A Plan to Green Every School in Illinois: LEED Task Force Report

Nathaniel Allen
Associate, Schools Advocacy
U.S. Green Building Council

The U.S. Green Building Council-Illinois Chapter held a reception this past week in Springfield, Ill. to mark the release of a comprehensive report identifying opportunities to green all schools in Illinois. The report was the result of more than two years of collaboration between the USGBC-Illinois Chapter, civic and corporate partners, and was commissioned as a result of the October 2009 adoption of House Joint Resolution 45 by the Illinois General Assembly.

Introduced by State Representative Karen May (who has since become Chair of the National Advisory Council of the 50 for 50 Green Schools Caucus Initiative - See my previous blog entry to read about how other state legislators are advancing green schools), HJR 45 was adopted to pursue a statewide campaign to transform existing Illinois public schools and meet the goal of every student attending a green school within a generation.

To achieve this goal, HJR 45 created the HJR 45 LEED Task Force, with the following responsibilities: 1) Advise USGBC-Illinois on a pilot program to assist three underserved Illinois schools in achieving LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance certification, 2) assess how this pilot program can influence broader policies on greening existing schools in Illinois, and 3) author a report on the state of sustainability in Illinois schools that includes recommendations for programs and financial mechanisms that can foster sustainability on a larger scale in schools across the state.

The reception was held in conjunction with a USGBC-Illinois Chapter event in which green building advocates from the Chapter participated in two days of sessions at the state Capitol. During this time they met with approximately 50 Illinois Lawmakers or their aides and provided the report to help guide future activity. After the reception Doug Widener, Executive Director of the USGBC–Illinois Chapter, met with Representative May and a select group of state lawmakers about plans to accelerate the work of the already active Illinois Working Group on Green Schools.

“We’re so proud of the collaboration that took place in order to make this report a reality,” Doug reported after the reception. “I’m confident Illinois students will benefit from our work, and our hope is that these findings can be replicated in other states.”

Click here for more information and to view the report.

EPA To Recognize Well-Planned Communities

Aaron Lande
Sustainable Cities Specialist
U.S. Green Building Council

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the opening of the nomination period for its 10th Annual National Award for Smart Growth Achievement. This award allows EPA to recognize and support communities that use innovative policies and strategies to strengthen their economies, provide housing and transportation choices, develop in ways that bring benefits to a wide range of residents, and protect the environment. Is it just me, or could that description be applied to LEED for Neighborhood Development communities as well?

The award is open to public- and private-sector entities, though all applications must include a public-sector partner. Applications can be submitted in one of four categories:

Programs, Policies and Regulations: Recognizing regulatory and policy initiatives that support the principles of smart growth, especially actions that remove barriers to or provide incentives for smart growth.

Smart Growth and Green Building: Recognizing development, in either single or multiple buildings, that combines smart growth and green building approaches as building design and materials are integrated with land use and location efficiency.

Civic Places: Recognizing projects in the public realm that improve a community's sense of place while adding environmental and economic benefits. EPA is particularly interested in projects that create well-designed and vibrant public spaces.

Rural Smart Growth: Recognizing communities that preserve and encourage rural economies and character. EPA is interested in thriving rural areas that have used smart growth approaches to encourage economic development and job creation, improve transportation choices and housing options, and support the economic viability of working lands.

Applications are due Apr. 6, 2011.

To give a sense of what the EPA is looking for, here are last year’s winners:

Overall Excellence in Smart Growth: Smart.Growth@NYC: Policies and Programs for Improving Livability in New York City — New York City Department of Transportation with the Departments of Health, Design and Construction, and City Planning

Smart Growth and Green Building: Miller’s Court — Baltimore City Department of Housing and Community Development, Seawall Development Company, Hamel Builders, and Marks, Thomas Architects

Programs, Policies, and Regulations: Making the Greatest Place: Metro’s Strategic Implementation of the 2040 Growth Concept — Metro, Portland, Oregon

Rural Smart Growth: Gateway 1 Corridor Action Plan — Gateway 1 Communities and Maine Department of Transportation

Civic Places: Mint Plaza — City and County of San Francisco, Martin Building Company, CMG Landscape Architects, and Sherwood Design Engineers

New Fact Sheet Released: Energy Performance in the LEED Rating System

Lane Burt
Technical Policy Director
U.S. Green Building Council

Every building professional knows that green building is a process, not an event. As a tool for encouraging green building, LEED reflects that reality, providing recognition of leadership in each part of that process, from design and construction to operations and maintenance.

