This week, I wrote an article in the DJC on Bellevue Towers, its developer, Gerding Edlen, and what the project represents for Bellevue.

Bellevue Towers is a two-tower luxury condo project with 539 units. According to

Bellevue Towers

Mike Brennan, director of Bellevue’s Development Services Department, it is the most prominent green building in Bellevue and the first multifamily high-rise that has gone for LEED certification in the city. It is targeting LEED gold and is supposedly the largest LEED-certified residential project in the Northwest, according to press materials. It is also the first project Gerding Edlen has done in the Puget Sound region.

That’s a lot of firsts. I’m wondering what this means for Bellevue.

Bellevue tends to have a mixed reputation when it comes to green buildings. In my wanderings, I’ve heard about city codes that make it difficult for projects to do low impact development, and green techniques that relate to stormwater. I’ve also heard disappointed reactions that the city wasn’t more receptive to green building earlier.  (For a reaction on how Bellevue has been MIA, see the comments to a previous post regarding Kirkland here.)

But I wonder if that is changing.

Bellevue is the first city in the Puget Sound region to have a Gerding Edlen development. Gerding Edlen, Portland’s premier green developer, is known internationally for its work. I’m sure Seattle and other cities would have appreciated one of its projects.

Phil Beyl, principal in charge of Bellevue Towers with architect GBD, said the city welcomed aggressive sustainable techniques “with open arms.” Working on this project was exciting for him, precisely because he felt like he was bringing something new to the city: “We’ve been able to bring to Bellevue an elevated level of sustainability that now I think has raised the bar quite a bit higher… and that’s very exciting.”

Brennan said Bellevue is hoping this building will serve as an example and bring other green development to the city (though he also was unsure whether it actually would or not).

Incidentally, there are only two LEED certified buildings in Bellevue, according to the USGBC’s registry. But there are 24 that are registered. Then again, some of the projects that are awaiting certification like the Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center (wrote about it a year ago here in the DJC) are pretty darn interesting. 

Then there’s my own experience with people that read this blog.

I like to track where blog readers come from, and believe me, there’s been a dramatic shift. Last summer, I was surprised by how little readers I had from Bellevue (one here and there but virtually none). I even e-mailed certain city representatives to get them to read, but readers from Bellevue remained flat.

In the last two months, something changed. Now, Bellevue is consistently the third rated city, in cities that read this blog. (Behind Seattle, and then either Portland or New York, depending on the day.)

What the heck is going on?

Did something shift or did a whole lot of people from Bellevue start reading this blog for no reason? Was it the economy? Was it the change in presidents? I’m stumped.

What do you think? Is Bellevue getting - or going to be getting greener? Has anything changed or is this really just one LEED project? Comment below or answer my poll at right.

For more on Gerding Edlen, click the tab ‘Gerding Edlen’ below. Or check out SkyscraperCity and look under Bellevue Development or Bellevue Towers.

McKinstry is expanding. It is developing a new 120,000-square-foot building next to its manufacturing space. In addition to the 500 jobs it will be creating within the next couple years, Dean Allen, McKinstry CEO, said he hopes to create thousands of jobs across both in Seattle and across the country. For more on this story, read my DJC article here.

Gov. Gregoire’s climate and job package runs the gamut. It includes proposed investments totaling $455 million in the next biennium for energy-reducing transportation projects, energy efficiency projects, green buildings and clean-energy technology. Her press release says the investments would support about 2,900 jobs in 2010 and 2011.

It also includes legislation to provide a state tax exemption for plug-in electric vehicles, and Legislation to support the Western Climate Initiative cap and trade system. For more information on this legislation, go here. To see the one-stop green jobs and climate action Web page, go here. To view the full package, go here.

Like I’ve said before, everything green happens at the exact same time. Let’s take tomorrow, for example:

At 10 a.m. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels is rolling out the red carpet for McKinstry as he presents an approved development permit to expand its current headquarters site in Georgetown. McKinstry says it expects to create more than 500 jobs.

(In case you missed it, McKinstry recently received a 10-year contract from the U.S. Department of Energy worth up to $5 billion for energy efficient projects in federal buildings. President Barack Obama is also a fan of the company.)

At the same time, Gov. Chris Gregoire will announce her 2009 green jobs and climate action legislation, and present results of the Employment Security Department’s “Washington State Green Economy Jobs Survey.” The announcement will be made at South Puget Sound Community College’s new LEED-certified Natural Sciences Building.

What’s a girl to cover?

This week, I attended a panel discussion hosted by the Seattle Art Museum and by the Cascade Land Conservancy on how art, design and sustainability fit together. Lucia Athens, sustainable future strategist at CollinsWoerman, moderated the panel. Panelists were Tom Kundig of Olson Sundburg Kundig Allen Architects, Rebecca Luke, co-founder of the Sustainable Style Foundation and stylist, and Roy McMakin, Northwest artist.

The conversation twisted and turned around how sustainability intersects with art,

Sustainable home? Courtesy OSKA

style and architecture, but overall, all speakers said they wanted to create something that lasted. Whether it was art, a beautiful house, or a great dress, they said it was more sustainable to create or buy something you’d use forever, rather than something that you would dispose of in a year or a decade.

