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Jump to next storyBe a beta tester for the new Cascadia Communities Coalition Wiki!
We are happy to announce that Cascadia
Region Green Building Council is launching the beta version of its
Cascadia Communities Coalition wiki. This website allows municipal sustainability staff, state and
provincial sustainability policy advisors, social and environmental
sustainability policy advocates and educators, to share information
much more quickly and in a more compressed and focused way than email,
listserves or other modes of communication. We heard it from you! You
wanted a quicker, easier way to share information.
The Cascadia Communities Coalition Wiki
- Stay up to date with sustainable activities in the Cascadia region and beyond. For example, check out the pages for some of North America's most progressive cities: Vancouver, BC; Seattle, WA; Portland, OR; North Vancouver, BC; Chicago, Boston, San Francisco or New York.
- Find LEED Study Group in your area. These forums are now available on the Cascadia Communities Coalition wiki, making it easy for study groups to self-organize. If you are studying to become a LEED® AP and would like to study or network with others in your area (in the US or Canada) doing the same, please click here to find or organize a study group in your area.
- Compare information according to type, jurisdiction, or geographical location. So start by looking at pages like: Green Building or see Municipal Green Building Policy, International Green Building Policy, or the related areas of Affordable and Workforce Housing, Clean Tech, Climate and Energy Toolkits, Energy Case Studies or International Climate Policy.
- Be inspired! Edit pages, add new pages and content! If you decide to do more than edit existing content, then just read: "So you want to be a wiki author" first! If you run into any troubles, don't hesitate to email Karen and she can direct you to the answer asap.
- Browse subject categories according to your area of interest or specialization. Check out pages like: Local Food Systems, Arts and Culture, or Water and Stormwater. You will notice that some categories are almost completely empty, waiting for your knowledge and enthusiasm.
- Embed news stories, videos, pictures, documents, maps and links. Learn how, in "So you want to be a wiki author"
Please note that this is an apolitical space for sharing information. Also, expect your entries to be changed and edited: do not expect literary permanence as this is a collaboration.
How To Be A Beta Tester
- Go to: http://wiki.cascadiagbc.org and click “create an account”. This is a spam-protection feature, and will allow Cascadia staff, interns and volunteers to ensure that the wiki content remains neutral, professional, and appropriate.
- Next, try to edit or add content. Don’t be afraid - mistakes can be fixed.
- Contact us if you would like some training; Karen will gather a list of people interested in a webinar if it is of interest.
- Please fill out this survey. For those of you who don’t have time to do this after your initial survey of the wiki, we will be contacting you at the end of June to get your feedback.
PermalinkCascadia Releases Study on the Value of Green Building
New analysis helps explain the value of green commercial buildings
Click here to download the study
Report will help bridge the communication gap between green building and financial communities
(June 23, 2009) Portland, OR – Green building may be booming, especially in the Northwest, but the claims made for high-performance buildings have been slow to gain traction in the financial community. Appraisers, lenders, investors and brokers have found it difficult to confirm the value of high-performance green features and related savings. A new study of office buildings in Seattle, Portland and Vancouver, BC by the Cascadia Region Green Building Council, the Vancouver Valuation Accord and Cushman & Wakefield identifies how high-performance green features and systems can increase the value of commercial buildings. The report outlines how value was achieved and how sustainable attributes impact costs, savings, investment income, and capital value. It is a tool to help bridge the gap in understanding between the green building and financial communities.
The value proposition for each of the three buildings is as follows:
- 200 Market Place in Portland, OR (LEED-EB) – This property leads by example with its green retrofit. It has competitive rents and higher levels of occupancy than its non-green competitors. The building also has declining operating expenditures after certification.
- Alley24 East in Seattle, WA (LEED-CS) – This building had a comparatively quick absorption period, attracted and retained high quality tenants, achieved competitive rents, and now has higher-than-average levels of occupancy.
- Vancouver Centre in Vancouver, BC – This project achieved a 19% Return on Investment from undertaking an energy-efficient retrofit, as well as the potential for higher rates of return through the use of a different lease structure.
“This research makes much-needed progress in explaining how sustainable building attributes affect value,” says Brandon Smith, Chief Operating Officer of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council. “The design and construction communities will benefit from a better understanding of how value is determined and achieved by green strategies, so they can communicate more effectively with owners and developers. The financial sector will benefit from understanding how to increase asset value through more sustainable approaches.”
