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Living Future 08
April 16-18, 2008
Vancouver, BC
(604) 682-3377
What is an "unconference" you ask?
Living Future provides a different way of viewing our built environment
- a way that requires new tools, new perspectives and better
collaboration. We will bring experts to the fore to share their
experience and knowledge. Yet this will not be another conference of
"talking heads". To create truly sustainable communities, we all have to
be actively involved in finding the solutions - and that means YOU!
With buildings responsible for more than 40 percent of the world's
greenhouse gas emissions, how can we design buildings that are carbon
neutral? Can good building design enable us to reach carbon neutrality
or do we require carbon offsets? This session will present projects
designed by Busby Perkins+Will and Stantec Consulting that are striving
for carbon neutrality and Offsetters.ca will explore the complexities of
the carbon offset market.
Managing Director of Busby Perkins+Will, Peter is involved in the design
and sustainable direction of each project the firm engages. A founding
member of the Canada Green Building Council, Peter is recognized
internationally as a leader in green building design and Busby
Perkins+Will is considered one of North America's leading green
practices with the largest portfolio of built green projects in Canada.
With more than 20 years of successful projects completed under Peter's
guidance and across market sectors, the firm has received more than 90
design honours including 6 Governor General Awards, 9 Lieutenant
Governor Awards, and an American Institute of Architects Top 10 Green
Building Award for the City of White Rock Operations Building, the first
new building in Canada to be certified LEED Gold. In recognition of his
professional and community contributions, Peter was admitted to the
College of Fellows of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada in
1997.
Jennifer is one of Stantec's original environmental design leaders and
currently manages Stantec's Concepts group, a team that specializes in
sustainable design services, looking for opportunities to optimize a
client's building for the occupants, the environment and the bottom
line. She is also one of Stantec's energy specialists with considerable
expertise in both building and community scale energy choices, and seeks
low-tech solutions for her sustainable designs, with a preference for
simple designs, with more natural systems. She is a LEED Canada faculty
member and a member of one of the Canada Green Building Council's LEED
assessment teams. She was named one of Business in Vancouver's "Top 40
under 40" achievers and entrepreneurs in 2003.
James co-founded Offsetters Climate Neutral Society in 2005, and
currently sits as its Chief Executive Officer. Since 2006, he has been a
professor of Business Ethics at the University of British Columbia,
jointly appointed between the Sauder School of Business and the W.
Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics. James' research activities
cover a number of areas including social enterprise, climate change, and
the social impacts and acceptability of new technologies. His current
research focuses on emerging international markets for carbon exchange,
social determinants of health in developed countries and the governance
of biotechnology and genomics in Canada.
Associate and Director of Research of Busby Perkins+Will, Kathy directs
the firm's national Sustainable Design Initiative. Through her 4 years
at Busby Perkins+Will she has amassed considerable experience with the
LEED rating system, high performance green buildings and the Integrated
Design Process, managing certification for a number of the firm's
buildings including the successful LEED Gold White Rock Operations
Center, and overseeing product research and feasibility studies for the
firm. Kathy is active in the local green building community and often
disburses her green knowledge through courses and lectures to diverse
groups and through her involvement on project integrated design teams.
Wholistic Engineering: Applied to a Living Building Water System
As humankind's impact to our environment is being recognized on a
worldwide level, and as the world's population continues to grow (now at
a rate of about 10,000 per hour) the same finite water resources are
going to have to go farther and be treated wisely. In order to meet our
future needs, solutions are needed that are both economical and
environmentally friendly.
In this presentation, Mark will discuss his Wholistic Engineering
approach as it applies to a Living Building Water System, which
recognizes that the effectiveness of any water resource plan is
dependent on numerous, and often unpredictable influences, and therefore
the whole situation relating to our water resources must be taken into
account. The many challenges facing water resource management involve
cross-relationships among many kinds of complex components such as
politics, special interests, laws & regulations, social concerns,
economic & environmental issues, technology, and resources. The goal of
Wholistic Engineering is to provide practical guidelines for simple
economic solutions to complex environmental issues to meet future needs.
The presentation topics also include: Closed-loop water and nutrient
reuses, Water Sources Definitions (the "colors" of water), "Watergy"
(the water & energy relationship), and Design Principles for Living
Building Water Systems.
Mark is the founder and director of 2020 ENGINEERING
located in Bellingham, Washington. He is a registered professional civil
engineer, author, and inventor with broad experience in engineering
design, construction and project management. Mark conceived and
developed the concept of Wholistic Engineering, which provides an
integrated "problem solving" approach that considers all issues and
possible conditions related to the development of a project, such as:
laws & regulations, social concerns, politics, special interests,
economic & environmental issues, technology, and resources. Mark is
currently serving on the Cascadia Region Green Building Council as a
technical development member on the "Site Team" and "Water Team" for the
development of The Living Building User's Guide and continued
development of The Living Building Challenge standard. Mark is a
registered professional civil engineer in Washington, Oregon, Alaska,
Hawaii and other states. He has over 25 years of Civil Engineering
experience.
