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Sustainability: Our Choice The Globe. The first conference on the global environment was held in 1972 in Stockholm, Sweden. Unfortunately, the environmental movement, as it was known then, did not have the impact that participants felt was so essential in order to assure the health of the Earth and the Earth community. Advocates tried to halt or reverse environmental degradation to no avail.
Insight. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, people interested in protecting the environment realized that challenges to environmental health were not isolated, but embedded in economic and social factors. Environmentalists then proposed that sustainable development was only possible when these 3 factors (environment, social, and economic) interact in a mutually beneficial way. Eventually, the term sustainability emerged out of this insight. Sustainability became our choice for a broad way of life. Sustainability. As human lifestyles in the developed and developing world became more demanding of the environment and the environment continued to degrade, the term sustainability began to be applied to many aspects of human life. Today sustainability can refer to everything from sustainable lifestyles to planetary health. Subsequently, an increasing number of people ask themselves, “How can I contribute to sustainability? What can I do that has the potential to make a difference? What does a sustainable life look like for me, my family and friends, and my community?” One Answer. Green building is one answer to that question. It is surprising to learn that buildings account for 48% of all the USA energy consumed. Seventy-six (76%) of all the power plant based electricity is used to operate buildings. In Minnesota, thirty-three percent (33%) of all energy consumed comes from houses. While many of us are aware of the role carbon emissions play in transportation, many overlook the importance of going green with our homes and buildings. (http://www.architecture2030.org for info.)
Green Building: Green Homes and SALA Architects Not New. Green building is not new. In the 1800s architects designed roof ventilators, underground air cooling chambers, and awnings (such as that built on the Roman Coliseum) to regulate air temperature indoors and outdoors. By the 1930s, the building industry began building enclosed, steel and glass spaces that could be heated and cooled using the new tools of reflective glass, air conditioning andstructural steel. Use of electricity and heat producing fuels soared. So did the costs of creating and maintaining the subsequent buildings. Today these steel, box buildings as they are sometimes called are not sustainable, although they are showcased in cities all over the world. Radical Change. During the mid to late 20th Century, homes underwent a radical change, too. Their square footage continued to mount as cheap materials and an emphasis on everyone having their own bedroom and/or bath and places to pursue different interests replaced shared bedrooms, one or two common rooms, and one bathroom. With the USA mortgage crash of the September 2008 and rising energy costs, people began to learn how unsustainable such homes are. White House Goes Green. Although efforts to turn the building industry around began in the 1970s, green building didn’t gain prominence until the Clinton White House committed itself to green practices. In March 1996 the White House announced that going green had saved $150,000/year in energy and water costs, landscaping, and waste management. When the most public home in the nation announced how much money it saved by going green, people took notice. This news began to dispel the myth that green building was cost prohibitive. People learned that, although initial costs could be higher than conventional building, investing in green homes would save money in the long run. This shift in perception launched modern green building. The Ultimate. Today the ultimate green home is able to not only generate its own energy, but also sell its excess energy back to the public power grid. Although it is rare to find a home built with these features, the concept has become so important that the renowned Minnesota State Fair’s eco-experience featured a “net zero home.”
Show Case for the Possible: A Net Zero Home. Designed by Minneapolis-based SALA Architects with contributions from local contractors and material suppliers, the four bedroom, net-zero home is designed for the stringent requirements of small urban lots. The design works equally well with the natural beauty of rural sites. The sustainable house design is a showcase for the possible. The home uses only as much energy as is produced from on-site renewable sources. Solar photovoltaic panels produce electricity, while a ground-source geothermal system heats the home. Net-metering, a system which keeps track of the house’s energy use and excess, allows the house to draw from the electrical grid when needed, and provide power to the grid when excess electricity is being produced. The result is no fossil-fuel energy sources are used to power the house, so it has no carbon footprint. For a short video on construction of eco-house: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJzcgJKjCT4) A separate carport houses an electric car –powered by solar panels–, and a green roof provides an opportunity for an urban-agriculture vegetable garden. The carport, which fits perpendicular to one end of the house, helps enclose an intimate yard area with native plantings and a patio made from water permeable pavers. These allow rainstorm runoff to be contained on-site and percolate naturally into the ground. The driveway also uses permeable paving and is a reminder of how easily we can reduce polluted run-off into nearby streams and wetlands. Inside, living spaces are oriented south to capture passive solar energy and daylight. An open floor plan encourages the sharing of space that helps reduce the square footage of the home. Sustainable materials were chosen that are recycled or readily renewable, and include recycled glass tile, renewable-wood cabinets, and wheat-husk wall panels. For more information about the Minnesota State Fair Eco-House and the architects who designed it, visit www.salaarc.com/ecohouse.html.
