The Yudelson Associates Blog: What's New

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Land planning critical to Green Buildings and Climate Change

The American Society of Landscape Architects made the following recommendations. For the full report, click here.
�� Encourage sustainable site planning for new communities and buildings of all types. (LEED addresses site planning in several ways, but much more could be done, especially in the area of building orientation for passive design)
�� Require open space and parkland preservation as a component of all public and private development, from small site-specific projects to regional land use plans. (This is addressed, but not very satisfactorily, in the LEED rating system)
�� Encourage the use of native and adapted vegetation in the built environment to take full advantage of the most appropriate plants to increase air quality, conserve water resources, and sequester carbon dioxide. (This is covered in the LEED rating system in several places)
�� Encourage the use of sustainable stormwater management practices that enhance the treatment and increase the infiltration of stormwater. (LEED covers this topic as well)
�� Encourage the use of green roofs on public and private buildings of all types. (LEED addresses green roofs and allows them to be used for multiple purposes)
�� Require comprehensive transportation and utility planning as a component of land use planning, matching infrastructure capacity with current and proposed land uses.
�� Encourage the development of smart growth communities. (LEED for Neighborhood Development will facilitate this development approach)
�� Enact policies that support design of safe transportation routes for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, and those who use wheelchairs.

Site planning is critical to green building’s long-term success. It’s great to see landscape architects stepping up to the plate on the climate change issue.

Posted by Jerry on 02/21/2008 at 10:05 AM

This entry has been viewed 301 times.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

The Green Building Revolution Accelerates

According to U.S. Green Building Council statistics, in 2007, there was nearly an 80 percent growth in cumulative Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-registered and certified projects, on top of more than 50 percent cumulative growth in 2006. Essentially, the cumulative number of LEED registered and certified projects has increased 270 percent since the end of 2005! What does this mean for you? If you’re not doing LEED projects today, your competitors are, and they’re gaining the experience and expertise to get those projects in the future. See the balance of my article in February issue of Environmental Design & Construction.

Posted by Jerry on 02/19/2008 at 10:41 AM

This entry has been viewed 277 times.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Home Builders Go Green, or Do They?

The NAHB National Green Building Program, an education, verification and certification program, allows builders anywhere in the U.S. to certify a green home to bronze, silver or gold levels, using third-party verifiers furnished by the NAHB Research Center. The NAHB rating system features an online scoring tool, which shows builders how to accumulate points in seven categories: water, energy and resource efficiency; lot and site development; indoor environmental quality; global impact and homeowner education. To be eligible for certification, the NAHB program requires a builder to achieve a minimum score in each category.

Whilst an improvement on the current NAHB system, which does not provide for independent third-party verification of each home, using such tools as a “blower-door” air leakage test and a duct-pressurization test, the announced program has two shortcomings. First of all, it is not yet a national standard, since NAHB has yet to complete the requirements of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Second, the third-party verifiers have yet to be certified by the NAHB Research Center. So it will likely be the summer of 2008 before all the pieces are in place.

The somewhat premature launch of this program at the annual International Builders Show in Orlando, Florida, was, I believe, an attempt to put the NAHB back in charge of green home ratings and to reduce the burgeoning number of local government rating systems and green home mandates, based on climate change concerns.

I predict this effort to forestall or eliminate competition will fail, for several reasons. First of all, for all the fanfare, builders have certified (to NAHB or similar building industry standards) only about 100,000 homes the past five years across the country, compared with six million or so single-family homes that have been built. It’s hard to convince local government officials that the industry is serious about producing energy-efficient buildings when the actual track record of certifications is so deficient.

In my view, the real story behind the NAHB announcement results from the increasing pressure builders’ organizations are feeling from the competing (and more stringent) LEED for Homes standard promulgated by the 13,000-member U.S. Green Building Council. LEED for Homes is still in a pilot (test) phase, but in two years has already enrolled more than 12,000 residential units in its program. If LEED becomes regarded as the “gold standard” of residential certification, the NAHB may have to accept local green home mandates in order to preserve some semblance of primacy as the leading authority for greening the housing industry. Home builders oppose local mandates with a singular passion, not wanting government authorities to regulate the housing choices they offer the marketplace.

Posted by Jerry on 02/18/2008 at 09:45 PM

This entry has been viewed 453 times.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Flushed Away! Green Homes and Water Conservation

A story in today’s Tucson, Arizona, Daily Star, about the push-back from sewage authorities against installing lower-water-using toilets in existing homes reminds me once again of the “law of unintended consequences.” Four generations of civil engineers have been taught to design “gravity” sewage conveyance systems that are self-cleaning through water flows, by sloping them appropriately. In built-up areas, the assumptions about water flows haven’t changed much in 50 years, and they all assume profligate water use. Now, people want to install 1.6-gallons per flush toilets in place of 3.5-gallons per flush (pre-1992 standard) toilets, to save water. In the western U.S., roughly west of the 100th meridian, water conservation is assuming critical dimensions, as we enter into what looks like a permanent drought. How ironic that sewage authorities, claiming that the lower water flows will not be enough to flush solids through their system, should be opposing water conservation measures. Interesting also that it may take periodic flush-outs of sewers to keep them “clean,” mitigating much of the benefit of the household water conservation. Just one more proof that “it takes a system to replace a system.” One easy solution going forward is to replace gravity sewers with household pre-treatment (digestion tanks) and pressurized sewers, a solution increasingly favored by local authorities since it’s quicker and cheaper than the traditional “flush without fear” approach. The big opponents are likely to be large consulting civil engineering firms that make tons of fees desiging expensive “gravity” systems.

Posted by Jerry on 02/11/2008 at 07:29 AM

This entry has been viewed 314 times.