Be a Product Detective: Sleuthing the Truth About Building Materials
Many manufacturers now have marketing material that includes the LEED
potential for their products. But this information offers no more than a
peephole view of a material's performance and often is misleading...
The claims of "LEED certified" materials is a case in point.
What is the true value in the array of certifications that are touted on
the fact sheet? And what are the other properties that contribute to a
product's overall composition and environmental, health and social
profile?
In this session we'll discuss how you currently find and use the
information you need to evaluate product options as well as other
sources and tools available. We'll also present "lessons learned" from
the Living Future tradeshow survey, an attempt to glean a well-rounded
impression of the products and services on display at the conference.
Two frameworks for building material selection, GreenSpec and the Pharos
Project, will guide the discussion of the process, from prescreening to
hidden tradeoffs, and the ultimate impact of specification.
Presenter Bios
Jennifer Atlee
Jennifer Atlee is research director at BuildingGreen, Inc., the
Vermont-based publisher of Environmental Building News (EBN), the
GreenSpec Directory of green building products, and the online resource
BuildingGreen Suite. Through her work with BuildingGreen, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Toxics Use Reduction Institute, Rocky Mountain
Institute, and Demand Management Institute, Jennifer has conducted
research and analysis in a variety of sustainability topics including
green building, commercial and industrial energy efficiency, electronics
recycling, and the economics of toxics use reduction. A primary focus of
hers has been developing and clarifying standards to assess the
environmental sustainability of products and processes. To this end, her
activities at BuildingGreen include updating product criteria for
GreenSpec as well as providing technical and research support to other
BuildingGreen projects and activities.
Tom Lent
Tom Lent is Policy Director for the Healthy Building Network. He has
thirty years of experience with energy and environmental issues
primarily focused on healthy and resource efficient building
technologies and the environmental impact of buildings, materials, and
energy. His career has been diverse, ranging from energy flow studies of
row house attics to environmental critiques of war in Iraq to employment
impact analyses of national energy investments to health analyses of PVC
backed carpets, to coordinating a national solar and biodiesel fueled
rock concert power system tour. Tom has helped coordinate development of
the Green Guidelines for Health Care (GGHC), LEED - for Healthcare,
Sustainable Bioplastic Guidelines and now the Pharos Project. He is a
recipient of the US EPA IX Environmental Award for Outstanding
Achievement for his work transforming the building materials market.
Eden Brukman
An architect and sustainable building advisor, Eden has focused her
professional career on incorporating socially and environmentally
responsible strategies into design and construction. Since 2005, her
work expanded to also include research and implementation of sustainable
policies, particularly related to building certification using the LEED
rating system and the selection of appropriate building materials. Eden
received a bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of
California, Berkeley, and a Master's degree in Illustration from the
Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland.
The Birds, the Bees, the Flowers and the Trees: Biodiversity in the Urban Environment
Global urban environments are growing at an unprecedented rate; by 2020,
it is estimated that approximately 60% - 80% of the world's population
will live in cities. This urban migration is already resulting in
drastic changes to the natural systems in urban areas that provide a
host of ecological services - from natural stormwater and flood control
to the increased health and well-being of urban residents.
In this lively interactive session, experts in the fields of urban
ecological science and design, landscape theory, environmental economics
and global climate will explore the interplay of science, art,
philosophy, economics and well-being benefits and will make the case for
incorporating urban ecology, animal behavior and biodiversity into the
urban fabric and built environment.
Discussion will include a look at how urban systems function with
respect to climate protection, ethology, biodiversity, ecological and
human health, stormwater management and urban heat island effects. The
relationship to relevant issues will also be a focus, including
connections with climate change impacts, issues of scale, policy and
regulations that support urban biodiversity, as well as the tools and
methodologies already in use.
Examples of innovative projects will include a sneak peek at the Seattle
University sustainable master plan that serves as a guide for
outstanding campus or community development in an urban setting.
Deb seeks to integrate natural systems with innovative infrastructure
solutions in the city - capitalizing on the value of multiple benefits.
Nationally recognized for leadership in sustainable landscape
architecture, Deb's work spans scales from big picture planning to
detailed design. Her work has resulted in two ASLA national honor
awards. Deb is the former chair of the Cascadia Region Green Building
Council board, and represents the ASLA on the Sustainable Sites
Initiative product development committee.
Kelty is a writer, practicing landscape architect and
adjunct professor of landscape architecture at the University of British
Columbia, where she leads design studios focusing on the production of
emergent urban and non-urban landscapes that simultaneously engage
environmental, economic and cultural ecologies. She is co-founder of
Living Lab, where she researches the points of intersection between
social and ecological practices, and the potentials of engaging
non-human agents in the production of landscape. She is also Senior
Landscape Architect at Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg in Vancouver, BC.
Kelty's landscape architectural and artistic work has been shown in
Vienna, New York, London, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Seattle, and
Minneapolis.