Minnesota GreenStar Trillion Dollar Economy. In the book, The Restoration Economy, author Storm Cunningham outlines a ‘hidden’ trillion-dollar economy that is already on the move. Renovation and restoration are essential tools in a green world. Where new buildings and houses are needed, they should be designed green, but their future maintenance and restoration needs to be considered from the beginning. 3 Needs: In order for the Green Building sector of this economy to succeed, the industry needs to develop: (1) methods for strong green education; (2) innovation in design, reuse, and materials; and (3) agreed upon green standards for commercial and residential green building. But, in 1990 no one had yet evolved ways for the agreemenst to happen. Conversations Create. Conversations changed all that. In 1994, Robert Watson, a lead scientist for the Natural Resources Defense Council, began conversations among broad-base sections of society: non-profit organizations, government agencies, architects, builders, engineers, and other industry leaders. The dialogue was designed to establish standardization, whole-building design practices, environmental leadership, and industry-wide changes in practice. Eventually, the national LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification was created. Working in conjunction with the US Green Building Council, LEED certification became the standard for commercial buildings, although today these certification standards are still based on heavy use of fossil fuels. Ideally, this will change as the certification is an evolving process.
Minnesota Truth. While LEED’s certification leads the way forward for the green building commercial industry, Minnesota’s Mike Williams believed that certification efforts were also necessary for residential buildings. With the help of friends, he founded Minnesota GreenStar. The organization has since gone on to be one of the leading local certification programs in the USA. Minnesota GreenStar certification is unique in that it includes relevant LEED's components while also addressing the more stringent requirements of a harsh climate. It's goal is to help people make healthier, more durable, and efficient homes. Your Home: Minnesota GreenStar’s list, 5 Principles of Green, is a way to run an audit on your home. Old homes tend to lose a lot of energy through windows and doors. This is why going green can mean more about picking up a caulking gun than it does about replacing windows or remodeling with a hammer. Newer homes can also benefit from an energy audit. Most municipalities offer such audits through their utility companies. In addition, Minnesota’s Xcel Energy, like many utilities throughout the nation, offers homeowners and businesses the opportunity to sign up for wind energy for only a small increase in monthly bills.
Certification Programs: Minnesota GreenStar excels at green building training. Its certification program is aimed at residential construction. If you are interested in learning about what is required for Minnesota GreenStar certification, please visit: www.mngreenstar.org/index.php/professionals/education/course-catalog
A Champion. The green movement has been characterized thus far by individual or small organizational leadership. One leader who is making a difference is Minnesota’s Mitch Hedlund. A few years ago, during the process of doing marketing research for her two green clients, Mitch Hedlund was left with big question marks.
Inspiration. Mitch was inspired. She
decided that she could use her marketing skills to market green. Homes and Castles: While it is said that our homes are our castles, we now know that modern home building products often emit off-gases or harmful chemicals that pollute our homes’ environments. Mitch thoughts that people don’t usually didn’t have to tear down their modern ‘castles,’ they did have to build up their knowledge. To do this, she created a simple To Do List for going green and then turned it into a self-evaluation that every family and business could do together. For example, the order, “Recycle” and “Use Florescent Light Bulbs” became a simple Yes/No self-evaluation. This allowed people to assess themselves without a sense of failure if the answer was ‘no. Using this approach put the emphasis on where you are now with the implied possibility that you could be checking ‘yes’ someday in the future. Storytelling. By using a storytelling, transparent format for businesses and households, Mitch and her colleagues have created an upbeat, “we can do this together” invitation for all people. The Up On Green’s Eco-profile lets people and organizations know who is doing what for the environment. The Eco-profile is easy to access. Up On Green. Up On Green is an organization that provides easy ways for people to know what to do and how to act in accord with that knowledge. The organization is also building a social network, or online community that shares concern about the coming generations and the Earth. To learn more about Up On Green, what companies and communities are active, and to join the Up On Green family, visit: www.upongreen.com
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