Building Capacity

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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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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Living Future: Life in the Solution

Last week, I had the privilege of participating in Living Future, the annual “un-conference” organized by the Cascadia Green Building Council around the Living Buildng Challenge. It’s the kind of event that makes you wish you could be in more than one place at a time. So many choices, so little time! I have to admit I was also lucky enough to attend the Green Tools' Government Confluence the day before. That event, aimed at government representatives from around the region, offered some of the same speakers and topics.

What impressed me most about the presentations and workshops I participated in last week was that in addition to the high knowledge level and passion I’ve come to expect from the green building crowd, the focus was on applied solutions. Anyone who knows me personally, or read my book, knows I’m into living in the solution, not the problem. In the 27 years I’ve worked in this field I can say that we got way more traction when we stopped complaining and blaming, started listening to those we thought were causing problems, and WITH them, started solving them.

With solutions like the bioreactor technology presented by the Whole Water Systems (WWS) crew in the Living Future Breakout Session: “Water Treatment & Reuse Using Biomimicry.” This technology is scalable, phasable, and depending on the application, an attractive landscape amenity. I liked WWS’s practical AND positive approach to the fact to that, today, most municipalities will not allow you to rely on these facilities to supply your drinking water. The consultants advise their projects to install dual plumbing for the not-too-distant future when wastewater is seen as the water resource it really is. They are also working with jurisdictions to break this particular code barrier down. They mentioned a few resources; I’ve already checked one out : The EPA’s “Handbook for Managing Onsite and Clustered (Decentralized) Wastewater Treatment Systems.” Looks like a great tool for communities hoping to create a tailored and more sustainable approach to managing wastewater on site.

Not as developed but none-the-less appealing to me because of the many benefits it could provide was the Vertical Farm solution presented by Dr. Dickson Despommier (Professor Emeritus at Columbia University) and Dan Albert, Landscape Designer with Weber Thompson. I heard them speak at the Confluence, but they repeated their talk in a larger panel at the Living Future Session “Food for Thought: A Conversation on the Urban Agriculture Movement.” Vertical farming – scaling up greenhouse technologies beyond the current one-story limitation – promises more output, less transportation energy consumption, and greater food security while eliminating agricultural runoff. This should be taken seriously and considered in the early stages of urban (re-)development projects. Still theoretical, but Despommier’s website is daily attracting unsolicited prototypes (including Weber Thompson’s eco-laboratory conceptual design), and soilless techniques, such as hydroponics and aeroponics (important because of the weight of soil and associated structural requirements to support it) are well established.

There was lots more, such as Dr. John Francis’ fabulous closing keynote on not talking and yes walking in the name of the environment (check out the Planetwalk website to find out what I mean), great conversations with old friends (including fellow "pioneers" on a fun panel moderated by Jason McLennan), and good guiltless food – all nurturing us for the good fight.

There was one misstep, and that was the apocalyptic opening keynote by an individual I shall not name. He spent the first hour telling us how messed up the world is now because of our wrong-headed decisions and the second hour telling us that the solutions we are looking at right now are also wrong-headed. His most positive moment was in promising us that overpopulation would be taken care of – by the four horsemen. And spare me the profanity, please.

Other than that, the conference was a blast. See you there next year.

Kathleen O’Brien is the Editor of the Building Capacity Blog, President of O’Brien & Company, and author of the Northwest Green Home Primer.

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