Part 1: Living Buildings and Transformation: A Story and Case Study
Part 2: Values and the Precautionary Principle: A Framework for Decisions
This two part session will begin with the presentation of a project
being developed by the Alice Ferguson Foundation in Accokeek, Maryland,
which won a Leadership Award in the national Living Building Challenge
competition at Greenbuild last November . The story of their journey
will be told to illustrate the powerful catalyzing effect of making the
commitment to Living Buildings - how this objective is changing the
culture of their organization and their community, changing the
practices of their seasoned green design team, and leading everyone
involved to new insights and awareness.
The second part of the session examines the emerging value system
driving Living Buildings and focuses specifically on the Precautionary
Principle as a tool for making sound and defensible decisions that
improve the conditions for life in the face of scientific uncertainty.
Application of the Precautionary Principle engages a broader sampling of
available science than decision tools like LCA and a leads to a greater
appreciation of external costs. The precautionary principle requires
decision-makers to become aware of potential hazards, to look for safer
alternatives, to include affected parties in the conversation early in
the decision-making process, and to select the alternative that
minimizes harm and maximizes sustainability.
Sandy is principal of Consilience, LLC a national consultancy with a
mission to build environmentally, socially and economically sustainable
communities. During his 32 year career, he has been responsible for the
development of projects totaling over one billion dollars, including
dozens of LEED commercial projects and the nation's first LEED Gold
certified homes, which are also net zero energy consumers. His skillful
facilitation has also helped birth sustainable master plans and regional
public policy initiatives. Sandy is also a Director and Immediate Past
Chair of USGBC. He is a Director of the Middle East Centre for
Sustainable Development and serves on the Delaware Valley Smart Growth
Alliance. He is a founding member of the Pennsylvania Green Building
Forum, and was co-founder and founding Chair of the Delaware Valley
Green Building Council. He was also a member of the LEED for
Neighborhood Development Core Committee throughout the development of
the LEED-ND Pilot Rating System, and previously served as a Director of
the Energy Coordinating Agency, Earth Force, and the Pennsylvania
Resources Council.
Executive Director of the Alice Ferguson Foundation -- Tracy has served
with the Foundation since 1995, where she began as the Director of
Development. In 1999 she became the Executive Director and is
responsible for overall management of the organization including:
programs, facility, fundraising, planning, human resources, and
financial management. Under Tracy's leadership the organization has
expanded its regional environmental education mission; grown
programmatic outreach, partnerships, staffing, financial support; and
has accomplished major capital improvements, board development and
strategic and master land use planning. Tracy has a diverse professional
background in the non-profit sector (environment and health) and the
political arena. Since moving to Washington, D.C. from Detroit
metropolitan area in 1988, she has had many exciting professional
opportunities working with U.S. Senator Carl Levin, Podesta Associates,
and Georgetown University's Lombardi Cancer Research Center. In
addition, Tracy has served since 1995 with the National Sustainable
Water Resources Roundtable and the Sustainable Development Indicators
Interagency Working Group.
Green Land Development of the Year, LEED-H Platinum. . .Now What?
While sustainable design and planning is beginning to gain momentum
among developers, many perceived roadblocks still exist including:
policy regulations, the buyer's market, and the cost and schedule
implications of green communities. In recognition of a market shifting
toward green development, the National Association of Home Builders has
begun acknowledging these developments with the Green Land Development
of Year Award. Pringle Creek Community was the inaugural 2007 recipient
of the NAHB's Green Land Development of the Year Award.
Additionally, the first home constructed in the community achieved
LEED-H Platinum certification, and with 103 points is the highest rated
LEED home in the country to date.
Using the new Pringle Creek Community, as a holistic case study, a
Portland and Vancouver B.C. based panel representing the developer,
designer and planners will address the successes and challenges of
creating a sustainable community. Incorporating the lessons learned from
Pringle Creek, the panel and the audience will explore a question
essential to the adoption of sustainable design: can sustainable
production housing be the new standard? Attendees should come to the
session with a basic understanding of community development practices,
and the desire to engage in a lively discussion about implementing
sustainability principles.
Presenter Bios
James Meyer
James is a partner and co-founder of Opsis Architecture in Portland,
Oregon, an award-winning firm rooted in the philosophy that design
excellence is environmentally sustainable. In 2003, James guided the
firm's purchase and development of a 1910 historic structure in the
Pearl district, transforming it into a LEED Gold Certified building, and
open studio home for the Opsis office. James is a frequent guest
lecturer on the topic of sustainability at colleges and businesses
around the Northwest. Currently, he is the Principal in Charge of a
number of green building projects, including the sustainable Pringle
Creek development in Salem, Oregon, the Central Oregon Community
College's College Center Building, the Bend Parks and Recreation
Administration Building, and The University of Oregon Alumni Center.
