1. 

   the Monster who made publicola cry
   September 24th, 2011 - 14:10

   it seems to me this is a smart way to do it. Instead of jumping to the most greenest (and expensive) way of doing things they are taking baby steps and this allows developers to incrementally get better performance out of new constructions, then in a decade or so they can go back and retrofit older facilities. In essence they are following the concept “Dont let perfect be the enemy of good.”

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2. 

   Anne Whitacre
   September 26th, 2011 - 09:07

   Unless the city is in the position of verifying and certifying the LEED requirements — rather than passing them off to another organization (ie, the USGBC) — then the city should not be requiring anything they can’t back up. California has moved to a statewide green building code , and while the implementation is going to be painful for a while (as municipalities get up to speed on the requirements) this is where municipal requirements belong, in my opinion. If the municipal agency wants a requirement met, they have to be in charge of interpretation and enforcement. There isn’t any other construction requirement that gets passed off to an outside (privately owned) organization.

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   • 

     Rob Harrison AIA
     September 26th, 2011 - 11:08

     Anne, you have a good point. Moving these ideas forward will require eventually non-proprietary, objective standards. On the other hand, isn’t ASHRAE a privately owned organization?

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3. 

   Anonymous
   September 26th, 2011 - 11:02

   Regarding the question you posed in Is LEED Gold enough? and the query from your May 11 post regarding focusing on innovation versus current work to solve the energy/climate problem:

   I applaud LEED for moving us in the right direction….but as it currently stands, LEED (Silver, Gold, Platinum,…) certification, particularly regarding energy, is just not enough. LEED is the cool green thing to do…but if we want to get really serious about addressing energy/climate, we need to do better. The European Union and I believe California will require new buildings be near net-zero energy by 2020. The Pacific Northwest should be leading here. New green buildings should be seeking a much higher energy performance target. This is an area where the Pacific Northwest can be a showcase to the world- a place where we actively address energy/climate using both creative innovation and current work. Moving to low energy buildings and deep energy retrofits will add resilience and help revitalize the economy. We should embrace this opportunity. What will the long term costs be if we don’t?

   Anonymous

   P.S. I think meeting near net-zero for all new buildings is a realistic target. Living buildings are great examples, but I think would be difficult to mandate for all new city buildings at this time.

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4. 

   mike eliason
   September 26th, 2011 - 13:24

   Anon is correct that LEED falls apart when it comes to energy efficiency. Requiring actual energy savings in new (and retrofitted) buildings should be an immediate imperative of the City.

   I’ve sat through LEED charrettes where the focus has been hitting LEED Silver as ‘cost-effectively’ as possible. While many projects seem to shoot for E&A points, they tend to get VE’d for the easier points or things that are added for the appearance of being green (green roof, PV, etc). The end result is a project which may save a little energy – but most likely won’t. This is the opposite of sustainable. The amount of CO2 emitted in the daily operations of buildings far exceeds the embodied energy from construction. We (taxpayers/citizens) are funding buildings that don’t work as efficiently as they should. And that’s a shame – how many city programs the last few years wouldn’t have had to be eliminated or drastically cut if these buildings met the Passivhaus standard?

   Passivhaus is a proven and cost-effective manner in achieving those energy reductions – it also has the added benefit of equally substantial CO2 emission reductions. This is why I’m a huge proponent of Passivhaus – it’s win-win-win: occupant comfort is normalized, operational budgets are drastically reduced and so are CO2 emissions. Whether you are a treehugger and want to minimize the amount of energy your building consumes, or concerned with your budget’s bottom line – Passivhaus makes cents. It is also easily incorporated into other programs (Built Green, LEED, Living Building).

   What kinds of energy reductions are possible, and how large? Here are a few typologies, with the corresponding nat’l average site EUIs and Passivhaus equivalent:

   k-12 schools: 66 kBTU/ft2a | Passivhaus school: 10-12 kBTU/ft2a
   libraries: 104 kBTU/ft2a | Passivhaus libraries: 10-12 kBTU/ft2a
   fire stations/police stations: 78 kBTU/ft2a | Passivhaus FH/PS: 10-12 kBTU/ft2a

   Significant CO2 emissions and operational energy reductions can readily be achieved now, in the city of Seattle, without adding significant cost to new construction. In Europe, projects are now meeting Passivhaus with no net increase in cost. Energy retrofits can be realized now, in the city of Seattle, that would pay for themselves in a matter of years (not decades) through energy savings. It would provide jobs, make the Northwest a hub of efficiency knowledge and innovation, free up taxpayer funds for more critical programs – oh, and save a few plants and animals. It’s kind of a no-brainer.

