Building Capacity

Institutionalizing Building Performance: A Collaborative Experience

The installation of building envelope components or HVAC equipment happens in a fleeting moment in the life of a building, yet is so important to long-term durability, performance, and occupant health. Installation failures do happen. With buildings, the key is to catch a potential failure or problem early to head off more complicated issues and fixes in the future. One of the benefits of 3rd party verified green building programs like LEED, Built Green, and Energy Star  is that they put a different pair of eyes on the project, focusing specifically on the details that contribute to better long-term outcomes.

Ideally, when a failure is identified in the field by a verifier, it is communicated with a side of education to the installer, and fixed. Sometimes the installer is not present and that poorly installed detail incurs cost for a return trip of both installer and verifier. When failures are repeated, they point to a deeper issue – the need for root cause analysis to understand why the same error is being repeated. Sometimes the answer is a physical or logistical one (“we can’t do it that way because piece A won’t fit into piece B”). Often, however, it’s about divergent priorities and perspectives: Contractor is rightly focused on delivering their service according to how they understand the scope, and the verifier is, also rightly, looking for compliance with the scope but has a different (we like to think better) understanding of it. When the contractor at the head office receives repeated non-compliance reports from the verifier in the field, they can begin to feel frustrated – They “know” the installers are doing what they are supposed to do and the verifiers “are just being picky” and “not understanding the real world.” Without careful (as in “care-full”) communications, things can sometimes get tricky.

After one such spree of non-compliance reports, I was surprised one morning when three managers from an insulation company showed up and asked to shadow me for a day of four inspections. Ok. I was tempted to get defensive! Instead, I went into uber-educational mode and I showed them my inspection process. What I am looking for and why; the building science behind the requirements. My capacity-building trap was sprung.

Picture the scene. Me and three guys hanging from the attic rafters above a white sea of blown attic insulation, careful not to disturb the loft, with an assortment of personal lighting devices and measuring tapes in hand. The scene shifts to the crawl space. Same lighting, now we’re on our backs, inspecting floor insulation. The dialogue of the day boils down to… This is what I am looking for, I say. This is how we could improve our process to make it easier for our installer, they say. Through this trading of understanding each other’s expectations and limitations, a common ground was being formed. A better product for our client would be delivered.

Verification work is part of our day to day to work. Rarely, though, do we have the opportunity to work in the field (literally) with managers to identify problems and solutions in this collaborative manner. At the end of the day, these guys were not a threat, they were allies and their showing up became an opportunity. They admitted they had arrived with some resistance, with the idea that we were being picky in our inspections. It wasn’t until we established an understanding of where each of us were coming from and the reasoning behind it that a level of trust formed. This allowed easier communication to flow.

But the story is not over. The dual benefit of an effective verification process is not just those realized within buildings themselves (such as demonstrated by the excellent installation in the photo) but also increased awareness and skills among the trades who work on them. To reap these fruits, the solutions discovered in our collaborative exploration have to be institutionalized at both company leadership and practitioner levels. I look forward to the next step, in which these lessons will be transferred across the board to installation crews. And not just technique, proper sizing and placement, but the "why." The "why" energizes tradespersons with pride in their craft to do the job the right way. I've seen it, with field installers signing their work after successfully passing a verification inspection. Imagine that!

Chris Edlin, CSBA, LEED AP Homes and LEED for Homes Rater, Energy Star Northwest Verifier and Performance Tester, and LEED AP BD+C is Project Associate with O'Brien & Company, Inc. and a regular contributor to Building Capacity Blog. Chris provides technical assistance, plan reviews, and performance testing on a number of sustainable building projects ranging from single-family residential to high-rise commercial buildings.

Vision 2050: When Business As Usual Will Be Sustainable

For those of us in the sustainable building world, we are most familiar with The World Business Council on Sustainable Development WBCSD through its definition of sustainability in the Brundtland Commission Report (1993): "Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs."

Now the WBCSD has gifted the global community with a set of tools that expand on that vision. In 2008, the CEOs of 29 global companies from 14 industries led an 18-month consensus effort to lay out a pathway to a 2050 world in which the anticipated nine billion population of the world live well. The effort involved dialogues with more than 200 companies and other stakeholders in some 20 countries. The tool set includes the Vision 2050 Report, generic presentations for public outreach, a poster showing the 22 dimensions of the projects within the larger realms of people, economy, governance, energy and resources, and ecosystem,  and a 14-foot mural displaying the pathway in more detail.

Vision 2050's Executive Summary explicitly declares that Vision 2050 is not prescriptive, but meant to spur dialogue. However, I found the Vision 2050 Mural displayed at a recent event sponsored by the Bainbridge Graduate Institute (BGI) looking very much  like a plan. It has dates by which certain conditions must be met in order to achieve the Vision of one-planet living. Like a true business plan, it also qualifies the Vision with risks that can be anticipated, and wild cards that can not.