The problem with that is sustainability is so new it’s not always clear what is truly sustainable (for more on this, read a previous post here  or look under the tag ‘greenwashing’ below). And for art and outfits, fashions come in and out of style. Kundig summed it up nicely when he said: “Culturally, we don’t understand the decisions we’re making now and what their larger effects are… architects don’t know yet what is truly sustainable and what is not.”

Sustainabilty also means different things in different locations. In nature, it’s about being light on the land and letting nature be the focus. But in the city, he said it’s more about density. In either space, Kundig said there are many conspiring issues that must be balanced from land use to environmental concerns to planning. “How they’re resolved is what we hope is good architecture.”

I love attending discussions that bring different disciplines together, because you often get tossed out of your comfort zone.

Sustainable furniture? Courtesy Domestic Furniture Co.

Roy McMakin was an interesting voice to have in on the panel. One of the impediments to becoming more sustainable, he said, is the tension between individual rights and the common good. It’s hard to come together and agree something is best for everyone, he said, when this country is founded on the individual being able to do what they think is best for them.

Another point McMakin made is that honestly, we could have everything we talk about in panel discussions - from more art in public places to more sustainable infrastructure - if we just agreed to tax ourselves more and give more of our income to the common good. But realistically, how many people in Seattle would vote to do that? He has a point.

Luke pointed out that it’s important to have different disciplines sharing information

Sustainable clothing? Courtesy the sustainable style weblog

or working together on issues of sustainability, otherwise every industry ends up reinventing the wheel, which she said doesn’t need to happen. In her work with style, she said she tries to connect the experiences of different disciplines. 

Unfortunately, all of these things cost money and require some serious investments. Buying a great dress that will last for years? Pricey. Buying a house designed by OSKA that reflects and respects the local environment? Pricey. Buying furniture that is art, which will become a family heirloom? Pricey. Sustainability, it seems, does not come cheap.

I leave you with this quote from McMakin: “Sustainability is partly the idea that it’s not ephemeral, it’s used for a long time … but we’re humans. We do stuff. We have ideas … I’m an artist. I want to create stuff but how do you deal with the impacts of what you do?”

The Environmental News Network recently alerted me to a report by fastcompany.com on the 10 best green jobs for the next decade. Whether it’s truly reputable or not, I don’t know, but I do know that it’s an interesting list that doesn’t inlcude (gasp!) architects, engineers, contractors or developers.

Here’s the apparent top 10 green jobs, in ENN’s words:

#1– Farmer. The average age of the American farmer is nearing retirement age. A new generation of small-scale, local growers is needed.

#2– Forester. The field has growing international significance as programs aim to finance, conserve and develop forests in developing nations.

#3– Solar Power Installer. The Solar Energy Industries Association predicts an increase to over 110,000 good-paying jobs by 2016 and maybe more if anticipated tax credits are accelerated.

#4– Energy Efficiency Builder. Obama’s pledge to improve the energy efficiency of public buildings and homes could create almost a million jobs.

#5– Wind Turbine Fabricator.  The wind industry reportedly added 10,000 new jobs in 2007 and it is the fastes growing source of alternative energy.

#7– Green MBA and Entrepreneur. More and more, companies are beginning to understand that the values of sustainability are about survival, not just good press.

#8– Recycler. Although the industry is currently in a downturn. Recycling is still more cost effective than waste disposal, and supportive regulations continue to increase.

#9– Sustainability Systems Developer. These are the high-tech positions. Essentially computer information systems (CIS) designed for support energy efficiency and alternative energy supply.

#10– Urban Planner. Large infrastructure changes are needed to transition to less carbon intensive lifestyles and to prepare for climate change.

What do you think, did they get it right?

LEED 2009 is in the process of coming out… but what happens if you’ve already received your LEED AP designation? The chief question, or course, is whether you have to test again or not.

According to the Green Building Certification Institute, there are over 1,300 LEED APs in Seattle. If you are one of them, you should be at least interested in this topic.

To clarify some earlier information I had posted, and to provide you with concrete specifics, here is the lowdown via the Green Building Certification Institute: 

The last day to register for the LEED NC v2.2 and LEED CI v2.0 exams will be March 31. Any candidate who has registered for one of those exams with http://www.gbci.org by that day will be able to schedule their exam date going forward, until a final deadline for testing is established. Candidates that take the exam after March 31 will not be able to test again because registration will be closed at that point.

Existing LEED APs will not be required to retest, assuming they enroll in the new system before summer of 2011. From summer of 2009 to 2011, existing LEED APs can enroll in the new version by agreeing to the disciplinary policy and taking on credential maintenance. After 2011, passing an exam will be the only means of becoming a LEED AP+.

Existing LEED APs who enroll in the system will receive the updated designation which most closely corresponds to the exam they passed. For example, if someone passed the LEED NC exam in 2003, they would become a LEED AP+ Design & Construction.

Hope that clears things up.

The Internet has been awash with green trend predictions for the last year, so I figured I’d show you where the predictions are in case you missed them.

What do you see in green's crystal ball?

