The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) is now roughly 6-months into the implementation of the LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) rating system. After a pilot program and a response period, the new rating system has a total 110 possible points and requires a minimum of 40 points for a project to be certified and 80+ to receive platinum status.
The main sections to achieve points in are:
- Smart Location and Linkage
- Neighborhood Pattern and Design
- Green Infrastructure and Buildings
- Innovation and Design Process
- Regional Priority Credit
Based on the various credits, one of the primary goals of this rating system is to develop larger concepts of a community and how all the individual pieces work together. It is an extension of many credits that are already a part of the LEED for New Construction system (LEED-NC), specifically the Sustainable Sites points section.
It will take a little time to fully digest all the aspects of this rating system, but the key concepts have already begun to be used by Midwestern Consulting on recently started projects and will hopefully continue to be a guiding light for future developments.
Scott Fisher is an engineer at Midwestern Consulting in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He is LEED-AP and can be reached at 734.995.0200.
Recently found in the January/February 2010 issue of Corp. Magazine under the title “2010 Going Green Winners” is an article of a recent project that received certification as a LEED silver building.
-In an effort to be “picture perfect” when it comes to conservation, SchoolPictures.com decided to renovate a pre-1950 structure, making it the first such building in Michigan to achieve the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver status. The company, known for taking more than 3 million student images and 10,000 class panoramic portraits, also changed its business practices to include a recycling and reuse program. “The past year truly defines our efforts to go green and limit our carbon footprint,” notes Skip Cerier, SchoolPictures.com president. “It goes without saying that ‘green’ is not just something we should do to market our company’s name or brand. It’s a way we should be living in our community simply because it’s the right thing to do.” Formerly the facility that housed Ave Maria College in Ypsilanti, Mich., SchoolPictures.com’s new headquarters includes green features such as: additional insulation to improve heating and cooling; low-wattage lighting and some motion-sensitive lighting; new base board heating and an increased number of zones for better efficiency; all new double thermal-pane windows; waterless urinals, which will save approximately 30,000 gallons of water per year; and all new recycled flooring products including non-PVC tile. During the renovation, the company recycled 80 percent of the 72 tons of debris that were removed from the site. Many materials were put back into the building including hundreds of glazed blocks to construct new walls and the original marble slab window sills. Counter tops were made from recycled beer bottles. “We also donated items from our building that were discarded by the previous occupant including library book shelving, wood doors and computer monitors, which are now being used by others in our community,” Cerier says. “We supplied a local library with $30,000 worth of shelving they needed and otherwise would have had to purchase. Now that we’re settled into our environmentally friendly facility, we continue to make every effort to be as green as possible. For example, we make it a habit to recycle paper and cardboard, and we use green cleaning products. We also participate in a program with DTE Energy to purchase our power solely from renewable energy sources.” Renewable energy offset programs allow companies to take advantage of renewable energy without having to purchase the hardware, such as a wind turbine, Cerier said.
Midwestern Consulting provided surveying, site planning, civil engineering and landscape architecture to this project. Within the past few months our design team has now been part of 2 projects that have attained LEED certification.
We’ve all seen poles on the freeway with solar panels attached to power whatever transportation device that has been installed, but these always seem to be far apart and not commonly used. This, however, is a misconception because when you see these it is just in this area. I was surprised when a simple web search of “solar powered street lights” produces over 1.84 million hits for various websites and companies that are now producing solar powered lighting systems that are ranging from park lighting to parking lot lighting. A few favorites are shown below:
http://www.solarlightingusa.com/
http://www.google.com/imgres?…
These are independent units that come equipped with a solar panel and battery system to power the light without the need for trenching or running of conduits between poles and then the power source.
These self-contained units would prove ideal for locating new lights in congested existing sites where the underground utilities are delicate or unknown, or in sensitive environmental areas where the desire is to limit impact to the surrounding area. Beyond these examples the self-contained units will of course make good use for any location requiring lighting and do so in a green manner and from a renewable resource. These units can also help to achieve LEED credits for onsite renewable energy. Rather than needing to devote large areas of roof space to larger photovoltaic units (PV), these individual units mount directly to the light they are energizing and can provide all the power those lights need.
I am sure that as PV technology advances these individual units will continue to grow smaller and more affordable to use and will one day dominate all site lighting without anyone thinking of them as something new.
With more and more emphasis being put on storm water quality control and the use of best management practices (BMPs) such as sediment forebays in detention/retention basins it is often overlooked that large state/county/local road projects don’t have the space available to install what can be quite large above ground storage systems, or they don’t have the funds to install an underground system. As a result road drainage runoff and the associated pollutants (oil, fertilizers, salt) as well as trash (plastic bottles, lawn clippings, plastic bags) just flow straight into the sewer system and eventually discharges into our lakes and stream and this action is not promoting a healthy environment. Communities have begun to try to fight against this pollution by first installing new catch basin inlet castings with sayings of “discharges to streams” in an effort to educate the public but even this isn’t enough.