Don Myers
Don is the President of Sustainable Development, Inc. in Salem, Oregon,
where he is responsible for the company's green strategies and practices
as a developer. For thirty years, Don has managed both for-profit and
non-profit businesses, and has been a member of numerous boards of
directors and community leadership organizations around the Salem area.
Currently, Don is leading Sustainable Developments, Inc.'s work on the
Pringle Creek Community.
Patrick currently holds the James Taylor Chair in Landscape and Liveable
Environments at the University of British Columbia. Patrick was born and
educated in Massachusetts, practicing there first as a landscape
architect and then as director of Community Planning for the City of
Westfield Massachusetts. In 1985 he joined academia, teaching first at
the University of Minnesota, then, in 1992, joining the faculty at the
University of British Columbia. Patrick has become well known for
producing alternative models for walkable and complete communities that
work with, not against, the natural capabilities of the site. He has
written numerous articles and books, including his most recent, Design
Charrettes for Sustainable Communities (Island Press), which was listed
as one of 2008's top ten planning books by Panetizen Planning Network.
Ron Kellett
Ronald is a Professor of Landscape Architecture and Director of the
Neighborhoods Lab in the Design Centre for Sustainability at the
University of British Columbia. He holds degrees in Architecture and
Environmental Studies and has practiced and taught architecture and
urban design in Oregon and British Columbia. His teaching, research and
consulting integrates issues and metrics of environment and
sustainability with neighborhood scale urban design. Its results have
contributed urban design indicators, codes, guidelines and prototypes to
communities in the United States and Canada. He is co-author, with
Cynthia Girling, of 'Skinny Streets and Green Neighborhoods: Design for
Environment and Community' (Island Press, 2005).
BIM and Sustainable Design: Current Abilities and Future Possibilities
The panel of an architect, an engineer and a contractor will review how
Building Information Modeling is currently being used to integrate
sustainable design strategies and explore what future possibilities
exist from harnessing the potential of BIM. Using case studies
presenters will share various types of analyses and tools that can be
utilized in the work process to optimize design and construction ideas
as well as quantify the impacts.
During the interactive session participants will develop the following
ideas further.
* What ways are you using BIM to facilitate your sustainable design solutions?
* What do you expect BIM to do in the future and how soon?
* What existing or future analysis tools do you want to work with BIM?
Bradley Nies, AIA, LEED AP is Director of Elements, the sustainable
design consulting division of BNIM Architects. He received his Bachelor
of Architecture from the University of Kansas. Brad has 13 years of
experience and has worked on all levels of USGBC LEED Certified
projects. Brad was the sustainable design consultant for the LEED
Platinum Certified Heifer International Headquarters in Little Rock,
Arkansas, which won a 2007 AIA Top Ten Green Project Award and a
National AIA 2008 Institute Honor Award. In 2005 Brad founded a Kansas
City based volunteer construction waste management forum, which led to
the development of recyclespot.org. Brad has served two terms as AIA
Kansas City Committee on the Environment Chair and is currently serving
his second year on the Greater Kansas City USGBC Chapter Board. Brad is
co-author of Green BIM: Successful Sustainable Design With Building
Information Modeling out this spring.
Since joining Cannon Design San Francisco's office, Dimitri has become
an indispensable member of the engineering team having worked on a wide
variety of project types from conceptual design through project
completion. He is knowledgeable in the design and function of mechanical
systems for facilities that demand environmentally responsible
solutions. Most recently Dimitri led the LEED coordination efforts for
the University of Maine, Student Recreation & Fitness Center and Cal
State University Long Beach Student Recreation and Wellness Center, both
of which are expected to be recognized with LEED Silver Certification.
Brad has over seven years of architecture, sustainability and BIM
experience both nationally and internationally. He has implemented BIM
practices, trained associates, written articles, and lectured nationally
for the AGC, AIA and various other organizations. Brad currently is the
Building Information Manager for McCownGordon Construction where he has
successfully integrated BIM into the fabric of the company and continues
to train and implement key technologies into the organization.
The 3 R's of reduce, reuse, recycle is a good philosophy for waste
elimination and a good model for materials used in the buildings design.
We can no longer afford to keep filling the landfills and over
exploiting our limited natural resources for new materials that cannot
be reused or recycled. Designing for deconstruction (DFD) and zero waste
should be part of green building design processes.
Designing for zero waste begins with the reduction of material use and
is followed by the efficiency in which you use materials. Additionally,
once resources and materials are used durability and flexibility should
be key considerations to increase their useful life.
At the construction and deconstruction process, material flows should
follow a circular process rather than a linear throughput generating
ample waste. These processes should generate no material waste to the
landfill; instead materials are either re-used as is, reprocessed into a
new material, or recycled and becomes 'food' for other materials. DFD
easily and simply allows the building to be disassembled or renovated
and the resources and materials recovered while contributing to the
business for green buildings.
This session will share practical techniques and strategies with case
study examples. We will explore with you the concept of "net zero waste
buildings" during design, construction and end life/renovation of the
building.