Of course, the first thing I looked for on the mural was the building track. The organization  isn't perfect. When I noted that the end goal for the building track makes achieving "energy efficient appliances" (we have to wait for 2050 for this?) equally as difficult  as achieving net zero energy in the majority of new structures,  I reminded myself that the Vision was developed by corporations, some of which manufacture and distribute appliances. So from their perspective, the challenge might loom large. Not sure I agree. From my perspective this is an easy one, with great benefit -- think plug loads.

In addition, the mural suffers from the age-old problem of slicing up the pie of sustainability. Everything overlaps. In addition to the building track there are separate energy, forest, mobility and material tracks, which obviously interface with infrastructure development, i.e. building. Even if imperfect,  it seems a good first step at offering businesses a concrete set of milestones, characterized by some attendees as a veritable "chutes and ladders" scenario complete with "must haves" (ladders up) as well as "wild cards" (chutes down).

The report itself provides an excellent description contrasting business-as-usual and the idealistic vision depicted on the mural and report narrative. Businesses have their work cut out for them. Stanford University's Bob Horn, the fellow who specializes in mind messes (a play on mind maps) and other visualization products, and produced the Vision 2050 mural, keynoted the BGI event. He described  the project's historic process, as well as progress toward "must haves" for this decade. According to Horn, who presented his workproduct with a neutrality I admired, progress is mixed, with the building and energy & power tracks faring pretty well. Not surprising given the energy invested over the last twenty decades on green building awareness, building standards, renewable production and more stringent energy codes. There are other areas, such as carbon neutrality where the observer has to look harder to detect any movement of the needle. Horn was careful to note that  wild cards (war and natural disaster for example) could continue to play havoc with our plans if we aren't prepared to deal with them effectively and sustainably.

Gifford Pinchot III, founder of BGI, spoke as well.  Pinchot reported that, with the emergence of Vision 2050, the Institute has worked with its entire faculty to ensure the scenario(s) envisioned in the tool are integrated into course dialogue. I find this very exciting. I have several colleagues and former students who have completed BGI's program, the first MBA in the nation focused on sustainable business,  and I have nothing but praise for the thought leadership it encourages. I have even more respect however, for BGI's willingness to "try out" this tool, and to ask its faculty to "shake things up" a bit. It is modeling "being teachable" at the institutional level, not easy to do, but very necessary.

For those of us taking the larger view of sustainability, corporate progress toward the historic vision industry leaders have set down on paper  in Vision 2050 will be important to watch. Stay tuned.

Kathleen O'Brien, Editor of Building Capacity Blog and founder of O'Brien & Company, remains as a special consultant to the nationally recognized green building consultancy. She recently launched The Emerge Leadership Project and anticipates the Emerge: Leadership for a more sustainable society Workshop will include discussions of Vision 2050. The photo includes Gifford Pinchot III and John S. Adams, CFP, and leader of The Arbor Group, a team at UBS Financial Services.

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Cool Factor: Youth Green Building Careers Symposia Inspires

Cool Factor: Youth Green Building Careers Symposia Inspires

When teens report that they'd change "nothing" when asked about the usefulness of an educational event, you know you've done something right! And that's exactly what most students participating in Built Green Santa Barbara's Youth Green Building Careers Symposia said on anonymous evaluation forms. 45 youth and six instructors from local schools and the Youth Corps attended the symposia, which offered inspirational stories, useful career building information, and a tour of the Built Green Resource Center, a historic green remodel located in the Presidio in downtown Santa Barbara.

 A roughly three-hour session (repeated in the afternoon), offered panels of designers, builders, and associated businesses (such as solar installers and window forensic specialists) who used show and tell to describe what they do, shared their personal stories about how and why they came to green building, and discussed what they do to succeed in the field. It was the personal stories that really inspired. One student wrote in his evaluation: "I liked how [the contractor] shared how he started with nothing, and now has a successful business." At the conclusion of the morning and afternoon sessions, participants completed a "job shadow" application identifying their top three choices among the panelists they heard from for a one-hour on-the-job visit.

For those planning a similar event, several elements factored into its success. Perhaps the most important was the element of partnership. Without youth participants, the event would have been a bust. We needn't have worried. Tradart, SBC Workforce Investment Board (WIB), and perhaps most importantly Partners in Education (PIE) provided the youth side of the equation. Michelle Magnusson, Program Development and Accountability Manager for PIE, a Santa Barbara County Education Office Program, performed yeoman's work getting the word out to school career centers and coordinating with schools to get students to the event. And WIB provided reimbursement funding and a van to support Youth Corps participation. Perhaps the most difficult aspect of this side of the equation was the fact that capacity was limited to 30 for each session. The plus side to this limitation was that only youth who really wanted to be there were there. You could have heard a pin drop during presentations! No fidgeting, no secretive texting. Not your average high school classroom experience!

