What is sustainable design? "Sustainability" is a concept similar to infinity — you can approach it, but you can never get there. A truly sustainable project would be one that consumed resources in an amount less than or equal to the resources it created. Its waste must serve as fuel for some other process, so that there is, in effect, no waste at all. Its models are the so-called "closed-loop" systems of production, examples of which abound in nature. The oxygen-carbon dioxide cycle shared by plants and animals, for instance. Our waste, carbon dioxide, is their food, and their waste, oxygen, is ours.
To mimic that kind of efficiency is a tall order. The concept of "green" design is a little less aggressive. It is about efficient use of resources, and a symbiotic relationship with the site. Vernacular architectural tradition offers many examples: the tipi, the igloo, the adobe house. These forms evolved as a response to the climatic and topographical characteristics of the regions in which they were created — if you move a tipi to Alaska, it just doesn't work. These building types represent a specific adaptation. They are connected to their environment, shaped by their context, informed by their place and responsive to the conditions they inhabit.
The Building Industry's Role
Modern buildings, however, have a sameness about them. Take an office tower in Chicago and compare it to one in Dallas, and you'll find few, if any, dissimilarities. They have nothing to do with the place that they are a part of, and less to do with the comfort and health of their inhabitants.
Moreover, the commercial building industry in the United States consumes 17 percent of the fresh water, 25 percent of harvested wood and 40 percent of the total energy produced in the world. Commercial buildings in the United States create 50 percent of the CFCs in the atmosphere and 33 percent of the carbon dioxide; 40 percent of all landfill waste is construction and demolition waste (World Watch Institute). If we want to save our industry, as well as our habitat, we need to build smarter buildings.
The High-Performance Building
Enter the concept of the high-performance building: resource-efficient, energy-efficient, with better amenities than conventional buildings. The benefits of green strategies are multiple and cumulative. Better indoor air quality means better health for the occupants and greater productivity for their businesses. The reduced impact to the environment means better health for the ecosystem of which the building is a part. Economic benefits include higher property values and lower utility bills, as well as enhanced marketability and public relations opportunities.
Economic benefits
Does it cost more to build a high-performance building? Yes and no. The City of Seattle, which now requires that all new or renovated buildings be designed to achieve, at a minimum, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver rating, reports a four percent increase in total costs for projects over $10 million, and six percent for projects less than $10 million. But, depending on what strategies are employed, payback can occur in as little as four months and typically no longer than 10 years.
Meanwhile, efforts are underway to secure economic advantages for owners who develop high-performance buildings from both the finance and the insurance industries. Right now, the focus is on energy costs, which can have a substantial effect on a property's net operating income, and thus affect the capital value of the building. Appraisers and lenders — as well as commercial investors — are beginning to recognize the increased asset value of energy-efficient buildings with more favorable loan conditions and higher purchase prices.
There is also growing awareness among both professional liability and property and casualty insurers
that high-performance buildings present a lower risk. While premium credits and lower deductibles aren't available yet, they are on the horizon.
The biggest obstacle for both industries has been the relative scarcity of data available for the appraisers to make their calculations and comparisons. But that's changing. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy, all maintain growing databases of evidence and other tools that help appraisers with their calculations and comparisons.
The marketing benefits are less obscure. The Wall Street Journal reported last May about building owners in California who are capitalizing on the energy crisis — which threatens to be more than a short-term issue. Landlords there are successfully promoting (often older) properties with operable windows, skylights and prime grid locations, and some cases, even spending money to add energy-efficient features to their buildings as a strategy to attract tenants.
Furthermore, people like green buildings better. Studies show that features like operable windows, user-controlled environments, daylight and good air quality reduce absenteeism, provide a sense of well-being and improve concentration and productivity. The fact is, green buildings attract workers and the companies who care about keeping them. Being aware of these issues, and allowing that awareness to inform your decisions about the project from the beginning, is the key to getting a greener building without escalating the project costs. The transition to green buildings is essentially mental. It is a matter of thinking about the development process in a different way.
