Building Capacity

Do I need a green building credential? Kelly Kirkland, Education Coordinator, responds.

LEED AP BD+C. CSBA. EBCP. SFP. CEM. Talk about an alphabet soup! With unemployment and underemployment still high, I’m frequently asked about professional credentials in the realm of green building. What do they mean? Which are best? Do I need to get one to stay competitive?

Why they Look Good

Even if the credential you are considering isn’t as widely recognized as LEED AP, professional credentials communicate an achievement and area of expertise. It’s not a bad thing to have to explain what it means—but only if you have a concise, impressive answer ready. (If your instructor or education provider can’t give that to you, go elsewhere for your credential!)

Entering the Green Job Market

As job seekers know (or eventually discover) people don’t land jobs just because of the letters   after  their name, or even where and what they’ve studied, the projects they’ve worked on, their professional reputation, or who they know—it’s a combination of all of those things.

If you’re looking to change careers into something related to green building, credentials can be an important way to get yourself up to speed in a new area that complements your existing skills and experience. They also add credibility and indicate you are serious about pursuing the line of work.

The credentials that introduce this article are relevant for specific areas of work. LEED AP BD+C stands for LEED Accredited Professional Building Design + Construction, and indicates experience and skill in new construction (primarily non-residential). Existing Building Commissioning Professional, Sustainable Facilities Professional, and Certified Energy Manager indicate knowledge as well as in-depth training or professional portfolio in the realm of existing building systems, though for different aspects.

With money flowing for green jobs, specialty credentials are proliferating, especially in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and green building topics. The key is to choose a credential that leads to work you’re interested in and qualified for, not just one that you think will sound good.

Speaking of money flowing, you may be able to get funding support, too. The Workforce   Development Council of Seattle-King County drew $10 million dollars to our area for job training.  Similar funding is likely available where you are to get trained, especially if a credential (such as a certificate or accreditation) is involved. Check out your local workforce development agency to connect you with programs and funding.

Moving On Up

If you’ve already got a job in the fields of building design, construction, engineering, real estate, facility management, a new credential can help you advance in your field or transition to a related field with greater ease.

As the Class Coordinator for the Sustainable Building Advisor program in Seattle, I’ve seen carpenters transition into resource conservation managers and architects become sustainability directors for engineering firms. I would never say that having the CSBA (Certified Sustainable Building Advisor) credential was the only reason they got their jobs, but they report back that it made the difference.

Final Thoughts

Some people resent the addition of credential maintenance to the LEED AP designation, but, for all of us working in this rapidly changing field, it’s important to keep learning or be left behind. (Check out Elizabeth Power’s recent blog post on how to maintain your LEED AP credential.) Even if the credential is a requirement for holding a job, it’s something that belongs to you that you can take with you.

If you do decide to pursue a certificate program, there are many online. However it may be a   better investment of your time to find a live program where, in addition to capturing content, you can network with other students and take advantage of their real-world experiences.

Kelly Kirkland, CSBA, LEED AP O+M coordinates educational consulting projects for O’Brien & Company, teaches LEED Operations & Maintenance (O+M) Study Sessions as well as Lite Bites, and is the Coordinator for the Sustainable Building Advisor program at the Seattle Central Community College. She recently completed designing and facilitating a four-day learning experience for the Washington Conservation Corps on sustainability with an emphasis on Low Impact Development.

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Capacity Building Tool for Planners hoping to achieve Net Zero Water Buildings and Neighborhoods Marks World Water Day

Although the energy crisis has long held our attention in the green building world, the global water crisis urgently needs our attention. That’s because we can do a lot to reduce the consumption of water, and in particular, potable water, in the way we design our buildings and neighborhoods. To celebrate World Water Day, and its 2011 focus on urban water systems, our friends at the Cascadia Green Building Council (CGBC) have released “Toward Net Zero Water: Best Management Practices for Decentralized Sourcing and Treatment.”