The second half of the equation -- professionals with green building careers -- was fulfilled through Built Green's partnership with the Santa Barbara Contractors Association (SBCA). Karin Perissinotto, Executive Director of the SBCA reports she "had no problem filling the panels. We have a very active membership willing to give of themselves for the benefit of Built Green and youth considering green building careers. I wasn't really surprised at the level of interest. We just had to call and they were there!" Further support for the event was provided for the event through a grant from the California Coalition for Construction in the Classroom which is in the sunsetting.

Often, contractors are invited to schools to talk in assemblies and classrooms. Holding the symposia in the Built Green Resource Center, where green building is on display, provided an energizing background to the professionals' personal stories. Green building can be an abstract concept; the Resource Center provided physicality. When Dan George, Vice President of the Built Green Board of Directors and long time green contractor, discussed how the building was insulated and protected against infiltration, he was able to direct participants to the truth window revealing a behind-the-wall look at insulation used in the building, and to turn on a display showing how various insulations protect (or don't) against infiltration.

Panelists were also able to build on each other's experiences, creating themes such as "getting trained, and staying trained" to succeed, and "earning a paycheck for doing work that contributes to the community feels good." What became very clear from the stories panelists shared is that green building careers are not for people who like to stand still! Over and over, panelists shared how keeping abreast of what's changing in the green building world is critical for success, and this learning keeps them excited about showing up in the morning!

In addition to Built Green, PIE, and SBCA representatives, panelists represented 13 organizations, including four design firms: Thompson Naylor, Paul Poirier + Associates, Kent Mixon, and Keeping Interiors; four general contractors: Allen Associates, DL George, and Campanelli; three specialty contractors: SBWindow Forensics, Maverick Windows, and California Solar Electric; retailer Livingreen; trainer Santa Barbara City College Construction Academy; and utility program Energy Upgrade California.

Kathleen O'Brien, Editor of the Building Capacity Blog, recently completed her term as Built Green's Interim Program Director and was the main convener of the Youth Green Building Careers Symposia. Kathleen has a special interest in inspiring youth to enter the green building arena and was featured in "Green Building: Jobs for the Future." She recently celebrated her 20th year as founder of O'Brien & Company, which played an instrumental role in developing Built Green Santa Barbara as well as other Built Green programs in Washington and Hawaii.

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Emerge: Leadership for a more sustainable society

As many of you know I recently celebrated 20 years as founder of O'Brien & Company, and 30 years in the field of sustainable building. For much of this time, I have focused on the practical matter of assisting clients apply sustainable building methods to their building and community projects through education, facilitation, and consultation. Since sustainable building represents a change from business as usual, this assistance has by definition required me to lead others.

I am not what you would call a "born leader" -- far from it, I have been diagnosed as an extreme introvert. And yet, driven by concern about the impact of our built environment as well as the promise of sustainable solutions, I've managed to counter my natural insecurities.

Over the years I have discovered a form of leadership that works for me, and is based on the physical process of emergence where simple elements come together to form a beautiful and functional complex system (think snowflake). Emergent leadership does not require celebrity status or title. It does, however, require inspiration, dedication, leadership competencies, and knowledge. The conceptual elements of emergent leadership combine servant leadership philosophy, change psychology, and leadership best practices. It is uniquely appropriate for our field, since it isn't simply about helping individuals or organizations to grow, nor about helping them to change. It's about both.

Indeed, unlike a change agent, which catalyzes change but remains unchanged, an emergent leader is committed to continuously growing and changing herself. I am convinced by my experience that this kind of leadership flourishes when founded in community.

That's why I've launched "Emerge: Leadership for a More Sustainable Society" -- a residential workshop especially designed for those wishing to create the change we need in the realm of the built environment. The two-day workshop's experiential elements combine inspired story, informational lectures, interactive problem solving, physical integration, and community building.

Our guest speakers represent the best of emergent leadership: Since 1995, David Eisenberg, Founder of DCAT has quietly yet firmly led the effort to create a sustainable context for building regulation. Imagine changing the International Building Code! Fiona Douglas-Hamilton, President of the Northwest EcoBuilding Guild, and Founder of S.E.E.C. has spent the last 20 years building an understanding of the interplay of value(s) and market. And John Cunningham, Assistant Business Manager for IBEW 77 and mediator certified by the Dispute Resolution Program for King County, brings a long history of applying mutual gains bargaining principles in his over 30 years experience successfully negotiating labor agreements and "getting to yes" when they want to say no!

Our first workshop is scheduled for December 10-11th at Islandwood, a LEED Gold Conference Center located in Bainbridge Island, Washington. Whether you have an explicit franchise to lead or not, consider registering if the concept of emergent leadership speaks to you. Hope to see you there!

If you cannot attend, please consider contributing to a needs-based scholarship fund. We are particularly interested in supporting individuals working for affordable housing non-profits and promoting leadership diversity. Contact Kathleen at [email protected]. Put yourself on a mailing list  for future events.The workshop is sponsored by O'Brien & Company and Eco-Maven. Information about the new workshop is being updated regularly at www.emergeleadership.net.