There are several newer designs that are being used more and more these days in order to improve the storm water runoff quality before it reaches the streams. One of the best ways to reduce the amount of pollutant laden runoff from entering the storm sewer system is to just not let it. Rain gardens are a solution that are being utilized more and more across the country, particularly in developed areas that contain limited space and that presently have no means of treating runoff. The overall size of rain gardens can vary depending on the amount of runoff that is desired to be treated, but they all operate in the same manner. By increasing the amount of vegetation that wants to absorb water while also slowly the runoffs velocity, rain gardens reduce the amount of runoff from being channeled underground. As this article shows rain gardens are being used not as a replacement for storm sewers but as a means to increase the storm water quality before it reaches our streams and lakes.
http://www.startribune.com/…
If storm sewer systems must still be used there are several options for treating storm water with no noticeable aboveground features. One is called a hydro-dynamic separator (HDS). This device is installed as a typical inlet/catch basin that we see everyday with the difference being that a inlet/catch basin will just catch runoff and direct it into a pipe with no cleaning. A HDS unit in one of several different ways (screens, filters, vortex action) will remove pollutants and debris depending on the type you design it to remove and to what level of cleanliness. While these units work very well they do require maintenance and cleaning on a schedule based on the amount of pollutants that enter the unit. Of course this maintenance requires money in addition to the original cost of the unit which is dependent on the size of the unit which is based on the flow it is designed to handle.
A lower cost and simple method of controlling larger pollutants and floatables is the use of Snouts. Snouts are a plastic cover that cover the downstream pipe inside of a storm sewer manhole. As can be seen on this link the Snout works by preventing pollutants from entering the manhole and then continuing downstream by re-directing the flow down under the Snout and then up through the outlet.
http://www.bmpinc.com/
The method works due to the way that water works which always seeks the lowest point possible while maintaining a constant elevation. Because of this the water level on either side of the Snout will always be the same, but the pollutants will be kept on one side while the cleaner storm water discharges on the other (This also occurs due to the Snout extending below the invert of the downstream pipe which helps to keep the pollutants inside the structure even when no rain event is occurring) While the Snouts may seem that they are considerably cheaper than an HDS unit this can be deceiving. In order to install the Snout a manhole must be wider in diameter and have a deeper sump than traditional units. These additions can increase the cost, but depending on the size of the manhole/pipe this system is typically still cheaper than an HDS. Snouts do require periodic cleaning, but it would be no different than if the structure had a traditional sump that would need to be cleaned. Snouts can be used for existing manholes depending on the required dimensions.
When designing tomorrow’s roads more thought must be given to how this road will impact the environment both today and in the future. By utilizing new and different BMPs a smaller impact can be achieved while still designing a system that satisfies all the engineering requirements.
The amount of attention that “Green” building and design has received lately has really made it seem that going green is a new concept. It has actually been around in some form or another since probably well before I was born, but in today’s world the items that were new back then are so commonplace these days that no one realizes just how important and green they are.
Renewable energy such as geothermal, wind and solar while getting larger headlines today has been around for over 2 decades. Iceland is poised to become the first country that does not use a single fossil fuel for its energy production or vehicle transportation. Turning an entire country over to renewables didn’t happen over night and has been slowly taking place for years. Elsewhere in Europe green roofs have become incredibly commonplace in Germany and wind farms have now moved offshore as opposed to being located on solid ground.
These green elements are only now gaining such interest in the US because of the increase in fuel prices. What has become commonplace in Europe is only now beginning to scratch the surface in the US. And things that have become commonplace in the US are often ignored because they’re not a 200 meter tall wind turbine that is easily noticeable.
How many people drive past a detention basin or retention pond and only see a water feature that is an aesthetic focal point for a property? They don’t even realize that detaining runoff and using sediment forebays helps a project to qualify for 2 LEED-NC credits and has a large impact on the water quality and quantity that eventually exits the site. They help to prevent runoff from further degrading the water system downstream of a development.
Using lighter colored materials for paving and roofing, native plant species that don’t require sprinklers and limiting the extent of new grading for a project are all ways of making a development more green and no one even realizes it. All of these types of practices are used everytime a new project is started here. I can remember the first ever engineering work I did was for a detention basin. This was before I had even started any of my engineering classes where I learned the what, where, when, why and how of environmental design. Once I did take those classes I was able to understand the full impact of a detention basin, but it is something that has been around awhile and no one gives second thought about.
Green planning and engineering is nothing new to MCLLC and has been occurring for years. This is partially because it is required by many review agencies, but it is also because it often makes sense from both a design perspective and for a client’s pocket book. A project may not have anything as noticeable as a wind turbine, but that doesn’t mean there are other elements to making the project green.
The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) is now roughly 6-months into the implementation of the LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) rating system. After a pilot program and a response period, the new rating system has a total 110 possible points and requires a minimum of 40 points for a project to be certified and 80+ to receive platinum status. 