From Control to Cooperation
I grew up the daughter of a sailor, and although power boats might have gotten us across the lake faster, I always felt that sailing was infinitely more elegant — even magical. The way the sails snapped into trim, and the boat was suddenly pulled forward — silently, like the boat had a mind of its own. Why can't buildings take advantage of nature's power in this way? Simply, cleanly, without a lot of moving parts and complicated technology? Conventional buildings try to control it all — and as a result they do far more work than they have to. Green buildings are like sailboats with auxiliary motors: you use the wind when you have it, and make up the difference with machines when you don't.
For the site:
Minimize the disturbance by working the building plan into the topography.
Choose native species in the landscaping design to reduce the need for irrigation and eliminate the need for fertilizers and pesticides.
Protect groundwater and reduce runoff by using permeable surfaces for paved areas.
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Thinking from a sustainable point of view means asking the question: How can the project exist on the site without taking away the resources it provided to the community before the project came?
This moves away from parasitic behavior, but the definition of "symbiosis" is a relationship that is mutually beneficial. So the real question is, how can the project move from low- to no-negative-impact, into the realm of positive impact? How do you give in return for what you get?
A textile manufacturing facility in Switzerland uses water in its processes. They re-engineered their product to eliminate dozens of chemicals and filtered the water, leaving the facility to protect water quality from adverse impact from their work. They did the job so well that the water going out was cleaner than the water going in. A resort in Oregon provides excellent facilities for human recreation, but is also committed to restoring native species. Through their efforts, there's been a marked increase in species diversity on their property, helping the ecosystem while making the place that much more special for the visitors, who now enjoy a wildlife-populated nature trail.
For the building:
Remember the conventional wisdom forgotten with the arrival of freon:
Shade the south and west exposures of the building by planting trees or incorporating shading devices into the building envelope.
Use skylights and clerestories to take advantage of free light provided by the sun.
Use operable windows in temperate climates to take advantage of cool ambient temperatures and natural air movement.
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From Using Resources to Creating Resources
Look for opportunities to use your project as a collector/distributor of natural assets. In harvesting daylight, it's very likely that your project will include sunlight control devices to block unwanted direct light. Direct sunlight is exactly what solar panels like. Thus, your shading devices could earn their keep in two ways — providing shade and being modest power generators.
Large roofs require a storm-water control strategy of some kind. Why not collect that water in a cistern and use it to irrigate the landscaping? Or, use it as gray water in the building. Or maybe you've decided to use a vegetated roof to control storm water. Design it with walkways, and it doubles as an outdoor amenity for the building tenants.
Resources
The good news is that resources already exist for you to draw upon. The LEED Rating System, a set of guidelines developed by the USGBC is rapidly becoming the accepted standard for green design and development. Based on proven technology that evaluates environmental performance from a "whole building" perspective over a building's life cycle, it provides a definitive standard for what constitutes a "green building." Different levels of green building certification are awarded based on the total credits earned.
What now?
The first, and most critical step on the path to high-performance buildings is simple: awareness. Awareness is all you need to shift your point of view. From there, your strategy is a matter of degree: whether it's as simple as choosing a previously developed site over a green field, or as aggressive as incorporating on-site, renewable-resource power generation.
After that, the single-most effective way to create green buildings that minimize, or even eliminate, first-cost increases and maximize payback is to start early. Sustainable strategies that are integrated into the project from the beginning will provide the greatest return on your investment. That means getting your architect, contractor and consultant team working together up front, as early as site selection, no later than conceptual design.
When you think of designing your building as if you were setting and trimming the sails of a boat, you are thinking with nature. In so doing, you create an opportunity for yourself to sit back and let nature work her magic. You will also be expending less effort for what I would argue is a richer experience. Now that's power.
Mary Casey, AIA, is an Associate with Seattle-based Callison Architecture. She is a LEED-Accredited Professional and a certified Sustainable Building Professional.
Sustainable design can actually make you money. So why aren't more owners and developers doing it? Mostly, it has to do with lack of knowledge. Once owners understand the economic implications of green design strategies, the term "knowledge is power" takes on a whole new meaning.