Diana consults on sustainable building design for developments and
education. Current project examples are: Millennium Water; South East
False Creek, Olympic Village in Vancouver and development of Green
Bricks, a program outreaching to youth on green building design. UK
educated as a structural engineer, Diana worked for 18 years with Read
Jones Christoffersen Ltd. and became their sustainable specialist and
researcher. Diana is a Vancouver Steering Committee member with Cascadia
GBC and past board member Cascadia USGBC / CaGBC. She was on the APEGBC
(Association of Professional Engineers of BC) task force to advise on
the BC Green Building Code proposed by the Provincial Government.
Michel has more than 10 years experience in green building research and
sustainable architectural projects. He has served as a board/committee
member for the AIBC Energy + Environment Committee and the Ecodesign
Resources Society and is currently on the advisory board for the
Sustainable Building Centre. Michel was instrumental in developing the
RAIC's Sustainable Design of Canadian Buildings 101 Course, and has
served as a green consultant to architectural firms, the Canada Green
Building Council and the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD). He
has also helped author a number of green building educational documents
including the CMHC Report: Strategies for Alternative Energy Use, and
Redistribution at the Building Envelope and Resource Efficient Building
Products Directory (Third Edition) for the GVRD.
============== ============== ==============
Michael Driedger
Michael's diverse work experience as a trades person, archaeologist,
technologist, and researcher has helped develop his talents in contract
administration, project management, LEED coordination, and report
preparation on a range of projects. Together with work done with the
USGBC, Michael recently prepared a handbook of the Most Sustainable City
Policies in North America for 2008. The survey included 23 questions
pertaining to sustainable site development, materials, energy, indoor
air quality, water and operating policies, and city programs to act as
catalysts for those cities that need to develop progressive policies or
programs. The survey preempted a cross-Canada tour by Peter Busby on
behalf of the CaGBC.
Part I: Developer's Proformae for Very Green Buildings
* Guided tour of the development of a Living Building pro forma: Its components and analysis
* Development strategies: How to make a site reach its highest sustainability potential through integrated financial and physical design
* What are the new goals and methods that Living Buildings require for their appropriate financial analysis
Part II: Getting the Regulatory System to Meet Our Approval
* A co-evolutionary look at sustainability and codes - a larger context
for codes, revealing the deeper alignment between regulatory goals and
LBC goals - AND showing how the LBC can help shift current regulatory
practices toward a more (r)evolutionary paradigm
* Overview of the LBC Code Barriers White Paper Project: the current
work-in-progress to identify and understand code, regulatory and other
approvals barriers to Living Building Challenge projects
* Initial insights and observations from the White Paper Project
* How you can help with this process - starting today. . .
Session attendees will take away:
Part I:
* A basic understanding of financial modeling for real estate projects
* An understanding of the particular financial challenges of
revolutionary green projects such as Living Buildings and the new tools
that this requires
* How to develop strategies for solving revolutionary green project financial challenges
* How to work interactively with an integrated design, construction, and
occupant team to achieve your highest green building goals
* Lessons learned from a Living Building project in construction [by the time of the unconference]
* The perspective of a community and environmentally oriented architect/
developer with over 35 years of experience doing highly green buildings
Part II:
* A larger conceptual and (hopefully) practical understanding of the
building and development regulatory realm
* A more detailed understanding of some of the regulatory challenges for
Living Building Challenge projects
* Some best practices and potential solutions to the challenges
* A better sense of how you can help identify and address the barriers
* Some approaches to shift the odds for approval in your favor
R. Peter Wilcox, President of Renewal Associates LLC, a sustainable
development advisory and investment firm, is a trained economist,
licensed architect, and multiple award winning green real estate
developer. He led Portland Community Design for nearly 10 years as its
founder and diretor, and was Multnomah County's first Housing Director.
His advanced degrees are from Dartmouth College (Economics), Cooper
Union (Architecture), and U. Cal. Berkeley (Architectural History).
Peter has published many articles and booklets on community and
sustainable design through the years, and garnered over a dozen major
awards for sustainable design. Peter is currently developing the first
LEED (Gold/Platinum) multifamily residential project on the east side of
Portland, the Mississippi Avenue Lofts (mississippiavenuelofts.com), and
also what will hopefully be one of the first Living Buildings in the
nation in the Portland neighborhood of Kenton. Peter has over 35 years
of experience in triple bottom line sustainable design, development,
policy and education.
David is co-founder and Director of the Development Center for
Appropriate Technology (DCAT) in Tucson, Arizona. His three decades of
building experience range from troubleshooting construction of the cover
of Biosphere 2 to building a $2 million structural concrete house, a
hypoallergenic structural steel house, and masonry, wood, adobe, rammed
earth, and straw bale structures. David has led the decade-long effort
to create a sustainable context for building codes. A two-term member of
the Board of the U.S. Green Building Council, he founded and chairs the
USGBC Codes Committee. He is co-author of The Straw Bale House book and
has written dozens of published articles, forewords, book chapters and
papers. David and DCAT were named 2007 International Code Council
Affiliate of the Year and received a 2007 USGBC Leadership Award.
