Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing, Revised Edition by Walker Wells & Kimberly Vermeer

Author:Walker Wells & Kimberly Vermeer [Wells, Walker & Vermeer, Kimberly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Architecture, Buildings, Residential, Methods & Materials, Sustainability & Green Design
ISBN: 9781642830385
Google: rDfnDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Island Press
Published: 2020-07-09T23:36:27.126520+00:00

Green Beyond the Building

The green building movement began with individual buildings as the nexus for taking action on environmental concerns. From the beginning, green building included attention to concepts such as walkability and building near transit and services, in the context of a given building project. As practitioners gained experience, it became evident that some strategies and solutions work better at the block, neighborhood, or district scale than at the building scale. Today, developers, advocates, and policymakers are pursuing a range of approaches to implement green on a broader scale with strategies that incorporate multiple buildings, including multibuilding electricity microgrids, district energy systems for thermal energy (heating and cooling), and transit-oriented development. Microgrids generate electricity locally, often with a combination of cogeneration and solar, and distribute it to several buildings. These systems can include islanding so that the buildings can function independently from the grid during power outages.6 District energy systems produce hot or chilled water at central plants that is then distributed to multiple buildings within the district through a pipe network. Transit-oriented developments encourage higher-density development, allow for less parking, and provide easy access to regional train or bus systems.

Certification programs are adding new options that address impact beyond the building. USGBC offers the LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED ND) certification for multibuilding and multiuse projects. Requirements include environmentally responsible site selection and development; site planning to promote connectivity to existing development, transit access, and walkability along with availability of jobs, services, and activities nearby; and green building strategies for individual buildings within the development. A number of large public housing redevelopment projects across the United States have pursued LEED ND certification to meet a condition of funding from the Choice Neighborhoods program.

The regional EarthCraft® program, prominent in the Southeast, also offers a Communities certification option to promote sustainability in larger-scale developments. More recently, USGBC launched the LEED for Cities and Communities program to expand the reach of sustainability planning to the municipal level.

Policymakers are working to make these approaches easier for developers to implement. Microgrids can quickly run into regulatory challenges when local power distribution crosses property lines, because of the monopoly power typically vested in electrical utilities. Local and state laws and policy action can produce solutions that enable pilot and larger-scale microgrid development. District energy usually requires municipal action and participation for implementation outside the boundaries of a campus of connected buildings. Transit-oriented development districts are designated through planning and zoning processes, by definition policy and regulatory actions.

Green beyond the building extends to organizational culture. It was inspirational, when talking with people and learning about projects and organizations for this book, to learn how building greener buildings has become a catalyst for transforming organizations. Time and again we heard how the process and experience of greening buildings has led to a larger commitment to sustainability across organizations, with actions taken and policies implemented to extend green and sustainable practices to all lines of business and to organizations’ daily operations. This has taken the form of

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