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, January 22, 2008

How do green building teams get high-performance results?

I’ve been doing a lot of research lately on how project teams are delivering high-performance projects, those that save 30% or more energy against the ASHRAE 2004 standard, with lots of daylighting and other green features. Consider that LEED-Platinum projects, currently the highest attainment in green building, represent less than five percent of all LEED-certified projects in the U.S., and you’ll see that there’s a lot of projects that don’t get to the very highest levels. Here are a few lessons learned:

1. 1. It’s not easy doing it within budget.
2. 2. It probably won’t happen the first time.
3. 3. It takes a village to raise a building.
4. 4. Building is a team sport; the owner’s active leadership is critical.
5. 5. LEED is the best roadmap we have for sustainable building.

Posted by Sky on 01/22/2008 at 02:50 PM

This entry has been viewed 226 times.

Friday, December 22, 2006

The 10 million home Internet power drain

According to the December 21st Wall Street Journal, there are now 28 million server computers in the world, most of them obviously in the developed countries, each drawing 400 watts of power. Assuming these run 24/7, these represent about 100 billion kilowatt-hours per year of energy consumption, with the attendant carbon dioxide emissions. The Journal reports that AMD, Intel and other chip makers are trying to do something about this, along with the federal Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency. If the average home uses 10,000 kilowatt-hour per year, this represents the power use of 10 million homes. Green building advocates need to look at other areas than buildings to curb power consumption, and this is one of them.

Posted by Jerry Yudelson on 12/22/2006 at 03:31 PM

This entry has been viewed 605 times.

Monday, December 04, 2006

Green Building and Sustainability Consulting

Sometimes a green building and sustainability consultant gets to eat the food he recommends to others. As a consultant focused on marketing green buildings and green building services, it’s been people asking me, “Who are your target clients?” Anyone who’s started a new business knows that the early-stage clients often define the enterprise for a considerable time, yet are indispensable. The marketplace tells each business what it wants most, in terms of what it’s willing to pay for. In the case of Yudelson Associates, it’s market intelligence, good business advice and a “hands on” approach to delivering it. Our clients to date include venture capital firms; very large and very small developers; architects and engineers wanting advice on green building marketing; projects looking for design assistance; a large building products manufacturer; organizations seeking an insightful speech or inspiring workshop; a university or a company trying to implement a sustainability program; and the list goes on. In each case, we’re trying to meet our corporate vision: “growing the business of green building,” allowing each client to contribute to that idea. It’s like jazz in a way, a central theme, with a lot of riffs. What are your experiences of growing a business?

Posted by Jerry Yudelson on 12/04/2006 at 04:53 AM

This entry has been viewed 418 times.