Featured Guest Florence MacGregor of NESEA: Season 2 (Bonus) Episode 17
Florence MacGregor — Executive Director of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) — speaks about NESEA and the BuildingEnergy Boston conference.
Florence MacGregor grew up in rural Vermont and studied Environmental Science and Policy at Smith College.
For the last seven years, she has worked for the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) and was appointed Executive Director in November of 2022. In this role, she works closely with the board of directors, staff, and members of the community to advance NESEA's mission which (according to their website) is to advance “sustainability practices in the built environment by cultivating a cross-disciplinary community where practitioners are encouraged to share, collaborate and learn.”
She has worked as a barista, a toy seller, a newspaper columnist, and as an au pair Ireland, and she has presented about the intersection of environmentalism and feminism at conferences in the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
She currently resides with her family in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts. She is an enthusiastic home chef, avid backpacker, and a devoted student of circus aerials.
Florence (photo courtesy of Florence MacGregor)
Florence gets the episode started by introducing listeners to the NESEA vision which is to “envision a vibrant and resilient built environment that supports climate justice and equity.” For those just learning about NESEA, their website notes, in part, “NESEA helps high-performance building and energy efficiency professionals improve their practices by learning from and networking with one another…”
Since we suspect that the majority of our Design Me a House (DMaH) listeners are single-family homeowners or renters, Florence cites a number of ways that such folks can get involved in NESEA, as well. One way is via the upcoming March 28 - 29 BuildingEnergy Boston conference at the Westin Boston Waterfront.
You might consider a trade-show only ticket to get your feet wet or sign up for a day or two of conference sessions. There’s special pricing available for students and emerging professionals.
Another great way to get involved and learn more about how you might incorporate sustainable energy strategies in your potential residential project is to attend one of the NESEA Pro Tours, which are accredited tours of high-performance buildings across the Northeast. There are some Pro Tours scheduled through the BuildingEnergy conferences (both the Boston and NYC conferences), and there are others to consider attending elsewhere, March through December.
Katie attended a Pro Tour several years ago on Martha’s Vineyard. The attendees were divided into two groups of about 20 people each to tour through a high-performance house and listen to those involved with the project — whether they be the architect, builder, consultant, or a subcontractor involved with the building envelope, systems, or components, etc. — describe the project via the lens of their expertise. Since the group size was fairly modest — as is typical of the Pro Tours — there was ample opportunity to ask questions of the experts and to hear answers to questions asked by others in attendance.
Glimpse of a Pro Tour (photo courtesy of NESEA)