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Maier Hall at Peninsula College: Early Collaborative Process Yields Healthy, Efficient Building, Gentle to the Site and High on the LEED Scale

When teaching Unit 1 of the 2011 Sustainable Building Advisor course at Seattle Central Community College last Friday, I showed graphs, pictures, comics, and told stories to make a case for an early integrative process as a key for cost-effective sustainable results. As I sat down to write this article about the Maier Hall Project at Peninsula College, I flashed back to a lot of early meetings where the design team diligently worked through the siting of the new building.

The new building replaces four (4) other buildings in a smaller footprint yet increases square footage by three. It is bordered by sensitive areas on three sides, including a patch of virgin forest, wetlands, and a steep slope. As I discussed in my class presentation, the design team, led by Schacht Aslani Architects, responded to these constraints with collaborative problem solving in a series of working sessions resulting in a beautiful and creative design solution.

The L-shape building wraps around the forest grove and creates an edge to the campus at the top of the slope. A breezeway allows students to pass through the building from the campus into the forest and leads them to a viewing platform at the edge of the wetland. The team included a wetland biologist who helped them understand there wasn’t enough water getting to the wetland because of previous development. They couldn’t infiltrate stormwater at building grade because of the proximity of the steep slope, so the team designed a system that sends 90% of the site’s stormwater to the wetland. Rainwater flows from the roof to the wetland in a runnel passing prominently in front of the Hall's front door, helping students understand the environmental story. Additional connection to the natural environment that shaped the building is made on the upper stories through views to the epiphatice (moss) green roof.This solution is just another paradoxical example of creativity being most available when working within constraints.

This creativity and process took significant design team time, early in the process.   Investing the level of effort this team did early in a project can be scary to project managers and owners as it indicates a possible trend towards budget busting.  Fortunately, this project exemplifies how shifting effort earlier in projects and working with an integrated team actually solves problems better and sooner, reducing design effort and minimizing costs. “Working cohesively through the design process, the design team created a synergy that enhanced the project overall," says Chris Edlin, O'Brien & Company's consultant on the project. "For example, it helped avoid the either-or situation where trees, which represent a campus asset, might have been sacrificed for program, which fulfills the college mission (or vice versa)."  Chris also notes that "a less integrated team may not have understood the stormwater/wetland relationship and spent more on pipe and pond stormwater solutions that wouldn’t have benefited the wetland.  The narrow floor plan resulting from the IP is also excellent for natural ventilation and daylighting, thus reducing long term operational costs.

The building is a 65,000 sq.ft., three-story center for fine arts, music, humanities and related instructional programs. The focal point is the 134-seat performance hall, which also serves as a multi-purpose classroom. The hall can be acoustically tuned for music, lectures and films. In addition to targeting LEED Gold, the structure is designed to exceed the current standards of the Architecture 2030 Challenge for reducing energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on fossil fuels. Natural ventilation in offices and classrooms and daylight design are key strategies for achieving this goal.

Elizabeth Powers, LEED AP and CSBA, is principal and co-owner of O'Brien & Company, Inc., which just celebrated its 20th anniversary. Elizabeth is principal-in-charge on over three dozen LEED and sustainable building projects for the company. She advised on development of Integrative Process (IP) ANSI Standard, and is a strong proponent of the process for clients who want high performance for common sense budgets. Project photos from Schacht Aslani.

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Everything is Connected! Environmental Education and Community Center and Community Park Opens at Brightwater

In 2006, O'Brien & Company was selected by the Washington Energy Technology Center (now Innovate Washington) to conduct a strategic planning process for a Sustainable Energy Demonstration Lab (SEDL). As noted in our Final Report, The SEDL was intended to "foster the community’s knowledge of, and transition to, new energy saving technologies, with an emphasis on renewables."

The Lab is an element of the Environmental Education and Community Center (EECC) and Community Park, which opened with great celebration this past Saturday, September 24, 2011. It is always great fun to watch a dream unfold, so I was thrilled to get an invitation to the opening from The Friends of the Hidden River, a teacher-organized non-profit with whom we worked on the project. Lots of music, good food, public art, and perhaps most importantly, fun learning going on!

Early on, when the idea of a regional environmental education center was broached as mitigation for the Brightwater waste treatment facility, teachers from the region were adamant that in addition to covering water, the topic of sustainable energy should be part of the educational plan. "Everything is connected!" was a refrain heard over and over during the planning process for the SDEL, and making the connection between the water we use and treat and the energy system we consume to do that is indeed an important one.

Touring the EECC facility Saturday, I was pleased to see several elements of the SDEL in place. PV and Solar Hot Water Installations (funded by Snohomish County PUD) and related learning activities drew "students" of all ages, as did a solar oven and informational kiosks. Human operated bikes, artpieces in themselves, as well as electric vehicles, were in evidence on opening day to showcase green transportation modalities.