Click here to download the study
This investigative study is part of a larger northwest regional effort conducted by a coalition of nonprofit, private sector and local government organizations. There is an associated report on the residential sector that documents the superior market performance of third-party certified homes over non-green homes. That report is available on the Earth Advantage website.
Contact:
Brandon Smith, Cascadia Region Green Building Council
Email / 503-758-8562
Trim Tab, Spring 2009
Cascadia is delighted to present our second issue of Trim Tab, which contains the same provocative content and includes even more!
Explore the unique, transformational design of Miller | Hull’s Discovery Center. Learn the benefits of centering with aikido expert Thomas Crum. Ponder the implications of high-density development in Transformational Thought. This issue also takes a look at the Living Building Challenge Financial Study and how to find your leadership potential. We’ve also added a cartoon--The Green Wash.
In this Issue:
- Transformational Design: Discovery Center at South Lake Union
- Transformational People: Thomas Crum
- Transformational Thought: Density and Sustainability--A Radical Perspective
- Features: The Bottom Line on Living Buildings; Leadership: Scarce Resource or Vast Reservoir?
- New sections and more!
Read Trim Tab now!
Lifecycle Building Challenge 3 is issued
Enter the third year of the Lifecycle Building Challenge competition, to shape the future of green building and facilitate local building materials reuse.
Lifecycle building is the design of building materials, components, information systems, and management practices to create buildings that facilitate and anticipate future changes to and eventual adaptation or dismantling for recovery of all systems, components, and materials.
Submit your innovative project, design, or idea for reducing to conserve construction and demolition materials and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by designing buildings for adaptability and disassembly.
Deadline for submissions: August 15, 2009
More information...
Launch of International Living Building Institute
The idea of a Living Building, a high-performance building that produces its own power and cleans and reuses all of its water, is gaining momentum around the world. In an effort to oversee the global development of Living Buildings, the International Living Building Institute (ILBI) has been established.
Growing Green Collar Jobs in BC
Jessica Woolliams was a featured contributor to the April/May 2009 edition of The Trowel. Her article can be found online here.
Growing green Collar Jobs through expansion of the green building cluster in british columbia
BC Context
British Columbia is known as a leader in green building across Canada, with the most LEED projects per capita and a wealth of pioneers in the green building movement. It joins the Pacific Northwest in being the regional place of true green leadership with strongest American programming and resources coming from Seattle and Portland. The premier’s recent decision to adopt LEED Gold for all government buildings and to set rigorous standards for carbon neutrality further strengthens this perception and reality. The February 2007 Throne Speech announced the development of new green requirements in the BC Building Code, that support the province’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gases. The Ministry of Community Services announcement indicated that once Bill 27 (Local Government Green Communities Statutes Amendment Act, 2008) comes into force, local governments will be required to include greenhouse gas emission targets, policies, and actions in their Official Community Plans. As of January 14, 151 local governments have signed on to the BC Climate Action Charter, committing to carbon neutral municipal operations by 2012.
Despite all this good news, it is Cascadia’s belief that BC’s building and construction industry is actually poised to lose significant ground compared with its key competitors in Ontario, Washington, Oregon, and California unless key policy decisions are made at all levels. BC is already losing ground to Ontario in terms of the number of LEED projects and LEED accredited professionals, and is on course to become less competitive in the emerging green economy if changes aren’t made soon.
It’s the Capacity, Stupid
Though BC has more certified projects per capita, the chart below indicates Ontario has more in total for the first time since the launch of LEED in Canada. Compared with Oregon, Washington, and California, however, the situation is more serious. Even before the Obama administration injected significant funding into the green building and renewable energy industries, the cities of Portland and Seattle far outstripped what is happening in Vancouver, Victoria, or any Western Canadian community. If unchecked, future development will see more American companies outcompeting BC companies, and a ‘brain-drain’ of our existing provincial expertise as they leave for more opportunities south of the border.
The problem is that on large projects or when an expert is required, we often bring in expertise from the US, since our neighbors are ready for green collar jobs. Are we? Since 2000 when the Green Buildings BC program—Canada’s first green building program—was developed, the core challenge identified has been capacity. Still in 2009, there simply are not enough trained professionals in the areas of design, governance, builders, developers, and real estate professionals.