The authors, Katie Spataro and Joel Sisolak, Cascadia’s Research Director and Advocacy and Outreach Director, respectively, have produced what I predict will be a significant capacity building tool for communities hoping to achieve net zero water at the building and neighborhood scale. The report contains an overview of best practices and technologies for decentralized and distributed water systems, with special focus placed on rainwater harvesting, greywater reclamation and reuse, and on-site wastewater treatment for reuse – the systems that face the highest hurdles when it comes to permitting them. (Presumably it is for this reason the manual does not address on-site stormwater management systems and fixture efficiencies, both of which do contribute to net zero water schemes, but also enjoy greater regulatory acceptance in the past few years. There are also plenty of resources out there  on these topics, including one O'Brien & Company helped develop: “The Low Impact Development (LID) Guidance Manual  for Kitsap County".)

Each BMP chapter describes major system components, how the systems work, and background on appropriate scale and efficiency. Design considerations are provided for system sizing, location, and integration with other building systems. And, because case studies can be very compelling, there are several demonstrating the best practices covered. The manual is more of a planning tool then a design tool; for each system, resources are provided to find more in-depth technical details.

Katie and Joel have done their homework and made it easy for us. Though there is a tremendous amount of information on these systems out there, it isn’t easy to access in a methodical, efficient manner. They’ve sifted through it all, gleaned the credible data, and organized it in a way that is useful. No fear, this is not a “cheerleading” document, but you also don’t have to be an engineer to “get it.”

The Living Building Challenge’s net zero water imperative requires “closed-loop” water systems, and that is the focus of the manual. Mark Buehrer, of 2020 Engineering, and a peer reviewer for the study has long held that closed-loop water designs are “critical for net zero water buildings.” I concur. Similar to the low impact development approach to stormwater, decentralized on-site closed-water systems can mimic nature better. Because they are more site-appropriate, they will be diverse, but the overall approach of these small-scale systems remain the same: begin with super-efficient measures to reduce overall water demand, and then treat the water needed for potable and non-potable uses.

When faced with the facts that many cities around the country are anticipating water shortages; that the cost of replacing our steadily degrading water and wastewater infrastructure is huge; and that the money (and political will) to invest in centralized infrastructure is dwindling, it only makes sense to stop using potable water for uses that don’t require it, and to find more agile and effective ways to supply and treat our water.

Building Capacity Blog is edited by Kathleen O’Brien, a Cascadia Fellow, and President of O’Brien & Company, a green building consultancy, founded nearly 20 years ago, and located in Seattle, Washington, providing services in green project consulting, sustainability policies, plans, and programs, and education. Sisolak and Spataro are among the line-up of presenters at this year’s Living Future (April 27-29 in Vancouver, BC). Their session, “Getting to Net Zero,” digs into the elements of the Living Building Challenge water petal and regulatory challenges impeding the progress of net-zero water projects. Cover image courtesy of Cascadia Green Building Council.

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Economic Sustainability is all about Place: Interview with Ellen Miller-Wolfe, City of Kirkland

In 2007, O’Brien & Company was privileged to support you in the development of an Economic Sustainability Strategy for the City of Kirkland, located on Lake Washington in Western Washington. It was a pretty intensive effort, combining a somewhat traditional update of economic data with an assessment of sustainable economic development opportunities. Now that some time has passed, what were you hoping for, and did you achieve it?

MILLER-WOLFE: Primarily we were hoping to identify ways to develop and promote Kirkland as a green business destination – a place where people are applying the green concept to their products and services. Some of this was already going on, but the study showed that there were lots of ways businesses could be “greener” and enhance their business profile by doing so. We felt the green idea was a good match for our community culture – people are generally very supportive here of the environment and healthy, outdoor living. We also wanted our own community to understand that we actually have it all right here, that Kirkland isn’t just a place to come home to, but a place to visit, play, work, and live. A lot of very creative commercial activity is going on here, including a significant number of home businesses. We wanted to fill out Kirkland’s business profile more, with green businesses, and green jobs. And yes, I think the project was a very good starting point for this development. It gave us a map, so to speak.