We anticipated in 2006 that the EECC facility would be a learning opportunity itself, and plans were to achieve LEED Gold Certification. Happily, (but perhaps not surprisingly given its constituents) the project team, including design firm Mithun, CH2MHill, the Project Managers at King County Wastewater Division as well as a host of others) blew past that goal to achieve LEED Platinum Certification. From our experience with LEED NC, this level of "green" would not have been possible without an aggressive approach to the Energy and Atmosphere Credits.

Two elements of the proposed Lab, an "Independence Hall" focused on promoting regional energy self-sufficiency, and an already-designed Energy Test Bed to test advanced emerging technologies are still awaiting funding, but a good foundation has been laid. Marie Hartford, with Friends of the Hidden River, is optimistic about these next steps. The group's grantwriter, Stephanie Hartford (yes, she's Marie's daughter!) has already enjoyed some success in gaining funding for the EECC and doesn't intend to stop.

Also, King County has indicated that if there is sufficient demand by teachers and schools to justify it, the County will work with the Friends on an addition to house Independence Hall on space that has already been provided adjacent to the new facility. The County has contracted with IslandWood to oversee the educational program at the EECC, and it's anticipated that this award-winning educational provider will ably grow regional demand.

While waiting for this next chapter of the story to unfold, it is well worth a trip to the Brightwater Campus if you live in or are visiting the Northwest. Besides the energy learning opportunities mentioned above, there are some absolutely fantastic displays and engagement activities teaching the what, why, and how, of waste water treatment, and ways to conserve water and maintain water quality at our homes and businesses. You can also chill out on over 40 acres of looping trails among restored natural settings and artwork.

Kathleen O'Brien is Founder of and Special Project Consultant for O'Brien & Company, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary as a green building and sustainability consultant. Kathleen attended the EECC's grand opening with Nora Daley-Peng, also of O'Brien & Company, who reviewed artwork for the site as an advisor to 4Culture, and her 4-year old son, Ronan.

 

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Part 2: What’s The Story? Developing a Green Building Education Plan - Elizabeth Powers, LEED AP BD+C, CSBA Reports on Developing a Green Building Education Plan

This is Part 2 of a two- part blog. Before you read this blog, please take a moment to skim last week’s article (Part 1).

Now that you’ve got a good storyline for your green building education plan, let’s talk about how to put together an effective presentation and earn credit for it in LEED or other rating systems.

It is fundamental to good storytelling to know your audience. A building’s green building education program should be geared toward the audiences to which the building most directly relates or the groups of people that are most interested in stories about that type of building. There are usually two or three groups to target which will involve using different communication tools with different messages. Let’s look at two examples.

For a university campus academic building, the most direct audience is the faculty that teaches or works in the building and the students that take classes there. Communication tools with this group should be physically linked to working and learning in the building, like building signage, electronic kiosks, and visible sustainable design features. The messages can share what features were built into the building, the benefit of those features, and how they, as building users, can help keep the building green.

Other audiences include alumni and funders, potential students, and the nearby community. Communication with these groups is more likely through electronic media or one-time events like grand openings or potential student tours. The messages for alumni and funders can demonstrate responsible use of funds by reducing operating costs and how building features improve teaching and learning. Potential students (and their parents) are also concerned about costs, but more likely want to hear how green building supports a good education. The environmental stewardship message fundamental to green building will resonate with alumni, funders, students and the community.

For a residential apartment building, the obvious primary audience is building tenants. Good ways to reach this group are electronic kiosks or a display of building features in the lobby, an informational brochure provided on move in, and building newsletters. For prospective tenants, your green building message is a sales tool. You can use signage on sample green features in a leasing center or model unit, create a take-away brochure, and develop a tour script for use when walking prospects around the building. The message for current and prospective tenants is that the building is efficient, helping them save on rent and utilities, and is better for the environment than other apartment buildings. As any building, the education should also enable the tenants to live green in the building by explaining how to use, take care of, or benefit from green features, and providing additional ideas of activities they can engage in on their own. A good example is providing all new tenants a green cleaning kit upon move in that also points out the durable, easy to clean finishes used in the building.

A secondary audience for all buildings is the greater real estate, design, and construction community. This group is the audience most likely to be interested in how many LEED points the project received and how it was done. As this group is often responsible for developing green building education, a lot of what is produced is about the LEED story on the project. This can be a good story on a project, and the role of LEED should not be excluded from the story, but think carefully about what makes this LEED project unique from others and what elements of LEED the targeted audiences care about. A good way to reach out to the building industry audience is web based case studies and tours with local green building organizations. These industry case studies and tours can share detailed lessons learned about green design and construction practices and LEED documentation.

The process of identifying the audiences and communication tools for stories is a natural set-up for putting together a package that will earn a LEED Innovation point, meet the Living Building Challenge education imperative, or earn the Sustainable Sites Initiative credit. Let’s look specifically at the requirements for LEED.

