To My Fine
Feathered Friends
# 1
It’s Not Easy Being Green….(Kermit)…….Or Is It?
Since the
RareBirds Housing Cooperative began meeting almost a year ago we were clear
that one of our values was ‘ environmental responsibility and sustainable
practices in our
community living.’
(Living On Purpose document)
However, as time
has passed, I realize that my knowledge/ understanding of ‘ green and
sustainable practices’ is limited. I needed to be more conversant with current
definitions, practices and technology specific to green and sustainable housing
options since we may be moving in that direction.
It seems important
to have this information so that we can have conversations that help us delineate
the green/ sustainable possibilities available. Thus leading us to informed
decisions about these priorities in our RareBird housing options.
Wikipedia defines
green building/ construction as “ construction practices/ techniques to
decrease and diminish impacts of building on the environment and human health.”
It includes decreased energy consumption through decreases in 1) embodied
energy which is energy required to extract, process, transport, install building
materials and 2) operating energy which provides heat, electricity etc.. As
operating energy becomes more
efficiently delivered, it becomes even more important that issues around
embodied energy are dealt with as well. It is estimated that 30% of energy
consumption is embodied energy over the life cycle of any building. As an example,
the use of wood in any building decreases embodied energy consumption when
compared to brick or concrete.
Sustainability is
“ meeting the needs of present generations without compromising future
generations in meeting their needs.”
As soon as I started
reading about sustainable/ green building the acronym LEED (www.usgbc.org) popped up. It is an American
association started in 1994 providing leadership in energy and environmental
design. The Canadian equivalent established in 2009, is the Canadian Green
building council ( www.cagbc.org/homes). LEED certified
homes are designed and constructed in accordance with rigorous guidelines of
the LEED for homes green building certification program. There are four levels
of certification: 1) certified 2) silver
3) gold 4) platinum. I know this
organization is considered by some as the penultimate program for green/
sustainable home building. My thinking is why not look at the ‘ best’ because
they have a solid track record and have
nailed down what they think are the most important criteria for green /
sustainable building. It seems like a
good place to start.
The US and
Canadian LEED criteria follow:
1)
Innovation
and Design
2)
Sustainable
Site Selection
3)
Water
Efficiency
4)
Material
and Resources
5)
Indoor
Environmental Quality
6)
Location
and Linkages (US GBC Only)
7)
Awareness
and Education (US GBC only)
Happy reading,
Val
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