 

I understand you’ve received calls from all over the country about the project..did you anticipate the level of interest your project received? Well, we knew that our approach to combine an economic assessment with a look at green business and green business practice was unusual. So we weren’t totally surprised that there were a number of communities watching this project as it went forward. We also participated in regional forums on green jobs and green business, including one with Governor Gregoire who spoke on green jobs legislation that had just passed. It was an exciting time, and a great time to be launching our green business effort. And you’re correct, we have fielded phone calls from communities interested in what we have done, from back East, as well as around here. I enjoy the mentoring role this project has placed us in. It’s very energizing.

Of project outcomes, which makes you feel most proud? One of the most significant points coming out of your study was the idea that sustainability is about place. It’s local. Your study recommended a buy local campaign and we’ve created Kirkland First. This is a web-based platform providing a local business directory; it also promotes awareness and participation in the City’s Green Business certification program. We could have posted all of our licensed businesses on the site but we didn’t want to dilute the effort, and we definitely didn’t want to offend a business that didn’t want to participate. So we work with our businesses to get their information on the site and ensure it is complete and correct.

That sounds like a challenge. It is. It’s probably taken a year to get to the point we feel this is ready to be promoted to consumers. We have roughly 400 businesses (of just over 3600 Kirkland businesses) now subscribing to the site. The other challenge is funding. We’d like to spin Kirkland First off to a private entity, but they need the capacity to keep it going. We’re working on it. There’s some interest in it going regional – but then that would defeat the premise of being local. We have been somewhat “non-conventional” in that we are interpreting local to include franchises that are located in Kirkland. Jobs are local.

But it’s worth it? Definitely. At one of the public information sessions we held for the project it became clear that people who live here had absolutely no idea that goods and services they were looking for were actually available here. The Kirkland First site is changing that. It’s saying “Look who’s here!” Not only that, many of our green, local businesses don’t know about each other, either. We recently had a business to business event on the first anniversary of setting up the Kirkland First website, and many of these local business owners met up for the first time. This kind of interaction strengthens the community. I mentioned earlier the high number of home-based businesses. And a surprising number – over 60% -- of the businesses located in Kirkland are here because the CEO lives in Kirkland. And these CEOs can become ambassadors for Kirkland, pulling more businesses and more jobs into our community. It’s back to the importance of place again. These individuals like the quality of life in Kirkland, so they live here and start their businesses here.

What else are you doing besides Kirkland First? We’ve been running a very popular seminar series for local businesses called “Weathering the Storm” – focused in part on how to get through this downturn by greening their businesses. We’ve brought in experts to talk about things businesses can do to save on operational costs, and how they can creatively finance these improvements.

The biggest commercial development in Kirkland currently is Park Place; this redevelopment and expansion in the City’s downtown commercial district is expected to provide an important economic boost for our community. What may be especially significant to your readers is the project’s goals to achieve LEED certification, as well as provide other public benefits, such as walkable connectivity with adjacent areas and attractive open spaces. We’ve been incentivizing green building with expedited review for LEED and Built Green certification projects as well as for projects using Low Impact Development techniques where they are not required. (We are in the process of expanding this benefit from just single-family permits to include multi-family and commercial projects.) Kirkland’s Green Building Program offers free green building consultations; we have 5 LEED AP’s on Staff, and the Program's Lead is a Certified Sustainable Building Advisor (CSBA) so we are able to provide quality technical information. We are also developing a Green Code for the City that should be completed by June 2011.

In addition we are working with a number of Cities in the region including the C-7 New Energy Partnership on issues such as climate change, electric vehicle technology, greening our fleets. Within the City, our interdepartmental green team has really evolved. Every department has sustainability initiatives going on.

Any plans to revisit or update the Strategy? Not at this point. Although this interview makes me think I should revisit your report to see what we haven’t yet applied.

Any advice for your peers who might be reading this? I’d suggest a similar approach. An assessment and strategic planning process that includes community dialogue is a great starting point. The analysis and process provided us with enough data to confidently act, as well as some directions to move in. It was also fairly comprehensive in its scope, so it tied together multiple City departments, which has benefited us as we’ve moved forward.