To take advantage of the educational value of the green building features of a project and to earn a LEED point, any approach should be ACTIVELY instructional. Two of the following three elements must be included in the educational program:

• A comprehensive signage program built into the building's spaces to educate the occupants and visitors of the benefits of green buildings. This program may include windows to view energy saving mechanical equipment or signs to call attention to water-conserving landscape features.
• The development of a manual, guideline or case study to inform the design of the buildings based on the successes of this project. This manual will be made available to the USGBC for sharing with other projects.
• An educational outreach program or guided tour that focuses on sustainable living, using the project as an example.

 Following this structure, the first step is to decide if you will do a building signage program. This is probably the most durable and long lasting tool in your communications tool belt and can support a tour program as well. More engaging signage like window or “truth” walls, or electronic kiosks showing energy and water usage make a “signage” program one of the most effective education elements.    
In some cases, a signage program may not  make sense, as with buildings that have a very small audience or limited public access. In that case, a good approach is provide an overview sign next to the LEED plaque in the building lobby or put information from a case study on an electronic kiosk.

   A building case study does make sense for almost all projects, although there may be different versions distributed to different audiences. For the audience most likely to learn about the building on your organization’s website or marketing, use your storylines to organize and write the most effective case study for your that audience. [Example Left – BSCS] For sharing the technical details and lessons learned with the building industry, we recommend completing a project profile in the High Performance Buildings Database. This comprehensive resource is recommended and used by the USGBC and others to produce case studies and stories about green buildings. Its detailed structure is a great way to make sure you collect and organize all the green building information about the project.

The third option for the LEED innovation credit, an educational outreach or tour program, is a good place to leverage what you’ve already done in preparing signage and/case studies to do additional outreach. If you conduct a grand opening or LEED plaque event, distribute hard copies of the case study or make a brochure and do a building tour. Collaborate with local green building or industry organizations to provide another tour or two, or to do case study presentations, and you have the foundations of a educational outreach/tour program.  Round it out with an article in the local media, ongoing green building blurbs in a newsletter, or an annual tour.

The above elements can be combined in ways to best match your building’s purpose and audiences, whether it is hands-on with signage and tours, or more arms length with digital case studies, presentations, and newsletters. Whatever the method, remember that a green building education program is most effective and engaging when it tells a unique story that is compelling and appropriate for the audience(s) you are trying to reach.

Elizabeth Powers is Principal/Owner of O'Brien & Company, a mission-based firm in its 20th year focused on achieving sustainability in the built environment. Powers leads the green building consulting services team and is a regular contributor to the Building Capacity blog. O'Brien & Company publishes the blog as well as a monthly newsletter. For the most current edition of the newsletter, please see www.obrienandco.com/news-and-events/newsletters

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What’s The Story? Elizabeth Powers, LEED AP BD+C, CSBA Reports on Developing a Green Building Education Plan

LEED, the Living Building Challenge, the Sustainable Sites Initiative and other rating systems offer opportunities to earn credit for, or require, the development of a green building education plan. The intent of the credits is to inspire and educate others by sharing the feasibility and benefits of green building. Too often however, the materials produced to meet the letter of the requirements are just a litany of LEED credits or building features, without drawing any lessons or meaning from the accomplishments. Whether a project is doing green building education for credit or out of a desire to pass on lessons learned, and whether the program will be big and splashy, or simple and low-tech, it is worth taking moment to craft an effective and compelling education plan for your project. Not only will this actually accomplish the intent of the rating system requirements, it yields better results in getting press coverage, marketing your project, developing community support, fundraising and even gaining support from building occupants and users in keeping your building green.

The foundation of such a plan is a good story. Every project has unique characteristics, challenges, and accomplishments that can teach others important lessons about green building. O’Brien & Company has found that project teams often need a little guidance in finding the heart of their story and understanding the lessons of the project.

This article talks about developing a good story. Next week, the blog will address developing content and deciding on the types of educational media to use.

When tasked with developing a green building education plan, don’t start by looking at the LEED scorecard, instead, go back to the origins of the project. Pull out the eco-charrette report, owner’s project requirements (OPR), or other documents that defined the vision and goals for the project. Reflect back – what were you trying to accomplish on this project and how did it play out?

Try writing down the three most significant challenges or accomplishments of the project as the story lines. Ask yourself and your team - When did the project get stuck on accomplishing the goals, and how did you get beyond it? What green approach failed on the project and what did you learn from it? What will you always remember about this project? What green feature will you definitely incorporate on your next project? What are you most proud of when you drive by the completed project? You could do this with the project team and stakeholders as charrette-style brainstorming exercise and see what themes emerge. Then you can pull out the LEED scorecard as another lens to think about the unique story of your project.

The best stories may not be individual building features, but human stories that resulted from the project. Here are some examples of stories that still stand out for me from one of our earliest LEED projects, Merrill Hall by the Miller Hull Partnership. This project accomplished the following:

• A diverse community of stakeholders came together to seek alternative funding and enable the Center for Urban Horticulture to rise from the ashes of a fire (literally) and create a building that exemplified their mission of stewardship.
• The project inspired a student group to lobby for green building standards campus-wide, leading to adoption of a LEED requirement for capital projects.
• The design opened the space to the surrounding natural environment and created a great outdoor living room for more collaboration and education.