This is often overlooked when someone refers to a “LEED Certified” building: Where a building stands in the LEED process is an important distinction. A new fact sheet titled “Energy Performance in the LEED Rating System” explains how the LEED rating systems and requirements are supported by initiatives like the Building Performance Partnership to ensure that high performance green buildings live up to their energy potential.

And it is crucially important to understand the difference between potential and actual performance, because in many situations the concepts are conflated. Most folks think of LEED buildings as the shiny new building downtown. They say “It’s green!” or “It’s LEED!”, and it’s true that the building’s design and construction process has been subject to a rigorous evaluation over all categories of sustainability, and a certification level (Certified, Silver, Gold, or Platinum) has been determined. But that’s not the end of the story, as my colleague Lauren Riggs points out in her post. A building should live up to its potential, and it takes another type of building professional to drive the building into the next stage of the green building process.

The fact sheet details a crucially important tool in helping to realize a building’s performance in every aspect of sustainability: LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance. LEED buildings certified through EB:O&M are certified based upon their energy consumption in addition to the measures undertaken in the other credit categories covering water, indoor environmental quality, materials, and location. The amount of certified space under EB:O&M has grown by leaps and bounds in the last few years, surpassing the rate of certification for New Construction (see the graph in the fact sheet for exactly how much and how fast). We expect this growth to continue as the building industry (and even the President) focuses on improving existing buildings.

We hope that this focus on existing buildings’ performance will encourage folks to ask a follow up question about the new green building in the neighborhood: “Is it LEED EB:O&M?” A response of “Yes” to this question will mean that the building is a top performer not only in energy efficiency, but also in water efficiency, location and transportation efficiency, indoor environmental quality, etc.

Take a look at the fact sheet and feel free to post comments below. We hope it illuminates how all these initiatives are coordinated to help us reach our goal of transforming the built environment.

Congressman Quigley Visits LEED-Certified, Net-Zero Home in Chicago

Bryan Howard
Legislative Director
U.S. Green Building Council

Last Monday, Congressman Mike Quigley of Illinois 5th Congressional District paid a visit to the home of Jacek Helenowski to get a firsthand look at one of the highest scoring residential LEED for Homes projects to date - and one of the first net-zero energy homes in Chicago. His goal was to see in-person the technology on display in his north Chicago Congressional District.

Quigley is no stranger to green building and design. In 2002, while a Commissioner for Cook County, he was instrumental in drafting and passing an ordinance requiring LEED certification of all county buildings. The ordinance also calls for each modernized county building to achieve certification through the LEED for Existing Building Operations and Maintenance (EBOM) rating system.

Since being elected to Congress in 2009, he continues to advocate for sustainable solutions for the built environment. He has voted to create new funding opportunities for K-12 institutions to update their facilities in an efficient, high-performing fashion. He has also been a co-sponsor of legislation to incentivize integrated community planning and to expand Federal procurement of more green products.

So, it is worth taking note when a green building aficionado is impressed by what he sees.

“I have been fighting for greener living since before I was elected to public office over a decade ago, so it’s an honor to have such an achievement in my district,” said Quigley.

The Helenowski’s home renovation has clearly been a labor of love. From the use of insulation made from local soybeans to the wood reclaimed from a Chicago building fire, no detail was left unnoticed. It is a great demonstration of innovation and what dedicated people can accomplish when they have a goal.

“My hope is that this is the future of construction - because as the Helenowski family has shown us, it is a boon to the local economy, saves on energy costs, and is terrific for our environment,” added Quigley.