Education
The good news is that the building sector is poised to lead the green collar sector, and to be a critical part of government solutions to both economic stimulus and carbon reductions. Green building efforts throughout the region have shown it’s possible to construct buildings that use anywhere between 40 and 60% less energy than a conventional structure within the economic parameters of a typical project provided that a knowledgeable team is in place coupled with an integrated design process and a knowledgeable construction crew and operations team. This starts to explain why, according to a 2008 report by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, endorsed by the UN, green building is the fastest and cheapest way to lower North America’s contribution to global climate change. From Cascadia’s perspective, education is a key part of the solution. Here are a few ways to get involved:
Call for Submissions for Green Skyline Tours
Do you live or work in a building that should be on our annual tour of green buildings? Or is there a building or a block, a park, or a shed that is exemplary for its environmental or social sustainability for which you could provide a tour? This year we are accepting submissions for tours in the Vancouver area, Victoria area, Okanagan, and Kootenay-Rockies.
Canadian LEED Flash Cards
Now Available These flashcards test your knowledge on all portions of the Canadian LEED reference guide covered by the exam. Study tips also included. LEED for Homes Launched The new LEED for Homes Rating System, which promotes the design and construction of high-performance green homes, is now launched in Canada.
Ms. Woolliams has been working to mainstream sustainable buildings through advancing critical policy, programs, and training with municipalities and other institutions for almost a decade. Jessica comes to Cascadia from Light House Sustainable Building Centre, where she was a founding director, and she brings extensive green building consulting experience in both the public and non-profit realms. As a consultant, Jessica helped establish Green Buildings BC, Canada’s first green building program in 2000. Jessica has published both academically and professionally and has lectured at Harvard, BCIT, SFU, and UBC.
City of Vancouver/ Clark County Code Study
City of Vancouver/ Clark County Code Study
Cascadia is working with the City of Vancouver, WA, and Clark County, WA, to identify and address code and regulatory barriers to the Living Building Challenge for sustainable, affordable, residential development. The Code Study identified 6 green residential projects built or under development in the region that were assessed against Cascadia’s Living Building Challenge criteria. A detailed review of the case study projects against the city and county’s land use, development, and building codes was performed to highlight the potential obstacles projects may encounter. This project is funded through the Washington State Department of Community Trade & Economic Development.
Click Here to download the study!
Living Building Financial Study Released!
A subsequent endeavor to the widely distributed ‘Packard Sustainability Matrix’, published by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation in 1999, the purpose of Cascadia’s Financial Study is to investigate the economic obstacles to creating Living Buildings, and determine how these vary based on building type and location. Using an RFP process, Cascadia contracted with a multi-disciplinary team, including SERA Architects, Gerding/Edlen Development, Skanska Construction, Interface Engineering, and New Buildings Institute.
Click Here do download the Executive Summary, Matrix, and for more information!
Living Building Challenge on NPR
Houston NPR station KUHF mentioned the Living Building Challenge in a recent news segment.
Click Here to download the segment.
Cascadia CEO Jason F. McLennan on Living Shelter Radio Show
In the world of green building, the time for baby steps is past and the time for bold, monumental change is upon us. Jason is the driving force behind some of the most highly inspirational tools for facilitating this change, and in this interview discusses their beautiful simplicity and accessibility. Click Here to listen.
Portland Habitat for Humanity home completed--LEED Platinum anticipated!
The winning design of Cascadia's 2007 Natural Talent Design Competition has come to life! The project, designed by David Posada and Scott Mooney, was chosen by Habitat for Humanity Portland/Metro East for their site at 602 NE Webster St. in the Alberta District. The resulting building, which was completed this month, is duplex (a four-bedroom and a two-bedroom) that is expected to earn a LEED for Homes Platinum rating.
A team of sponsors were instrumental in making the project possible, including Walsh Construction and Bank of America.
On March 31, 2009, an official opening ceremony and press conference took place to commemorate this important milestone for Habitat for Humanity, Cascadia, and the whole affordable housing community in Portland.
According to the U.S. Green Building Council, there are only 14 housing projects in the entire state of Oregon with a gold or platinum rating—and none of those fall under the category of “affordable housing.”
Some of the features of the homes on NE Webster include:
● FSC Certified framing lumber from local sources.
● Standing seam metal roofing from Taylor roofing.
● Faswall, a wood-chip Insulated Concrete Form (ICF) locally produced with recycled wood fiber is used in the low walls of both homes.
● American Clay interior plaster produced from local clay by local craftsmen.
● Yolo Colorhouse provided locally produced, organically based paint product.
● SIPs panels and standing seam metal roof manufactured in Oregon.
● Marvin Integrity Fiberglass windows and patio doors.
● Owens-Corning Blown-in fiberglass insulation and rigid foam insulation.
● Fly-ash in concrete.
● Concrete from demolition re-used for landscape pavers.
● Decks constructed from reclaimed discarded wood.