Do you feel your project is more boring than this? Think it won’t lead to wholesale change like Merrill Hall? Maybe, but there is still something to be learned. Here are some of the fun stories from the more mundane projects we’ve worked.

• A contractor figured out how to collect rainwater from a nearby hillside to pressure test waste water tanks at a waste water treatment plant instead of using large quantities of municipal water which saved resources and a lot of money.
• An industrial park building put in bike racks and shower and restrooms for tenants (something tenants usually have to build themselves) to earn LEED points, one of several LEED features that attracted tenants and caused the park to lease out quickly.
• An office building renovation of a 1960’s building earned LEED Gold after starting out with a stretch goal of LEED Silver.

The message from these examples is that your project is unique, has a story to share, and people can learn from every green building. Tune in next week for discussion on how to turn these stories into a “credit-worthy” green building education plan.

 

Elizabeth Powers is Principal/Owner of O'Brien & Company, a mission-based firm in its 20th year focused on achieving sustainability in the built environment. Powers leads the green building consulting services team and is a regular contributor to the Building Capacity blog. O'Brien & Company publishes the blog as well as a monthly newsletter. For the most current edition of the newsletter, please see www.obrienandco.com/news-and-events/newsletters

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Time to Deal with Your LEED AP Credential

 

Living Future 2011: Delicious

The Mac Lovers among us must have loved Majora Carter's declaration in her keynote that the “USGBC is PC, Living Future is Apple.”  Not sure I agree with the exact analogy but I get what she means. Regrettably I didn’t get to the Cascadia Green Building Council’s Living Future Conference this year, but I learned this pearl second hand from Alistair Jackson, my colleague at O’Brien & Company. Alistair and Kelly Kirkland, also of O’Brien & Company did attend, and when asked to share their highlights came up with more than I can reasonably cover in a single blog…so I will summarize:

Impact: Majora Carter’s keynote focused on local strategies that solve big problems and pay back multiple times.  Her examples included working with the most expensive citizens in our community (the generationally impoverished and veterans of war) – and provide them with the skills to do environmental restoration, climate change adaption and energy retrofit work.  This “conversion” would reduce entitlement budgets, reduce municipal operating budgets and foster self-respect in these generally marginalized populations.  For planners, this amounts to risk reduction. She called it “Hometown Security” rather than Homeland Security. 

In the same vein, Kelly was encouraged by the increasing value place on the contribution construction trades can make to green building. Outside of the formal sessions, she “heard more than ever before about green building training for the construction trades. Some of this training is happening on the job site of projects in progress, and one project even set aside time to build a ‘practice’ building to help trades people learn by doing—so they could do better when it came time to build the real project.”

Connections: In her keynote, Margaret Wheatley encouraged the audience to focus not on “critical mass” but on “critical connections” with others. At most conferences that might seem daunting, but Kelly “found most attendees of LF11 fully present and engaged in looking for ways to advance green building. I met people building the most progressive Living Buildings on the planet, people engaging kids to improve their community, and people with a genuine passion for their work.” Before Kelly even arrived on site, she met presenter Jane Turville on the Amtrak bus ride up to (Vancouver, BC) Canada. Jane is the writer/director/producer of “The Greenest Building” an inspiring case for green renovations of existing (especially historic) buildings, with case studies from around the US. Check out the film’s web site to see some clips: http://www.thegreenestbuildingmovie.com.

The issue of connection was implicit in a presentation on “trust-based” contractual arrangements offered by Turner Construction. Apparently not all of the designers in the room were comfortable with the idea based on their comments, but Alistair appreciated Tony Toppenberg’s (Tony is a Cost Estimator at Turner) discussion of an integrated approach in which the three key parties  (owner, architect, and the builder) share the risk and reward of delivering (or failing to deliver) on project goals.   (More on this subject in a future blog!)

Re-Imagination:  In addition to the novel idea of trust-based contracts (!) Jason Twill (Senior Project Manager for Sustainability) of Vulcan Real Estate discussed how the Living Building Standard forces one to rethink both the ideal building design process and business model for multi-family buildings. In Seattle, at least, it turns out that 4-5 story mid-rise is the maximum for truly achieving Living Building.   While on-site energy is inevitably one of the limits to growth, it turns out that Net Zero water is the greater constraint.  Seattle-based research shows that relying on precipitation alone won’t get you to net zero water (even in Seattle!). That means relying on recycling grey and black water to some degree.  Working outward from this “natural” building constraint, one would need to review thinking about design (integrating the process) regulations (permitting water recycling), economics (valuing water recycling), leasing (moving to gross leases to allow capture of performance savings), and marketing (including building performance transparency and education). Only this, Jason?

