August
2001
Contents
Message
From the Executive Director
. Education:
A Large Part of What We Do
Conservation
Easements:
. Fariview
Farms Preserved
. Four
Columns Property Preserved
. Paris
Mountain Property Preserved
. Sloan
Family Grants Conservation
Easement on 200 Acres of Land In
Southern Greenville County
Conservation
Bank Act
. Conservation
Bank Act Stalls in Legislature
Green
Development
. New
Directions in Land Use and Design
. Upstate
Forever's Green Schools Initiative
Staff,
Board, Members and Volunteers
. Kris
Yon, Leon Patterson, Keith Marrero Join Upstate Forever Board of Directors
. Staff
News and UF Field Trips
GREEN DEVELOPMENT:
New Directions
in
Land Use and Design
| Baxter
Village in Fort Mill, South Carolina features homes of all sizes
and types, a town cnter of shops, restaurants and offices, 26 miles
of walking trails, and 400 acres of green space. 2 |
"Green Development" describes the dramatic change-many call it a revolution-in the way buildings are constructed, sites are developed and energy is consumed. This article discusses the five key principles of green development that are showing us how to achieve buildings and places that improve performance, are cleaner and healthier, and cost less to operate and maintain. A win-win-win!
Conservation-Based
Design
The
conventional approach to development is to prepare the design first and
then "make it fit" the site. This often means massive grading
of the property, the flattening of hills, and the obliteration of trees.
The philosophy of green development is just the opposite: The natural
conditions of the site are given paramount consideration in designing
the development. As a result, there is usually little or no impact on
the significant resources and features of the property.
Energy-Efficient
Building Design
The
United States wastes a mind-boggling amount of energy, estimated at $200
billion per year.3 Green developers are addressing this problem
by designing and constructing buildings to use energy as efficiently as
possible. This translates into significant reductions in the cost of operating
and maintaining the building.
A green building may cost a little more to construct, but this additional cost is quickly recouped through reduced energy costs. At the Durant Middle School in Raleigh, North Carolina, for example, the energy savings resulting from the use of natural daylighting paid for the additional $115,000 in construction costs in just the first two years of the school's operation.4 Over the life of the school (several decades), these savings will become quite dramatic.
| Studies have shown that the use of natural daylighting alone improves student performance by 20 per cent on math tests and by 26 per cent on reading tests. 5 |
Capital costs can even be less. In some green buildings, designers have been able to completely eliminate the need for heating and cooling systems through the use of "super windows," heat-recovery ventilators and similar devices. The result: a building that is less expensive both to construct and operate.6
| "Green buildings do not poison the air with fumes nor the soul with artificiality. Instead, they create delight when entered, serenity and health when occupied, and regret when departed." |
| A. Lovins, H. Lovins and Hawken, Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution (1999), p.110. |
Using Materials That Do Not Degrade Indoor Air Quality
Indoor air quality has emerged as one of the nation's most serious public health and environmental problems. EPA reports that indoor levels of some pollutants are 2 to 5 times higher_and occasionally 100 times higher_than outdoor levels.7 The problem is of particular concern because most Americans spend 90 per cent of their time indoors.8
Poor indoor air quality can cause or contribute to asthma, respiratory infections, and lung disease. Indeed, asthma among school children has reached epidemic levels in the United States, affecting one out of every 13 students.9 Less serious effects include nausea, headaches, nasal congestion, and fatigue.
Indoor air quality can be improved significantly by avoiding the use of harmful materials in both the construction and maintenance of buildings, such as pesticides, arsenic-treated wood, and materials with high rates of release of volatile organic compounds.
Recycled
Land, Buildings and Materials
Recycling
is a strong and recurring theme in green projects and often encompasses
all aspects of the development. The land itself can be recycled by cleaning
up abandoned or underused "brownfield sites" and returning them
to productive economic use. Likewise, old buildings can be brought back
to life, providing wonderful places to live and work. Where an entire
building cannot be restored, at least its wood, brick and other materials
can be used in building a new structure. Finally, products made from recycled
materials have important "off site" benefits because they avoid
the depletion of virgin resources and reduce the amount of waste going
into landfills.
| "In
the United States, buildings account for roughly 36% of energy consumption,
64% of electricity use, 35%
of greenhouse emissions, and 37% of ozone depletion. In a typical
year, building construction consumes 30 billion board feet of lumber,
50 million tons of concrete, and vast quantities of other resources.
