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The Green Edge Column In the mid-nineties, Sym Van Der Ryn published an article titled Patron Saints of Ecological Design, in which he described the individuals who helped shape his own ideas - people who had inspired him and taught him to become the green visionary that he's been over the last three decades. The ever increasing volume of LEED projects springing up around the country means that more architecture and engineering firms are developing experience designing and building green structures. More "experts" are available to help with questions or to invent strategies for reducing environmental impact. This is fantastic news for the newly initiated, but we remember a time - as both of us were getting our start in the green building industry - when there were considerably fewer people to turn to for support, guidance and ideas. This column honors just a few of the pioneers who helped blaze trails for all of us.
The Green Edge Column Using computer models to predict a building's energy use before it has been built has been perhaps the single most important advancement in building energy efficiency in recent years. Today modeling helps us design better buildings. Modeling is required in order to prove energy savings in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) buildings, and to demonstrate compliance with energy codes and utility rebates. However, too much faith has been put in energy modeling without properly understanding its limitations and strengths. Software models idealize building systems and are often very inaccurate when compared to actual energy use. The few studies that have looked at modeling's inaccuracies have largely been ignored. New emphasis is needed on measuring buildings' energy performance after construction, and on understanding modeling limitations.
The Green Edge Column In the last few years, green building has grown into its own "industry" replete with international organizations, conferences, trade publications, certification systems and so on. This is good, yet it can divert our attention from the links to the greater environmental problems we face. So often project teams get caught up in the idea of chasing Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) points or specifying overt symbols of "greenness" to please their clients without reflecting on the true implications of the decisions to the broader environment. We get caught up in the paradigm of "doing less bad," instead of focusing on strategies that won't garner LEED points but will reduce our environmental footprint the most, e.g., designing smaller building or protecting biodiversity during construction.
The Green Edge Column A renewed awareness of the environmental impact of our actions has spurred a proliferation of new academic programs, including environmental planning and design, sustainable urban design and even green MBAs. But for the most part, the progress in the private sector, led by the U.S. Green Building Council, innovative building materials suppliers, and passionate individuals, has moved ahead of academia. With today's overstressed environment and health problems caused by buildings, sustainable design deserves to be the guiding principle behind every architecture and engineering program. How can we reduce this gap and ensure that tomorrow's graduates are armed with the skills necessary to meet the growing environmental challenges we face in the built environment?
The Green Edge Column It seems obvious that toxic materials should not be part of the built environment in order to maintain healthy indoor spaces. Less obvious are the challenges posed elsewhere by toxic components and by-products of manufacturing. Even if materials are safe in structures, the associated use of toxic substances means that larger hazards are created somewhere along the supply chain - but still on our shared planet. Renovation and demolition waste can also pile up the risks of releasing dangerous ingredients. We must consider the "big picture" implications of our materials choices.
The Green Edge Column LEED has spurred changes in national and international building codes, thereby institutionalizing improvements worldwide, even in uncertified buildings. What will LEED v.10 look like? Rumsey and McLennan envision an expanded set of programs that offer more tools and incentives to account for building types, use and climate. Their vision for LEED v.10 includes more site-specific guidance on designing high performance buildings, an expanded set of points for higher percentages of materials with green characteristics than the current threshold levels, availability of application templates and calculators to reduce the cost of certification, and credits for how much clean energy, air and water the facility returns to the environment.
The Green Edge Column One of the most frequently asked questions in the sustainable design world is how to tell whether or not a material is "green" in comparison to other potential choices. This question arises for just about every type of material used in buildings, from paint to shingles. It goes to the heart of the issue of "what is sustainable?" The answer should be simple, yet it isn't. A clear and comprehensive format for describing a material's environmental attributes would greatly benefit the industry and the environment.
The Green Edge Column Like the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers' (ASHRAE) Energy Standard 90.1 has fundamentally transformed building design in this country. And like LEED, Standard 90.1 has some fundamental flaws that need to be addressed to keep up with the rapidly evolving green building market. Many highly cost effective energy strategies are not recognized or encouraged in Standard 90.1. This has resulted in a huge missed opportunity in new buildings, especially green buildings.
The Green Edge Column Metrics are the language of assessing buildings' functionality with precision, accuracy and high predictability. They allow owners and designers to specify operational efficiency, model expected performance with computer simulation, and measure actual results to ensure that they got what they paid for. Performance metrics provide fixed references that anchor the design intention in reality for all parties to building's service life. It is time for the design and construction industry to take a more rigorous approach to understand the true environmental and cost impacts of their decisions. If you don't specify high performance, how can you be sure you'll get it?
The Green Edge Column With the creation of the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) professional accreditation program for designers and building industry practitioners, a new industry has been born. All over the country individuals who have passed a written test are putting the words LEED AP (accredited professional) on their business cards. However, the test does a poor job of truly gauging an individual's knowledge of sustainable design. It certainly does not provide a good indicator of this person's ability to help make difficult decisions during the design process to maximize the environmental performance of the project while minimizing its costs.
The Green Edge Column As buildings became more complex over the last century, the divide between architects and engineers widened so far that sometimes it's a wonder buildings work at all. Familiar horror stories include falling glass and sick building syndrome. Vast, often hidden environmental impacts also reflect dysfunctional design. Is there a new paradigm? As collaborators on several projects, we often muse on a better world where architects and engineers truly understand and appreciate each other's work, occupants enjoy the built environment, ecological impacts are lowered, and ultimately buildings become restorative to nature.
The Green Edge Column The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system has been perhaps the most significant development in the transition towards more sustainable design. By helping define "green" for a long-confused market, it immediately boosted demand for green buildings. Some critics argue that LEED doesn't go far enough in reducing environmental impacts, and only "makes bad activity less bad" without reversing damage with a restorative approach. But LEED is evolving, and has accomplished much already.
The Green Edge Column Sustainable design is one of the fastest-growing movements of the building sector. Green buildings provide superior performance, healthier indoor environments, reduced risk of complaints and lawsuits, and marketing benefits such as a positive, innovative image and product differentiation. Yet less than 10 percent of all new projects could be labeled green by any definition. Awareness and demand are growing, but are only now entering the mainstream. How can architects and engineers sell green design to clients who don't ask for it?
The Green Edge Column The term "green roofs" has come to refer to vegetated systems for flat or low-sloping roofs, typically comprised of plants in soil or another growing medium on a waterproof membrane. Vegetated roof systems can greatly lower site and roof ambient temperature, reduce run-off, purify air, provide habitat, extend roof life, reduce operating costs, visually blend a structure into its environs and create a pleasing space for visitors. On the other hand, green roofs can be complex and expensive, requiring investments of time and effort to establish stable plant communities. It is balancing act, involving trade-offs among the cost and benefits of the suite of potential features.
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