Clark is Director of SERA Architect's Sustainable Resource Team, as well
as Chair-Elect of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council Board and
serves on The Oregon Natural Step's Advisory Board. He is a green
building advisor to policy makers throughout the state. He is also a
frequent lecturer and panel participant on sustainable design, green
building policy change, and the impact of the built environment on
climate change. He is conducting green building workshops in China on a
US Department of Energy grant. Clark was the 2007 Oregon Betterbricks
award winner in the "Designer" category and was a judge for the USGBC's
first Living Building Challenge competition at Greenbuild 2007. He was
published in Who's Green? 2008 and in Solar Today in November 2007.
Sustainable Design: Ecology, Architecture and Planning
The significant impacts of climate change require a similar scale of
action in design. The challenges associated with housing and feeding an
additional billion people within the next 40 years are not solvable on
the architectural scale alone.
Designing at the urban and regional scale is central to this need.
Design at this scale begins with applying the knowledge of the region's
ecology. This approach recreates synergistic connections between the
design and the sun, soil, air, water, and gravity. The removal of these
connections - the natural subsidy - has decreased the quality of life as
it has exponentially increased taxes and stress on the global social,
ecologic and economic systems. Design at this large scale enhances the
regions' social, ecologic and economic health and is the forcing
function of sustainability at the neighborhood scale.
All sustainability is regional. Integrating the knowledge derived from
systems ecology into the design program illustrates a systems approach
to resource protection, quality of life and sustainable community
design. These designs use the free work of nature and provide better
places at lower costs and impacts.
Community designs that incorporate renewable resources and are
respectful of the natural cycles create compelling neighborhoods while
protecting the resource base. Solar driven urban and regional design
creates a community that is efficient, economical and compatible with
the regions resources. This presentation will illustrate the
methodologies and principles developed for sustainable projects from the
scale of individual buildings to entire watersheds.
Daniel Williams is principal of Daniel Williams ARCHITECT and a Fellow
in the American Institute of Architects. DWA is a nationally recognized
consultant in architecture and planning with projects that include
sustainability issues in economic development, transportation,
agriculture, education and natural resource protection. He is active on
the Sustainable Seattle Advisory Group; the Seattle American Institute
of Architects; Committee on the Environment and was urban
planner/architect for the Seattle "Green Line" corridor location study
for the ETC - Seattle Monorail Project. He initiated and chaired the
Committee on Long-Range Regional Planning for the American Institute of
Architects and was one of 30 invited participants to the joint
conference sponsored by DOE and FEMA: Communities in Harms Way - on the
re-design of communities post natural disasters. He is on the LEED
development team for the next phase of the national certification
process and evaluation and serves of the Environmental Council for the
Urban Land Institute. He chaired the Task Force on the Environment and
Energy for the Congress for the New Urbanism and chairs the National
Committee on the Environment for the American Institute of Architects.
His work on regional carrying capacity won the 1999 and the 2000
National Honor Award for Urban and Regional Design from the American
Institute of Architects and the Catherine Brown Award for Urban Design
in the American Landscape in 1999.
Rebecca Shaffer is a LEED AP and intern architect at McCool, Carlson and
Green, an architectural design firm in Anchorage, Alaska. She is
currently a LEED consultant for two projects seeking certification.
Prior to her work at MCG, Becky was the Sustainable Design and
Development Coordinator for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alaska
District, where in 2004 she was an early implementor of LEED for Corps
construction in Alaska. Becky's most recent projects involve working
with federal, state, and local officials and NGOs to generate ideas for
sustainable community design needed for the relocation of many native
Alaskan villages devastated by coastal erosion. Becky has a Master's
degree in Architecture with a focus on Sustainable Design from the
University of Oregon in 2003. She is an active member of the Alaska
Branch, Cascadia Region Green Building Council and the Anchorage Mayor's
Sustainable Building Initiative Task Force.
15 Minutes of Brilliance: Transformative Solutions for the Next Generation
We stand at a unique moment of human history, where so much of what we
cherish is dependent on our capacity to create change rapidly and in
fundamental ways. As Albert Einstein so famously stated, "Problems
cannot be solved by the same level of consciousness that created them."
What we need are big solutions - brilliant solutions. Somewhere out
there is an idea that can create shifts in our culture and change the
path we are on. Somewhere out there is brilliance waiting to be
unleashed and an idea waiting to be shared.
15 Minutes of Brilliance is an answer to this call. Cascadia invites
individuals with innovative and unique ideas - both big and small - to
the stage to share their brilliance with the world. Through 15 Minutes
of Brilliance, we hope to engage our membership to step up and share big
picture solutions to change the relationship between the built
environment and the natural environment and humanity's role therewithin.