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5. 

   Rob Harrison AIA
   September 26th, 2011 - 14:38

   I agree with my Passivhaus colleague Mike Eliason. LEED-Gold does not go far enough. We should be mandating Passivhaus now. From what I can see, buildings that achieve LEED-Gold (as the standard is written now) pay the full price but realize few of the benefits of their investment in terms of energy saved. The good folks at USGBC realizes this and in collaboration with Passive House Institute US are moving toward incorporating the Passive House standard in LEED. When that is realized, LEED will have teeth.

   We don’t have the money in our economy to approach energy saving incrementally. In 2030, buildings built today to current codes–or LEED-Gold–will cost their owners more to operate, and be worth less, than buildings built today to a standard like Passivhaus that saves more energy.

   As speakers Adam Cohen and Günter Lang demonstrated at the recent Passive House Northwest Fall Conference, for some building types return on investment is so good with Passivhaus it’s silly NOT to do it. (One commercial example in Virginia was 6.9%. Around the Northwest, we’re seeing 9% for single-family residential, and that’s assuming a 2% annual increase in energy costs, half the 4% figure the City uses. No local multifamily or institutional data yet.) We have the knowledge to do this *tomorrow*–why wait?

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6. 

   Haul it Louisville Guy
   September 28th, 2011 - 18:40

   I live in Louisville, Ky and we are not even close to being as environmentally friendly as you you are. there is no way that we could pull off a net-zero target right now. Is that unrealistic or are we just that far behind? I am willing to consider that we are that far behind. Please remember when judging Kentucky that coal rules the politics. It is a sad but true fact here that without coal money you are not getting elected.

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7. 

   KBO Agent
   October 16th, 2011 - 11:45

   Seattle is a joke to live in now due to people that want to make changes for the better. The school district spent 63 million plus overhauling a middle school to make it green and due to its historic windows put the same huge single pane windows back in. Forgot to talk to the parks department about where they wanted to install their massive heat pump system in the park next door where it was denied. Allow special interests owners i.e. Vulcan to build over the code height buildings. Raised the skyline from 3 -4 stories to much higher in the U District which was fought long ago to never get skyscrapers again by the will of the people who are long gone moved on from about 1970.

   Raised heights recently in the outlying area of Roosevelt for the building community around their glorified “light rail” “heaviest money ever train. King County one of the most builder unfriendly places in the Northwest due to Ron Sims one must own 100 acres to build a house. As a young man I might have done so. Now I am stuck in a city with low wages and high costs with no hope of building my own home.

   For all those great ideas whose time has come I give u the cities codes about building giant houses nearby tiny ones discussion up next being sold as get this cultural overlay districts. Now those that own mini-mansions will finally get their values worth as the costs of housing go up more.

   Here is another example of how things go terribly wrong while touting designs and greenness:
   A friend owns a late model 2.5 bedroom townhouse. The small building could not be shaped like a box. So they built it with various reliefs that prevent her neighbor from parking a small car in the garage. Several units such as my friend’s have only one shower/tub. Can you imagine how well this works with 2 or 3 people? Density housing what a great idea. They get 1 shower and some $15,000 dollar bill for sewer above the rest of you as Ron Sims way to pay for Bright Water Dirt Plant.

   Now here is the really green part of this over-insulated building: Commonly in the past one would find a gas water heater in the garage. Not a bad place especially if you can’t park in it anyway. Easy to change it out.

   The water heaters which supply both eat to the units rooms via pex piping and small loud fanned radiators in each room and the water for the shower, dish washer and so on are on the 3rd floor. This so called green solution to keep it warm upstairs so the heater doesn’t have to go on as much as its upstairs and not in the cold garage leads to one thing. A heated unit that no man can stand:
   They search for ways to shut it off or separate it entirely from the system especially in the Summer. What a genuine asinine idea for a place to put a water heater. Just think about whats involved in changing it out or if it leaks?

   There a lot of green ideas sold as a good idea solution. 100 acre building lots: Good luck young men and women or even old men an women, middle aged under paid men and women. Density Housing, How is that going to make your
   quality of life better?

   Light Rail costs at over 60 million a day to consultants (buying artwork before the station is built). 10% of your new projects by government include artwork.
   There is part of a runway at SeaTac that has artwork no one can see to meet this well meaning law. This could have been a very green idea saving money.
   Their planning which all a long was to get Federal funding they had to spend enough to make it oh not a local project that could have been build for much less and up and running fast like people in America used to do. Lets not save money lets make it so expensive the Federal government must take over and pay for it, which means we all pay for it. There is something very wrong with our codes and laws and concepts when this is how it is done. It seems to say leave the debt to the youth. Light Rail was planned panned and cost-overruned to death for you to pay for while many of you were still in Elementary School.

