss is an Assistant Vice President on the Green Economy team at the NYC Economic Development Corporation and is presenting on the their Mass Timber Studio.

Jennifer Urrutia is a Project Manager at Consigli Construction Co. Inc, a construction company with experience in Mass Timber, pre-fabrication, and other sustainable building practices.

Carey Gallagher is Sustainability Specialist in Gensler’s Climate Action & Sustainability Studio. Gensler is a global architecture, design, and planning firm.

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Presenter details:

Jesse Weiss is an Assistant Vice President on EDC’s Green Economy team, where he leads strategic initiatives that accelerate the growth and development of the energy storage, mass timber, and offshore wind sectors. Prior to EDC, he worked as a civic sector management consultant and as an affordable housing developer. Jesse holds a BA from the University of Michigan and a Master’s in City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania.

Carey Gallagher is a Sustainability Specialist in Gensler’s Climate Action & Sustainability Studio and a criteria development lead for Gensler's Product Sustainability Standards. In these roles, she is helping shape material selections for the firm and delivering strategy, analysis, and certifications for clients. She is a go-to resource on healthier, lower-carbon, and circular products and is actively working to advance circularity across projects. In New York, Carey helped launch the office’s environmental stewardship program with the Natural Areas Conservancy. She has also contributed research to Design for Freedom’s International Guidance and Toolkit. 

Carey holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Davis and a Master of Fine Arts from Parsons New School for Design.

Jennifer Urrutia, LEED AP ID+C

Jennifer Urrutia is a Project Manager at Consigli Construction Co., Inc. in the firm's NYC Metro Region office. She is currently completing a design-build pilot program for the City in Brooklyn, NY, which facilitates faster and more efficient delivery of public projects. This new facility will offer publicly accessible amenities and resources, including a gymnasium, basketball court, indoor swimming pool, fitness rooms, and weight training areas. In line with the project's commitment to sustainability and wellness, it is aiming for LEED-NC Gold certification. To support NYC's goal of significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the new center will be designed with a high-performance envelope, all-electric heating and cooling systems, and sustainable building materials, including mass timber. Jennifer possesses significant experience in integrating low-carbon solutions within construction, with the aim of decreasing emissions generated from project sites.

Jennifer holds a B.S degree from the University of California, Davis in Environmental Policy Analysis & Panning and a M.S from the City University of New York in Sustainability of the Urban Environment.

If you have any questions, please contact the GreenHomeNYC Forums group at forums@greenhomenyc.org.

Since 2002, GreenHomeNYC has been promoting an energy efficient and sustainable built environment, and supporting green professional development in NYC.

Visit www.greenhomenyc.org to learn more!