First, there’s Jetson Green’s Seven Green Trends to Watch in 2009. The post from one of the top national blogs in the country calls out broad idealogical trends for the most part, like “non green will not survive,” “change leadership will thrive,” and “everything will shift.” For more on what that means, check out the post.

There’s Jerry  Yudelson’s Top 10 Predictions for the Green Building Industry 2009. Culled from conversations Yudelson’s had with building leaders in the U.S., Canada, Europe and the Middle East, it’s a wide range of predictions (that might be worth paying attention to, considering Yudelson knows almost everybody that’s worth knowing in green). Among the predictions, Yudelson says green building will benefit from the Obama administration, the focus of green building will begin to switch from new buildings to greening existing buildings, awareness of the coming global crisis in fresh water supply will increase, LEED platinum rated projects will become more common place and zero net energy designs for new buildings will gain increasing acceptance in both public and private buildings.

And earlier today, I listened to the Sustainable Industries Webinar on its nine trends for 2009. Among the trends, it said the smart grid will take off, this will be the year of the carbon market, green building sets the code (meaning it becomes a larger part of city’s building codes), and there will be a green jobs hiring blitz. While I can’t find this information for free on the Web, it is in next month’s edition of the magazine, and will likely be available online at some point here.

As for Seattle, I’m a reporter so I’m not going to predict what this year will bring in green building. It could bring a living building or a passifhaus to the city. It could bring more incentives. Or all new initiatives could dry up, due to the economy.

On the city side, the year will likely bring an official priority permitting program (rather than just a pilot program), and a deconstruction permit that is decoupled from the demolition permit. On the state side, Ecology might revamp SEPA to specifically include greenhouse gas emissions in its measurement requirements (for more on this, click tag SEPA below).

What do you think this year will bring to Seattle? And what do you think will be the biggest trends in the region?

The economy is depressing. So today I offer green job seekers out there a few rays of light in all this gloom with the below green jobs, which are currently open:

Looking for a job?

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland is looking for building energy modelers and analyst’s, not to mention a number of other positions including business intern. For more information, visit their job site here.

The Cascadia Region Green Building Council’s Research Department is hiring a living building outreach director who will initiate and oversee communication among all enthusiasts of the Living Building Challange. For more, visit Cascadia here.

Paladino and Co. is looking for a green building mechanical engineering consultant, a green building commissioning agent and a marketing communications manager. More here.

Good luck out there! For more job sites, check out Green Dream Jobs, AIA Seattle’s Job Bank or Cascadia’s Job Board.

The green roof at Seattle hotel-condo project Olive 8 is being installed this week. It is one of the largest green roofs in Seattle at 8,355 square feet.

The roof is actually two green roofs so the developer, R.C. Hedreen, can test out which system it likes best. Above the chillers there is a sod-based green roof. On the actual fourth floor ground level, there is a tray-based sedum system. There is a lasting argument between which one of these techniques is better, which I will discuss in a later post at greater detail. For more on this project, or to learn about R.C. Hedreen’s conversion to being a green developer, read the story in the DJC here.

R.C. Hedreen is also considering a second green roof on the 39th floor of Olive 8, though if it pursues that option it will need to be sod-based as David Thyer, president of the company, said the city is afraid the green roof trays will blow away at such a great height.

On Tuesday, I was fortunate enough to see part of the tray installation. Here are photos I took of the process:

Trays on the ground

Workers pick up a tray...

And load the tray into a pattern

The green roof from behind

Both green roofs

A close up of the sod-based green roof

For more on Olive 8, see the official page here. To see more photos, visit Eco Friendly Mag here.

This week, I wrote a story in the DJC about the Sustainable Sites Initiative. The initiative has been in the works since 2002 and is geared to be a comprehensive certification similar to LEED but focused on landscape, rather than efficiency.

I spoke to Deb Guenther of Mithun about the initiative, as she’s been working on it

What do green certifications ignore?

since the beginning. When I asked her whether site treatment was just touched on or ignored in green building certifications, she said “a little bit of both.”

The idea that green building certifications ignore critical development considerations is a constant complaint. Here are some of the most cited aspects of what people say green building ignores:

• The historic value of a site or building
• The value of keeping a building - and recognizing its embodied energy, rather than demolishing a structure to build a new one
• Accurately measuring how well the building works
• Indoor air quality
• Beauty and aesthetic value

(For more information on what your colleagues think is most ignored, check out my poll at right.)

But a green building certification cannot be all things to all people. And LEED has a great track record of appealing to different projects in different regions, states, climates and cities. How then, should new certifications that deal with in depth, important topics only touched on by LEED - like the Sustainable Sites Initiative - be dealt with? The initiative, by the way, will be considered in future versions of LEED, though it is unclear how it will be incorporated.

Should this initiative - and future ones like it - become a part of LEED or be developed as separate certifications?

A single certificaiton might be easier, but would force those who don’t care about things like sites or historic value to consider those aspects, and would also likely raise the certification’s cost. 

But if new certification’s aren’t incorporated into LEED, they might never get off the ground or gain market value.  And would developers really want to go get multiple certifications for multiple things, just to prove they have a green project?

What do you think?