COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
GREENDOT OFFICE
DATE:
SUBJECT:
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 – 3-4 pm
GreenDOT Advisory Group – Sustainable DOT/Leading by Example Work Group
Work Group Members Present:
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Ned Codd (Massachusetts Department of Transportation – GreenDOT Office)
Jillian DiMedio (Leading By Example-Department of Energy Resources)
Eric Friedman (Leading By Example- Department of Energy Resources)
Jacob Glickel (Massport)
Shannon Greenwell (Massachusetts Department of Transportation – GreenDOT Office)
Edward Hsieh (MassRecycle)
Tim Lasker (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority)
Steven Miller (Massachusetts Department of Transportation – Highway Division)
Susan Nichols (Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. for ACEC-MA)
Donald Pettey (Massachusetts Department of Transportation – Highway Division)
Nate Rawding (Massachusetts Department of Transportation – Aeronautics Division)
Dustin Rhue (Massachusetts Department of Transportation – Office of Transportation Planning)
Jules Williams (Massachusetts Department of Transportation – GreenDOT Office)
Meeting Notes
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Update on GreenDOT implementation
The draft 2014 GreenDOT Report was sent to key Massachusetts Department of Transportation
(MassDOT) staff for internal review, and GreenDOT staff are integrating the comments received
through this process. The Report is scheduled to be published in early December.
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Discussion of facility-level sustainability infrastructure and tracking systems
Participants discussed various methods for measuring and tracking the sustainability of MassDOT
facilities and their activities. These included:
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Highway Division’s Environmental Management System (Steve Miller). This system
provides guidance for conducting facility activities that are in compliance with environmental
requirements. Highway’s EMS does not track individual sustainable aspects of the facilities;
there are, however, other programs that address those issues. While each Highway district
operates slightly differently, each has a staff member who is responsible for conducting
facility inspections in his/her district, who reports the results directly to Headquarters.
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GreenDOT Green Facilities Checklist. A preliminary proposed checklist was drafted by the
GreenDOT Office and distributed to all MassDOT divisions during the GreenDOT
Implementation Plan update process. The purpose of the checklist is to gain an
understanding of the sustainability of MassDOT facilities and use that information to identify
opportunities for improvement. Work group participants reviewed the draft checklist and
observed that some of the requested data was already collected in other systems.
GreenDOT staff will work with MassDOT divisions, and other state agencies, to identify
where information is already being collected. Work group participants generally agreed that
waste and recycling should be a part of this checklist. The GreenDOT Office will also use
the results of Highway division and MBTA facility audits to tailor checklists to ensure the
data requested is specific to a facility’s size and function. The format and distribution
method of the checklist are still being discussed, and there is the potential to conduct a pilot
project with one facility to identify the most efficient way to collect this data.
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Internal use of MassEnergyInsight (MEI) data. This system currently collects facilities’
electricity and natural gas usage. It will be a helpful tool for tracking this information for
MassDOT facilities.
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General discussion and action items
 During recent INVEST workshops, Highway district office staff have shown interest
in creating “green teams” at the facility/district level. The GreenDOT Office strongly
supports such an idea, and will work on it with the Highway Division.
 The Highway Division will provide copies of Accelerated Energy Program (AEP)
audit reports to the GreenDOT Office, and the MBTA will send information about
their facility audits and the MBTA State of Good Repair database. This information
will assist the GreenDOT Office in improving the Green Facilities Checklist.
 The Department of Energy Resources (DOER) will share a draft of their
Sustainability Challenge questionnaire with the GreenDOT Office. When launched,
the questionnaire will collect much of the same information that was included in the
Green Facilities Checklist draft.
Key points to report back to Advisory Group
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GreenDOT staff will identify facility sustainability data that is already being collected by
systems such as AEP, facility audits, MEI, MBTA’s State of Good Repair database, and
Leading by Example’s draft Sustainability Challenge questionnaire. These information
sources will both inform and supplement the final version of the Green Facilities Checklist.
The GreenDOT Office will work with the Highway Division on creating “green teams” at the
Highway facilities/districts.