   Light rail that could have been built on existing railroad right of ways: i. e. the Burke Gilman trail which was a railroad right of way. There was enough room there could have still been a bike path put moved over. They could have seized the backyard easements from the wealthy landowners to do so.

   What difference does it make now. They want all streets in Seattle to be confusingly cramped with suicidal center lines such as 5th Ave going to Northgate with a center line and a suicide bike lane I see no one riding on switching 2 feet in the middle of an intersection back and forth as the unused bikelane switches sides. Seems to be a lot of you must have this with little foresight.

   Have you noticed all the 4 lane roads that used to make Seattle an easy place to drive in disappear? This is not due to bikelanes. It has gone on for years due to well meaning Federal Law regarding crosswalks requiring a stoplight.
   So now good luck getting past that diesel spouting bus or articulated jackknifed electric bus thats burning something else anyway in the snow because the city in its foresight to save money built meridians and reduced the lanes from 2 to 1 rather than install a stop light to maintain.

   The reason this country itself is entirely to expensive to do business in is there are so many codes and laws at this point just look at the signage on the roads and intersections.

   Now congress wants you like Europe to give up the incandescent light bulb. Good luck using a real light bulb utility light as you repair your overly burdened
   emission controlled car to pass emissions testing so you can pay your extra $60 dollar car tabs on top its normal tab fees running around $75 dollars for a 1999.
   Why don’t we suggest a bike licensing tab just so they can pay their part for all the new bike lanes?

   Anyway these great new cfl replacement bulbs go a long way at turning things green in energy costs while needing a hazmat team to clean a broken one up.
   Anyone for inhaling mercury? Or how about one of the few we had in our residence that burned up its transformer in the base releasing god knows what kind of gas as the electronics burned up and made the floor it was on smell for days with an acrid get the heck out of here unbearable smell? This a common problem along with most of them being made in China.

   Sure LED’s are much nicer for can lighting on the electricity buget at about 55 bucks at the cheapest a piece. Plan on taking them with you or your tenants taking them from you.

   Whats the next well meaning green idea:
   Lets stop people from cutting trees down in their yards like Mercer Island?
   Though we require them to maintain the parking strip its really city property and you cant cut one down there oh no not without a major permit process.
   Do realize how much it costs to pay all these city union wages? The cost of living in Seattle has skyrocketed and when I grew up before gangs existed here
   people said thank you and I’m sorry etc. Not I am entitled to have my stuff green get out of my way you signaling person. And how are all the people that can’t drive ethically going to learn how to ride a bike and not mow others over?

   Take a look at Solyndra and how it was well known it could not compete against foreign solar panel makers with out dated technology. About the
   loans they received on by well meaning idea people that voted for change.
   Really look well at this and think about how we people not they the government will be paying for these well meaning ideas.

   All the well meaning green ideas and green jobs that we heard would jump start the economy in a new direction. Where are they?
   Brazil? Where is all the alternative fuel? I have been told by those in the know that it takes more to farm corn and turn it into fuel than the fuel we get out of it.
   And that is another thing we pay for. Which we are all paying for through pump costs and subsidies to the farmer for growing corn.

   Yes the model T was built to run on distilled alcohol. They just stumbled on a byproduct from making kerosene for lamp oil also used for stoves. There was a time whey they used wood for cooking and heat here and coal too. I would like to know when it gets really cold in the winter how are you going to keep warm besides wearing fleece plastic clothing that burns easily? As our homeless population increases due to the cost of living here how will you keep them from freezing? What is your green answer to this? When the next ice age comes tell me then your answer. That should give you just about enough time to realize that many of the “light bulb” bright ideas are not so bright.

   I hope I have not posted something that seems mean and hateful and offended any. I just want all of you to think about all the codes and laws and methods of getting things done like light rail that have been created and how much of it really makes good sense.

   Whats next shall we move back into the trees?
   Should we have never left the oceans like Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy?

   Keep the Bastards Out: Long Live Emmett Watson

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8. 

   KBO Agent
   October 16th, 2011 - 12:39

   When I say farmer I mean Agricultural Corporations: The family farm is long gone.
   The small organic ones great idea but not what is making the subsidized fuel.

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9. 

   Stone Panels, Inc.
   October 31st, 2011 - 14:39

   For your average city, LEED Gold isn’t anything to sneeze at. We’d be in a good place if every city met those standards. That said, to be a leading city, you have to go above and beyond.

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