The ongoing environ-mental impacts of buildings are staggering and
threaten the ecological systems that support life, from the ozone
layer to the world's forests. More and more people-from architects
and contractors to building managers and homeowners-are realizing
that changing the way we build has become imperative. Choosing products
and materials that are renewable, biodegradable, low in embodied
energy, and resource efficient is an important step in reducing
the negative impact-and enhancing the positive impact-of any building." |
Less
Harmful Strategies for Managing Wastewater and Storm Water
Our
current approach to the management of wastewater and storm water is to
"pipe it away." But we now realize that this practice has serious
consequences both for taxpayers (these pipes are not cheap) and for those
persons who live downstream from the pipes. Lake Greenwood is a case in
point-the lake's thick and unhealthy algal blooms dramatically show what
can happen when the upstream community (Greenville) relies on the "pipe
it away" approach.
Green developers view water differently-not as an "enemy" to be driven off the site as quickly as possible but rather as a resource that can enhance and benefit the project. This philosophy has been the inspiration for many exciting new strategies for handling storm water and wastewater, including the following:
- Rain Gardens: Shallow, landscaped gardens that capture, retain and clean up storm water runoff and allow it to slowly infiltrate into the ground.
- Grasspave2: An interlocking series of rugged plastic grids that are filled with soil and planted with grass. The system can support the weight of cars and trucks, while allowing the infiltration of rainwater. For more information about Grasspave2 and similar systems, see www.invisiblestructures.com.
- Constructed Wetlands: Artificial versions of natural wetlands that use plants and soils and their associated microorganisms to remove contaminants from wastewater. Many of these systems also provide valuable habitat for wildlife.
- Rainwater Catchment Systems: These systems capture rainwater, hold it on site, and use it for irrigation and even drinking water.
| Once an abandoned cotton warehouse, the West End Building in downtown Greenville is now home to shops, restaurants and offices. Upstate Forever's office is located on the third floor. Photo courtesy of Scott Johnston. |
DEFINING
"GREEN"
More and more developers and suppliers
are now claiming to be "green." It is important, therefore,
to develop specific criteria for putting these claims to the test and
determining if the particular product or development is truly green. Fortunately,
some reliable tests have been developed, including:
- "LEED" (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design):LEED is a rating and certification system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, a broad-based, non-profit organization whose members include the American Institute of Architects, the Bank of America, Target Stores, the National Audubon Society and hundreds of other businesses and groups. The LEED system provides specific criteria on what constitutes a "green building." For more information, see www.usgbc.org/programs/leed.html.
- "GreenSpec":"GreenSpec" is a comprehensive guide to over 1,200 environmentally responsible building materials and products published by the editors of Environmental Building News. It is an invaluable resource for architects, designers, builders, government officials and homeowners. See www.greenspec.com for more information.
- Earth Craft Homes:This program is similar to LEED but is focused exclusively on residential homes. Participating builders have to attend a one-day training course and agree to build a minimum of five Earth Craft homes per year (or 10% of total homes built, if total is less than 50 per year). Each registered home must meet specific criteria for site planning, energy efficiency, resource efficiency, waste management, indoor air quality, and water management. The program is currently available only in the Atlanta region, but hopefully it will be extended to other areas in the near future. For more information, see www.earthcrafthouse.com.
Conclusion
Green development
has taken off, and all signs are that the movement will only get stronger
in the coming years. As William Becker, Director of Excellence for Sustainable
Development with the U.S. Department of Energy, said: "In the not
too distant future, all development will be green. Developers, builders,
and buyers will discover that green not only enhances their pocketbooks,
but also the health and the quality of their lives. The developers who
grasp this first will have an edge in a massive emerging market."10
A recent report, Clean Tech: Profits and Potential,11 predicts that the market for clean technologies will increase from less than $7 billion today to over $82 billion by 2010 and that investors will pour money into green companies at an accelerating rate. In short, green development promises to become the foundation for clean and sustainable societies throughout the world.
1 From Arendt, Conservation Designs for Subdivisions (1996), pp. 60 and 68.
2 www.villageofbaxter.com.
3 A. Lovins, H. Lovins and Hawken, Natural Capitalism (1999), p. 57.
4 Thayer, "A Daylit School in North Carolina," www.wattwatchers.org/nm/daylit.html
5 Heschong Mahone Group, "Daylighting in Schools: An Investigation into the Relationship between Daylighting and Human Performance,"
www.h-m-g.com.
6 Natural Capitalism, p.103.
7 EPA,
"Indoor Air Quality," www.epa.gov/iaq.
8 Id.
9 EPA, "IAQ Tools for Schools," www.epa.gov/schools.
10 Wilson et al, Green Development: Integrating Ecology and Real Estate, inside cover.
11 The report is summarized at www.oikos.com/news/2001/05.html.
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