Green Building & Environmental Trends : Green Building & Construction LEED AP Consulting : Rich Cartlidge : Environmental Trends, Urban Development

Back in September a Palm Coast ordinance providing for the fast tracking of building permits, relief from permitting fees and  free certification inspection of green buildings by city inspectors hit a roadblock and was tabled. According the the Flagler County News this ordinance was unanimously passed in a modified form this past week. The major sticking point in the original legislation was not resistance to green building itself but rather the provision for unlimited free inspections by city inspectors. The homebuilders group argued that providing unlimited free inspections was going to hurt the business of independent companies who currently provide such services while the city council argued that free inspections would help builders who are currently wary of building green become comfortable with the process. The ordinance is meant to provide an incentive to builders to go green as city manager Jim Landon says: 

"In essence what this does is attempts to not require builders and developers to include more environmentally friendly design, but gives them incentives to do so,"

"We changed the ordinance so we will do one certification per builder with the idea that hopefully they will see some value in continuing that program,"

Are green building incentives and mandates being held up by the market or rather by interest groups who fail to see the bigger picture? Palm Coast is taking steps in the right direction it is a shame to see good legislation being watered down the interests of a small group of independent building inspectors, individuals who presumably want to see green building expand.

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How do we avoid using the words green and sustainable when talking about construction and buildings? A green or sustainable building broken down to its simplest principles is one built upon best construction practices. The best practices yield the best results, buildings that have a low impact on the natural environment, improve occupant comfort and health, and conserve resources such as water, electricity, and construction materials. An article published today on treehugger stated that 98% of products labeled as green are actually greenwashed! Think about it, do we really want to use a word such as green which is rapidly losing its meaning and becoming associated with fraud? I firmly believe at the end of the day anybody building a "green" building is building it to those standards because they want the best, therefore I propose we use the term best practices, which has been widely used in the past to refer to green/sustainable building practices. What do you think? Should we build the best building or continue to use a word which is becoming associated with fraud?

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You might not expect this from someone who has a blog with the word green in its title but the word green needs to vanish from our building vernacular! Why? When we call a building green we are using green as an adjective to set the building on a pedestal and show that it is unique. One of my primary goals with this blog is to educate individuals about sustainable building. A building requires a large output of capital, and should be built to last. Sustainable design and building practices represent the future of the construction industry, a concept which is widely discussed at Konstructr.This week Vik Duggal (@vikdug on twitter) discussed the concept behind Konstructr. If we take a minute to stop and think about his message it should become obvious that green is a word which needs to vanish from our vocabulary. Personally I cannot wait until green is no longer used in reference to buildings and returns to its roots as a word used to describe an object's color. Did the Romans intend to build a green building when they built the temples or the Egyptians when they built the pyramids? No! They built buildings which were made to last, beautiful, sustainable buildings that are still here centuries later. Next time someone asks you about green building tell them its not about "green" its about sustainability. Let us all strive to build the temples and pyramids of our generation.

Photo Credit: Jetsongreen.com

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It is widely agreed that greenhouse gases are a leading cause of global warming. The most plentiful and arguably hardest to regulate of these gases is one which every single one of us is responsible for generating, Carbon Dioxide CO₂. Carbon Dioxide is a natural byproduct of respiration, combustion, and decomposition. Traditionally, the EPA has regulated pollutants which originate from point sources (sources which are stationary, and readily identifiable such as smoke stacks, drainage pipes, and other similar structures) and not from mobile sources such as vehicles, vessels, and other activities such as deforestation.

The new climate change legislation proposed by Representatives Waxman and Markey is divided into four titles the first two of which will be summarized below:

Title I: Clean Energy

•  Renewable Energy
•   Retail electricity suppliers must provide certain percentages of their load with electricity generated from renewable resources such as wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass.
•  The following amounts of energy must be from renewable source, 6% in 2012 stepped up to 25% in 2025

·         Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS)             

o   Enables coal to continue to be used for electricity generation while reducing global warming by capturing and injecting the carbon dioxide into underground wells.

·         Clean Fuels and Vehicles

o   Establishes low-carbon fuel standard to promote biofuels. Additionally authorizes grants or loan guarantees for large-scale demonstration of electric vehicles.

·         Smart Grid and Electricity Transmission

o   Provides for deployment of a smart grid including measures to promote smart grip capability in new appliances. Also directs the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to provide for new transmission lines to carry electricity from renewable sources.

·         Partnership with States

o   Form a State Energy and Environmental Development Fund in each state to serve as repository for federal money for clean energy and energy efficiency projects

·         Federal Purchase of Renewable Energy

o   Federal agencies may enter into long term contracts to purchase renewable electricity

Title II: Energy Efficiency

·         Building Energy Efficiency

o   Federal funding and training for states that adopt advanced building codes.

o   Directs the EPA to develop procedures for rating building energy efficiency

·         Appliance Energy Efficiency

o   Codifies efficiency standards for lighting and other appliances.

o   Improves DOE process for setting energy efficiency standards and strengthens the cost-effectiveness test to establish minimum standards. Incentives are provided to retailers who sell high volumes of “Best-In-Class” appliances.

·         Transportation Efficiency

o   Seeks to harmonize vehicle emission standards of the EPA, California, and Federal fuel economy standards.

o   Directs EPA to set emission standards for locomotives, marine vessels, and nonroad sources.

o   Large metropolitan planning organizations must submit plans which establish goals for reducing global warming pollution from the transportation sector.

·         Utilities Energy Efficiency

o   Distribution companies must show their customers have achieved a 1% electricity savings and 0.75% natural gas savings in 2012 and increase to 15% electricity savings and 10% natural gas savings by 2020.

·         Industrial Energy Efficiency

o   Secretary of Energy is required to establish standards for industrial energy efficiency and to seek ANSI recognition of the standard.

·         Public and Federal Energy Efficiency

o   Amends the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 to include nonprofit hospitals and public health facilities as public institutions eligible for grants and loans for energy efficiency.

Later this week part two of this series will focus on the remaining two titles of the proposed legislation as well as what it means from a regulatory prospective as well as its implications for green building.

 A copy of the draft legislation can be found here.

The executive summary of the legislation can be found here.

An excellent article form the New York Times explains some of the problems the EPA will have with implementing the new legislation if it becomes law.

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