Ellen Miller-Wolfe is Economic Development Manager for the City of Kirkland. The interview was conducted by Kathleen O'Brien, Editor of Building Capacity Blog, and President of O'Brien & Company, sustainability consultant. The Economic Sustainability Accessment and Strategy was developed by O'Brien & Company with E.D. Hovee & Company, economic and development services consultant.

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Leading design firm shows how to take the parking out of the parking lot. Interview with Walter Schacht.

 EDITOR: Walter, we are working with you on two campus parking lot projects that have been accepted as pilots for the Sustainable Sites Initiative™ (SITES™) – the nation’s first rating system for green landscape design, construction and maintenance. With the pilot officially launching today (May 25, 2010), can you share with our readers why you are investing time and energy in this process? WALTER: As a design firm, we feel we have a responsibility to take the lead in shaping sustainable standards that will result in better, more environmentally sound designs. With the SITES pilot, we have the opportunity to field test the guidelines on two college campuses in Washington State – Olympic College in Bremerton, and Peninsula College in Port Angeles. In addition to believing this process should help these campuses directly in future planning, we anticipate the lessons we learn will benefit the larger community.

When people think “parking lot” they think cars and carbon emissions, they don’t necessarily think green; what qualifies these particular parking lots for the SITES project? I appreciate that people might wonder how an infrastructure project focused on vehicles could possibly be sustainable. But by piloting two separate parking lot projects, we’re addressing two permutations of a very common infrastructure typology. The Olympic College project is a new parking lot to accommodate growth. The Peninsula College project is a renovation – they’ll actually have less parking in the end. We believe applying SITES to these projects is going to be very useful, and it seems the Pilot Selection Committee agrees with us.

Shouldn’t we just be looking at getting rid of parking lots? Not every campus is well-served by mass transit or safe non-motorized routes, and that’s the case with both these colleges. Given that, the challenge is how to design a parking lot that encourages the use of these alternatives to single occupant vehicle (SOV) use. In both projects, priority parking will be provided for carpools, and the Peninsula College design includes a multi-modal station in the lot as well as a central drop-off for people traveling in vans. We also want to encourage alternatives to fossil fuel consumption. With the new parking lot at Olympic College, we’ve designed in conduit to accommodate electric vehicle parking stations. We’re currently looking at a few experimental stations, but the conduit should allow for larger capacity in the future.

So you’re talking about using parking lot design to change the SOV culture? Yes. That’s certainly part of it. With the Peninsula project, we’re renovating a parking lot that is the “front door” to the campus. Reducing the parking surface dramatically (roughly 15%), and introducing landscaped natural drainage areas, will convey a very different message from the car-oriented message given now. Also, the campus has a significant presence where it’s located; improving its natural aesthetic will have a huge improvement on its relationship with the surrounding neighborhood. 

 What should we be looking for on a sustainable parking lot? Aesthetically, surface lots should look like landscaped areas with some space for parking within them. Functionally, these projects should address stormwater runoff quality and quantity issues as well as the heat island effect often associated with parking surfaces. With the Peninsula College project, we’ll be treating on site 100% of the water that used to flow directly – and untreated -- into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. With the Olympic College parking lot project, we may end up with a lot that provides greater infiltration capacity than actually required – so it will be able to serve a larger area in the future. The plan calls for using porous pavement (asphalt or concrete), more rain gardens than technically needed for the newly paved area, and taking advantage of a natural sloping toward one corner of the lot. On both projects, generous amount of vegetation will mitigate the potential heat island effect.

What would you tell the owner who is contemplating a sustainable parking lot? First of all, step back. Look at the entire property and determine how the infrastructure project fits into the larger scheme of things. You don’t want to invest in a complicated, expensive project that down the road upends your overall site utilization. Second, take advantage of the existing topography. We have a strong impetus towards natural solutions rather than structural ones. They add value, and frankly, they end up being less expensive.