Little ideas can change the world
What are some example of Brilliance? How about Gottfried's and
Italiano's idea to form the US Green Building Council in the
mid-nineties? How about Janine Benyus's idea to connect and share
nature's lessons to the built environment? How about Ed Mazria's 2030
Challenge to address climate change? How about Wangari Maathai's simple
but profound idea to begin the greenbelt movement in Africa? How about
Cascadia's own response - The Living Building Challenge?
We are surrounded by brilliance each day, but most have no platform on
which to share it with a wider audience. Living Future 08 is providing
that platform for you. If you've been thinking about something big, or
something small with big consequences, then step forward! All ideas will
be shared in the conference program, and a few individuals will be
selected to give a 15 minute presentation to the whole conference. These
ideas could be the start of the solutions we so dearly need.
New Tools to Assess and Alter the
Carbon Impact of Development
Concerns about climate change and the built environment's
contribution to greenhouse gas emissions have increased design
interest and regulatory pressure to implement sustainable
building practices. This is especially important in context of
anticipated development required to accommodate increased
regional population density growth.
Recently introduced tools, such as the Construction Carbon
Calculator (housed at www.buildcarbonneutral.org) and the Climate
Impact Assessment calculator offer both bottom-up and top-down
perspectives that expand beyond existing methods for evaluating
operational carbon impacts of the built environment. These tools
measure the amount of carbon dioxide produced in the actual
construction process, as well as impacts that follow from a range
of planning scenarios and decisions that plan for distributions
of people and jobs and which direct recommendations about where
to channel community and regional growth.
Following this session, designers, developers, owners,
contractors and planners will understand the use and outcomes of
tools that can provide the climate-related information required
to consider a range of design and planning considerations to
reduce, renew and offset the carbon footprint of a single site or
an entire urban development.
Managing and founding Partner of
Bunting Coady Architects, Teresa Coady is a past Vice-President
of the Architectural Institute of British Columbia and is
associated with many professional affiliations including the
Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and American Institute of
Architects. As an innovator in sustainable and energy efficient
design, Teresa ensures responsible environmental design for all
of the firm's projects. She acted as an advisor to the British
Columbia Energy Code and the National Energy Code, as a lead
facilitator for the BC Hydro, Design Smart Energy Efficiency
Program and the BC Buildings Corporation Green Initiative.In
1999, Teresa was honored as the YWCA Woman of Distinction --
Entrepreneur and innovator of the Year. She was also recently
named to SB05 (Sustainable Buildings 05) 'Team Canada,' a select
group of individuals charged with showcasing Canadian industry
achievements at the Green Building Challenge in Tokyo, and to
promote the "Greening" of the construction industry in Canada.
Sean Cryan came to Mithun with 13 years experience in
a variety of project types. With Mithun, he has worked as a
member of the SHS.com team and as project manager for the REI
Corporate Campus expansion. Sean's prior experience includes work
on corporate headquarters for many clients in the Northwest,
including Microsoft and Eddie Bauer, as well as East Coast
companies such as MTV Networks and the World Bank. As a
generalist, he has been involved in all aspects of these
projects, working from initial programming stages through all
design phases and construction administration. This involvement
has extended from space planning and architectural interiors to
architectural and site design on urban sites and office parks.
Corporate project sizes range from 2,000 to 1 million square
feet, from interior office renovations to new office buildings.
Additional experience includes work on exhibition centers and
healthcare facilities in the Northwest and Alaska.
Robert's planning experience focuses on increasing
urban environmental performance and high-quality urban
placemaking. His design approach encourages superior pedestrian
experiences through traditional town planning and the integration
of civic and commercial spaces. His graphic skills are frequently
used to communicate complex ideas in a simple, compelling manner.
Before joining Mithun, Robert worked for the City of Seattle's
urban design office (CityDesign), where he analyzed the impacts
of increased building height and density downtown. In addition,
Robert has studied sustainable urban design in Portugal, Spain,
and the Netherlands. Prior to his planning education, Robert
worked as software consultant and has taught hundreds of
architects how to use technology more effectively.
Carbon
Markets: How Communities and Buildings are Supplying and Buying
into Tradable Offsets
That there are issues with the current carbon market is
evidenced by the fact that the US Federal Trade Commission is
rushing to evaluate the validity of carbon-neutrality claims made
by US businesses. Providers of Renewable Energy Certificates
(RECs) and carbon offsets are rushing to help define the market
before a cap and trade system is put in place. In BC, the
government has both the compliance required by the Kyoto
protocol, the goal of carbon neutrality by 2012, and the newly
instituted Carbon Tax. How do all of these elements play
together?
Where do these questions leave communities,
building owners/occupants, and the design and construction
industry? As organizations wrestle with how to legitimately
balance out the negative impacts they have on the environment,
they soon discover how complex a proposition that truly is.
In this session, experts in the production, regulation,
marketing, and purchase of carbon offsets will help to describe
the market and how they relate to the efforts of communities and
buildings to achieve carbon neutrality in both Voluntary (US) and
Compliance (Canada) markets. An interactive session will help to
describe a variety of scenarios for implementation.