● Paperstone countertops in one unit, Urea-Formaldehyde free laminate counters in the other.
● Urea-formaldehyde free composite woods and cabinets.
● Marmoleum floors in kitchen, bath, and utility areas.
● 100% wool carpets with 100% jute backing in sleeping areas.
Read the article in The Oregonian
USGBC announces official launch of LEED v3
The LEED green building certification program’s greatest strength lies in its consensus-based, transparent, ongoing development cycle. On April 27, 2009, the next version of LEED will launch. The ability to be flexible allows LEED to evolve, taking advantage of new technologies and advancements in building science while prioritizing energy efficiency and CO2 emissions reductions.
Important Dates
Learn more on USGBC's website...
Discover the USGBC educational offerings Cascadia has planned for 2009
2 Desks For Rent In Cascadia's Seattle Office.
2 Desks for rent in Cascadia's Downtown Seattle Office located in the heart of Pioneer Square. Herman Miller workstation, Mirra Chair, plenty of daylight, internet connection, access to printer, scanner and fax. Walking distance from Train station, cafes, restaurants and public transit. Potential renters should have a strong mission fit with Cascadia. $500/mo. Learn more about Cascadia at www.cascadiagbc.org. For more information please contact Brandon Smith at the link below:
Canadian LEED Flash Cards Now Available!
Prepare to succeed on the LEED-NC AP Exam with over 330 Q&A style "Flash Cards" based on the LEED-NC Green Building Rating System. Created by experienced LEED practitioners, the flashcards test your knowledge on all portions of the LEED reference guide covered by the exam. Study tips also included. Canadian Flash Cards use Version 1.0. and U.S. Flash Cards use Version 2.2.
Flashcards are sent electronically as a PDF, and can be printed and cut for easy usability.
Get crackin' today!
Click Here to order the CANADIAN LEED Flashcards!
Click Here to order the U.S. LEED Flashcards!
*You will receive your electronic copy upon online payment. The document is designed with 10 questions to a page, not as individual flashcards. The cards will not be sent in hardcopy format.
Call for Submissions for Green Skyline Tours
Do you live or work in a building that should be on our annual tour of green buildings? Or is there a building or a block, a park or a shed that is exemplary for its environmental or social sustainability for which you could provide a tour? This year we are accepting submissions for tours in the Vancouver area, Victoria area, Okanagan and Kootenay-Rockies.
Click here for more information on Green Skyline and how to submit your building
Green Broker Certificate Program Launched
The Commercial Brokers Association and Cascadia Region Green Building Council
Initiate the Certified Green Broker Education Program
SEATTLE, WA, February 24, 2009 – CBA (Commercial Brokers Association), in partnership with the Cascadia Region Green Building Council, has launched an online Certified Green Broker education program designed for commercial real estate industry professionals. The program’s objective is to train brokers to adequately counsel clients on sustainability business practices. The course is available online and can be accessed from any computer via the Internet at any time day or night.
The Certified Green Broker course syllabus, overview and a live demonstration are available for public preview.
“In today’s economic climate, being able to properly distinguish a green building with lower operating and maintenance costs from more conventional structures is a significant advantage,” said Jason F. McLennan, CEO of Cascadia. “Brokers who can understand and convey the emerging language and technology of green building will see their own position in the market rise.”
For the full press release, click here
Cascadia's 2009 Programming Guide Now Available!
Cascadia is delighted to announce that our 2009 Programming Guide is now available!
Download the Guide to view the training opportunities that we are offering for 2009 across the bioregion.
Share it with your colleagues, clients, business partners and friends.
Pick up a hard copy at one of our offices or events.
Equip yourself with the knowledge and skills necessary to transform the building industy!
Living Future 09: Register Today!
Don't miss your chance to join the gathering of the continent's most advanced green buliding professionals!
To make truly transformative change, we need you there.
Visit the Unconference website for more details.
Announcing Trim Tab!
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Welcome to a new era of communication at Cascadia: Trim Tab! Every three months, you will receive this online magazine awash with provocative articles, interviews and news on the issues, designs, and people that are truly transforming the built environment. Our mission with Trim Tab is to incite deep discussion and inspire the real solutions that our industry must undertake to address the global challenges we face. Click Here to read Trim Tab now!
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RFP- Development of Feasibility Analysis of a Living Building Sustainability Center
The Portland Development Commission (PDC) has released a RFP for the development of a feasibility analysis of a Living building Sustainability Center of Excellence in Portland, OR. Click Here for more information and to download the RFP.