For their “15 minutes of Brilliance” presentation, students from Jasper High School read their inspiring, opinion essays about the state of education.  Kelly’s favorite line: “education should be experimental (read experiential) with real consequences.”  Education, no matter the age of the learner, needs to do a better job of making connections between the way we behave and the consequences or impact of that behavior.  It seems obvious from the takeaways shared by Alistair and Kelly, that Living Future did a good job modeling that.

Alistair Jackson, LEED AP for Homes, CSBA is Principal and part owner of O’Brien & Company, and is responsible for the company’s residential technical services team (including the LEED for Homes providership). Kelly, LEED AP for O+M, CSBA is Project Associate for O’Brien & Company and the firm’s marketing and educational services coordinator. She presented at Living Future 2011, on Washington Green Schools, and has produced several green building curricula for construction trades.

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Sustainable Building Advisor Institute: Introducing the next generation of SBA education & service

 The name and look have changed, but the purpose remains substantially the same: to provide practicing professionals with the tools they need to make our built environment more sustainable. In December of 2010, the Sustainable Building Advisor Institute (SBAi) was launched, replacing the National Sustainable Building Advisors Program (NaSBAP) incorporated in 2004.

 In part, the new name better reflects the fact that there are several SBA providers outside of the U.S. It also signals an uptick in organizational development. After several years of incubation under the aegis of O’Brien & Company, the non-profit hired its first Executive Director, Dallas Jasper, a CSBA and marketing expert par excellence! It expanded its Board of Directors as well, with representatives from Alberta to California, from Pennsylvania to Washington.

For years, as the lead instructor for the Sustainable Building Advisor course at Seattle Central Community College and then at Olympic College here in the Northwest, and as the manager of NaSBAP, people would ask me to describe it. This is where Dallas’ messaging skills are quite apparent. On a newly launched website, a vision statement says it quite well:

The Sustainable Building Advisor Institute creates high value green building educational programs providing professionals with comprehensive, relevant curriculum in an environment where relationships develop and opportunities can emerge. Graduates are prepared to take a leadership role in the world of green building.

1250 professionals have graduated from the course, and since 2005, when the CSBA exam and credential were launched, more than 850 have earned the elite status of CSBA. It’s pretty clear that graduates take their leadership role seriously, given their reports back to SBAi: from testifying on behalf of green building policy, to managing sustainability programs in building, design, and planning firms, to developing green building programs in their communities and/or organizations, to creating citizens groups to advocate for sustainability.

Jasper’s goal to provide high value is also clear. In years past the BuildingGreen Suite has been available at discount to current students. Alumni now also qualify for the discount. In addition, graduates of the SBA Program are now eligible for $500 discounts on i-Sustain Study Missions to other countries, introducing decision makers from the Pacific Northwest to best practices, and to the experts responsible for their implementation. And this year will be the first time the organization will have a presence at GreenBuild.

You'll also begin to see topical educational products that build on the SBA course. This has been something alumni have been asking for since inception, symptomatic of satisfaction with their SBA education as well as the desire to stay in touch with other alumni. In the SBAi’s April newsletter, Tom Corcoran, a recent graduate, shares how he was “stunned to realize that the flow of learning in the SBA environment was bilateral,” referencing the wealth of background experience and skill-sets among the students as well as the teachers, who would use that base to build capacity further. The sense of community that occurs in the class because of this flow, and the course design, enhances both professional and personal growth, and is a benefit that nearly all graduates speak of when asked to participate in information sessions with prospective students.

And, as has been true for some time, the SBA course provides value in that it can help with other professional credentials, such as:

• The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has approved the SBA Program for core Continuing Education Learning Units.
• The Canadian Architect Associations including, AIBC, AAA, SAA, OAA have approved the SBA Program for Core Continuing Education Learning Units.
• The Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI)’s approved Education Reviewing Body has approved the SBA Program for 100 GBCI CE Hours towards LEED Credential Maintenance.
• The SBA Program fulfills the LEED Green Associate exam eligibility criteria of an education program that addresses green building principles.
• The USGBC Education Provider Program has rated the SBA Program as a 400 Level Mastery Course.

As we all know, not all change is productive. From this vantage point, however, it is quite satisfying to see how the SBAi is continuing to strengthen its capacity to fulfill its mission effectively. If you are a community college or environmental educational organization wishing to bolster your green building education (or utilize green job workforce funding), this program may be just the ticket. If you are a practicing professional (including unemployed or underemployed), consider joining the very special corps of individuals who have completed this program and converted their learning experience into a leadership experience.

Article Posted by Kathleen O'Brien, CSBA, LEED AP, founder of O'Brien & Company, Inc. and Editor of Building Capacity Blog. She helped develop the curriculum used for SBA programs in nearly 30 locations around the country and was a co-founder of NaSBAP, a 501c3 nonprofit, and the antecedent of SBAi. Also see last week's post by Kelly Kirkland: "Do I need a green building credential?"

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