Joseph Pallant, B.Sc., MBA, founded Carbon Project Solutions in
2006 to help companies develop and standardize carbon offset
projects for voluntary and compliance markets. He has helped
originate and develop projects under the Kyoto Clean Development
Mechanism and authored ISO 14064-2 Validated project
methodologies. His current focus includes assisting companies to
set up their interaction with the carbon market, and designing
the recently announced Globe Carbon Registry.
Johanna Brickman is responsible for the development and
implementation of ZGF's firmwide sustainable design team effort.
Since joining ZGF in 2000, Johanna's role has been researching
and facilitating the design of efficient and healthy buildings
through the innovative use of materials, technology, and design
techniques. She is an in-house sustainable design resource to
project teams in all ZGF offices, leading EcoCharrettes,
coordinating LEED documentation efforts, and leading in-house
sustainable design project reviews. She facilitates an ongoing
inter-office dialogue about innovative responses to the
challenges of building sustainably. Johanna's project work has
included institutional, civic, commercial office, health care,
laboratory, transit, and large scale residential projects. She
has co-authored research papers including a study of Daylighting
for Patient Rooms in Northwest Hospitals, funded by the Northwest
Energy Efficiency Alliance. She was instrumental in the founding
of the Sustainable Products Purchasers Coalition, on whose board
she also serves.
Help shape the definition of green building materials. In this
session you will get a sneak peak at the Pharos Framework under
development by the Healthy Building Network, University of
Tennessee and Cascadia. Addressing questions on health,
environmental and social issues, we'll explore how the Pharos
Framework defines the ideal for green building materials and
provides a way of scoring the progress that real products are
making on the path to that ideal. We will then use that framework
to map out some of the most widely used green marketing labels
and certifications to better understand what they do and do not
tell us about the materials we put in our buildings. In the
breakout sessions you will get the opportunity to discuss an
aspect of this map in more depth, provide feedback on the
Framework and explore the implications for the future of green
labeling and certification.
Tom Lent is Policy Director for the
Healthy Building Network. He has thirty years of experience with
energy and environmental issues primarily focused on healthy and
resource efficient building technologies and the environmental
impact of buildings, materials, and energy. His career has been
diverse, ranging from energy flow studies of row house attics to
environmental critiques of war in Iraq to employment impact
analyses of national energy investments to health analyses of PVC
backed carpets, to coordinating a national solar and biodiesel
fueled rock concert power system tour. Tom has helped coordinate
development of the Green Guidelines for Health Care (GGHC), LEED™
for Healthcare, Sustainable Bioplastic Guidelines and now the
Pharos Project. He is a recipient of the US EPA IX Environmental
Award for Outstanding Achievement for his work transforming the
building materials market. His house is solar powered, but not
his flight to Living Future.
Jack Geibig is the Director of the Center for Clean Products at
the University of Tennessee. Jack has over 15 years of experience
focused on the evaluation and promotion of clean materials,
products, and processes that restrict the use of toxic materials
and reduce system impacts to both human health and the
environment. Jack is a leader in the development of environmental
product and material standards, materials-based research, and the
application of life-cycle principles and other tools and
approaches leading to sustainable material and product systems.
Current research efforts include the development of Pharos- an
innovative materials rating system for green building, building
green modular housing in the gulf coast, and improving the
sustainability of stone manufacturing operations through the
Natural Stone Council. Jack currently serves on the editorial
board for the Journal of Cleaner Production, and is a guest
lecturer on life-cycle assessment, sustainable materials and
green engineering at UT. Jack holds degrees in both chemical and
environmental engineering and is a licensed Professional
Engineer.
============== ============== ==============
Thor Peterson
Thor Peterson is Research Director for the Cascadia
Region Green Building Council. Prior to Cascadia, he was with the
City of Seattle for nearly 8 years, where he most recently served
as the Residential Expert on the City of Seattle Green Building
Team. In that capacity, Thor worked closely with architects,
builders, developers and homeowners to help increase the
environmental and human health performance of Seattle's
residential building stock. Thor is the primary author of the
City of Seattle's Green Home Remodel guides, a resource for
homeowners that aims to leverage the remodel process to effect
positive environmental change. The guides have since been
reprinted by the City of Chicago, King County, and the Washington
State Department of Ecology.
This session will highlight strategies, resources, and case
studies for successfully specifying and sourcing the full array
of FSC certified wood products. The FSC system is experiencing
dramatic growth, but has yet to reach maturity. Particularly for
Living Building Challenge projects, where all wood is required to
be FSC certified or reclaimed, meeting your projects needs can be
extremely challenging without the proper tools, guidance, and
business relationships. By examining each level of the wood
products supply chain we will provide you with the answers you
need. Roughly half of the time allotted to this session will be
dedicated to Q&A. Sponsored by Columbia Forest Products & Panel
Source International