Walter Schacht is Principal and Project Architect of Schacht Aslani Architects, founded in 1996, and providing planning and design services for a wide range of projects, from community buildings to academic facilities, religious facilities, museums, and private residences. Elizabeth Powers of O’Brien & Company is providing SITES Management services for the pilots. Photo Credit/Peninsula College: Wayne Parslow, Skytech Aerial Photo, LLC.

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Kitsap LID Leader Goes the Distance: Art Castle Interview

EDITOR: For the past three years, we’ve been working together on an ambitious project to develop and implement LID Standards in Kitsap County and the four cities within the County. You’ve been doing a fabulous job taking the document we developed out to the jurisdictions for adoption, and now, with Port Orchard’s adoption, all five have done so. It’s been quite a marathon. Do you think it was worth it, and what’s the most exciting aspect of completing this project? ART: There were some challenges. As you know, I had a very aggressive timeline in mind when we started. So I’m glad we are finally here with this last piece of the puzzle falling into place. It was a lot of work. But, yes, it was worth it. Probably one of the most gratifying aspects of the project was the change we were able to accomplish in terms of getting the five jurisdictions to work together on an issue like this. That’s never happened before.

How did you accomplish that? We had an Ecology grant that provided funding for the project. One of the first things we did was put together a working leadership team that was highly representative. We had stakeholders from both the public and private sectors – City and County planners and engineers, representatives from the Port of Bremerton, Suquamish Tribe, the fire districts, the local health district, Ecology, Puget Sound Partnership, private engineering firms and development companies – basically everyone and anyone who could influence the cost-effective success of LID implementation. We also had an Executive Committee of elected and other officials who could influence the success of adoption of the LID Implementation Guidance Document we intended to develop. This laid the groundwork for acceptance down the road --- which we were able to accomplish.

So it was just a matter of getting the right people together? Oh no, it wasn’t as simple as that, although having the right people at the table is a huge part of making a project like this work. O’Brien & Company facilitated team meetings and conducted a series of workshops on key technical topics so the team could make informed decisions. (Ed. Note: Thanks, Art!) Then you created a document that reflected those decisions. That’s the document that was adopted.

What else excites you about the project? People thought I was crazy to dream this big. NOT! In addition to getting all five jurisdictions on board for a substantive issue like LID (heretofore unheard of) we ended up developing some great tools. In addition to the document itself, as part of the project, Herrera created a BMP sizing calculator specifically for Kitsap County, and O’Brien & Company conducted a video-taped workshop that we now can play on our website. So this project has a long shelf life. I’m gratified by that.

You mentioned the time challenge, can you say more?Well, you know I wanted the project to be completed sooner, and I do remember you cautioning me that a complex project like this would take longer. Life intervened. (Ed. Note: chuckle) And I have to admit that extra time allowed us to integrate some aspects in the document, such as the sizing calculator mentioned above, and the State’s change in rainwater catchment policy. We couldn’t have done that if we’d met my original timeline. It’s a better product in many ways. And the fact that it’s actually been adopted means it will be used. That means a lot to me.

Do you have any advice for others considering a project like this? First, have a clear vision in mind. My goal from the beginning was to have all five jurisdictions in agreement on what we developed through the project. Second, know the political landscape -- who do you need on board? And get them to the table. Third, provide ample opportunity for education and collaborative leadership. Fourth, be pragmatic. Don’t throw the whole thing under the bus if you can’t get exactly what you want. Fifth, and finally, build trust and respect diverse opinions. The result will be common ground.

Thanks Art, It’s clear you deserve the respect of many for this effort. I’m happy to have worked with you on this project!

Art is the Executive Vice President of the Kitsap Home Builders Foundation and was the grant manager for the Washington State Department of Ecology grant that funded the Kitsap LID Standards Implementation project. In August, 2009 he was the cover story for the Kitsap Business Journal, who pronounced him a “LID Leader.” He’s now serving on a statewide LID Standards Implementation Committee sponsored by Ecology. For more information about the project, see www.kitsaphba.org

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