While this home is what builders and homeowners may aspire to, there is a lot that can be accomplished without installing a vegetative roof or a geothermal system. The new LEED for Homes Scoring Tool allows builders to explore LEED for Homes in an easily-navigable system. One of the features is a QuickScore option, where users can answer some general questions about their project and get preliminary feedback on where their project might be rated, along with a list of actions and measures that would need to be addressed. This is an incredibly useful resource to see how current and future projects compare to reaching LEED for Homes certification. For homeowners looking to for tips on making smaller projects green and how to connect with local green building professionals, check out www.greenhomeguide.com.

For more information on the LEED for Homes visit: usgbc.org/homes.

An American in Istanbul....

Or: How The Turks are Poised to Help Win the Future of Green Building in Europe, Asia and the Middle East

Roger Platt
Senior Vice President, Global Policy and Law
U.S. Green Building Council

On a recent trip to Istanbul, I was inspired not only by the stunning culture, beauty, dignity and economic vitality of that city but also by its fast-growing commitment to high performance green building. The vision for green architecture in Turkey combines forward thinking ideas from the rich history of Ottoman culture with the most cutting-edge principles of modern global trends in architecture and engineering. Today, a number of its business and professional leaders are helping to ensure its huge construction and contracting industry (second largest in the world according to McGraw Hill's Engineering News-Record) goes green.

I want to tell you about some of the remarkable individuals who have made Turkey a global green building leader. For some basic orientation about Turkey, click here.

Hırant Kalataş, Marketing Manager of Alarko-Carrier Turkey and Duygu Erten, CEO of the Turkey Green Building Council

I want to be clear that I would not have been able to make the trip to this remarkable place without the generosity of Alarko-Carrier, a key member of the 100-member Turkey Green Building Council, known in Turkey as CEDBIK. Alarko-Carrier is an economically productive partnership (now in its 12th year) between the U.S.-based Carrier Corporation and Turkey's conglomerate known as Alarko. The two companies have partnered on a range of important green building projects and products. I had the special privilege of spending time with the chairman of the board of Alarko's holding company, Ishak Alaton. He is something of an institution in Turkey for both his business as well as other diplomatic and philanthropic enterprises, and after just a few minutes in his office, interrupted by phone calls from the Minister of Education and other senior government officials, it was easy to see why. He is a great Turkish patriot but also a genuine citizen of the world in a way that suddenly makes the globe seem like a very small place. His support for the green building movement in Turkey is an important milestone in its evolution. Notably, Hırant Kalataş, a key member of his team, serves on the board of the Turkey Green Building Council.

Ali Nihat Gökyiğit, chair of the Turkey Green Building Council at the site of his botanical garden and arboretum located inside a busy Istanbul highway cloverleaf interchange

Another Turkish visionary entrepreneur and businessman of national renown that I had the privilege of spending time with was Ali Nihat Gökyiğit. Nihat is one of the founders of Tefken, a company that has grown to include agriculture, banking, real estate development, construction contracting and various investment and industry services. Most significantly, from my standpoint, Nihat was chair of the Turkey Green Building Council, a role he takes extremely seriously. And that is saying something about the importance of the council, as Nihat is a very busy man in the broader environmental movement in Turkey.

He founded the largest natural conservation organization in Turkey known as TEMA. TEMA's critical mission is to combat soil erosion and deforestation for the protection of natural habitats. It now has almost 400,000 members termed "volunteers" under Turkish law. Nihat regaled me with startling insights into the importance of certain bee and floral species in various parts of Turkey. His solutions always seem to involve preserving nature while at the same time creating more robust markets and related job growth (a version of social entrepreneurship) involving Turkish exports, including, of course, honey. Most remarkably, perhaps, is the fact that he has created an absolutely unique and breathtaking botanical garden and arboretum located inside the urban void of a busy Istanbul highway cloverleaf interchange. (For more about that remarkable initiative, click here. He and his brother spent the good part of a day taking me through that remarkable facility.)

My guide for most of my very busy itinerary in Istanbul visiting green buildings and meeting leaders in the movement was Dr. Duygu Erten. She received her doctorate in civil and environmental engineering from Rutgers University. A Turkish native with educational training in both Turkey and the U.S., Duygu is one of very, very few women who have broken into the field of civil engineering in Turkey and as such she has faced and overcome challenges that make her a genuine pioneer. She is now serving as CEO of the Turkey Green Building Council and she seems to have less than two degrees of separation from everyone in the entire city, including both Turkish and U.S. business leaders and government officials. She travels the world tirelessly looking for ways to advance the interests of green building in Turkey. Certainly the growing amount of international and Turkish companies – including respected architectural firms - that are supporting that enterprise are testimony to the market traction she has helped create.

Trips such as this one remind me of the powerful way that business and professional savvy and creativity can sometimes be linked to a range of socially responsible enterprises to advance market transformation at a huge scale. The U.S. Green Building Council and its LEED rating tool have encouraged and leveraged that dynamic synergy in a powerful way. It was exciting to see that same synergy alive and well and beginning to move the market in Turkey.

What's a Green Building? California's 2011 Building Codes & LEED

Dan Geiger
Executive Director
USGBC-Northern California Chapter

Source: USGBC-NCC.org

California’s new building codes took effect January 1, 2011, and policy makers and the industry continue to explore its implications and impact. Referred to as CalGreen, the codes have raised the floor on minimum building standards for new construction, incorporated green elements into base code, and as such are another manifestation of California’s leadership in the green economy.

There has been quite a bit of discussion about the relationship between the codes and rating systems like LEED. I’d like to place this issue in a larger context of the overall sustainability goals of California and the importance of leadership in the building industry.

The first distinction to keep in mind is that codes and rating systems are fundamentally, necessarily, and structurally different but complementary systems. Codes mandate minimum standards and some specific measures, whereas rating systems like LEED define leadership standards, are performance based, and are rigorously verified by an independent third party.

Industry and policy analysts widely agree that LEED is significantly more rigorous than the new building codes, and is the most powerful tool available for market transformation. In addition, LEED has systems for existing buildings, commercial interiors, core and shell, schools, neighborhoods and more. One way to think of all this is that codes define the floor (and are the law), whereas LEED sets the ceiling.

Click here to read the rest of the article on the USGBC-NCC site.

You Can’t Manage What You Can’t Measure: Building-Level Metering

Lauren Riggs
Manager, LEED Performance
U.S. Green Building Council

As the Manager of USGBC’s Building Performance Partnership and Recertification programs here at USGBC, I spend my time thinking over and over again about which aspects of building operations should be regularly monitored and which make the maximum contribution to the continuous high-performance of each building. We have to figure out how to encourage building operators to look at the holistic performance of their buildings and act based on the full story – So, how do we do that? What do we ask them to monitor? How do we work with thousands of building operators to tell the story?

Hours of thought and numerous discussions bring me back to what many of us have always known: Start with what is accessible. For most buildings, the easiest place to start monitoring performance is at the energy meter; knowing that energy consumption data is accessible to most building operators through existing meters or utility bills, it seems fair to ask folks to start monitoring their energy performance. If you’ve got water meters, start monitoring water use performance too – remember, we’re working towards a picture of holistic performance.

Green building professionals may not know that some buildings don’t even have energy meters, or a way to differentiate one building’s consumption from multiple others on a single campus … I struggle with finding a way to motivate these buildings to begin to track their individual energy use. How much does it cost to clamp on a data logger, or install and connect building level meters to a central system as a part of planned facilities upgrades? It won’t break the bank, which makes it absolutely feasible to track the performance of every building. Not one building owner will reap the benefits of energy or water savings without monitoring and trend logging, even at the building level.

Building level performance monitoring is something every building can do. You have to know where to start in order to reach the finish. The holistic picture, the full story, can only be created if you have all of information needed to complete it. USGBC offers tools, such as the Building Performance Partnership, to help buildings begin to tell their story. We will work with them to complete it and improve on it each time the story is told. We hope that our programs will lead to meters in every building (whole building and sub-system), followed by high performance achievement in every building. We will learn to walk, then run - together.