BUILDING WITH TOMORROW'S RESOURCES: THE WHYS AND HOWS OF BECOMING GREEN

BUILDING WITH TOMORROW'S RESOURCES: THE WHYS AND HOWS OF BECOMING GREEN

BY CHRIS STAFFORD
Christopher Stafford Architects

The words "sustainable," "environmentally responsible," "green," "eco-friendly" are often used interchangeably. They describe an approach to design and construction that is intended to conserve resources, protect the environment that supports us and provide healthful living and working spaces.

The words are not new, but their application in practice is way overdue.

Consider some trends. Our population is expected to double in the next 40 years in the world and in the Puget Sound region. Finite resources such as copper, lead, mercury, nickel, tin and zinc are due for depletion within 50 years. Meanwhile, per capita U.S. consumption is steadily increasing. Not only have retail sales increased by 30 percent per capita in the last 13 years, but the average Seattle house size has doubled in 11 years, and

And the building industry plays a major role in consumption. Constructing and maintaining buildings and infrastructure accounts for 80 percent of the resources consumed in the US. As owners, designers and builders, we have a significant say in how quickly our resources are depleted and how much irreversible hardship we pass on to future generations.

One of the biggest challenges to developing a more eco-friendly practice is tracking down materials and products that have the least environmental impacts. Keeping abreast of these new product developments is time consuming and often confusing, especially with the limited budgets our office allocate to research.

I first learned about building and building materials working with my father as a youngster. Later in architecture school my material palette started to grow. After working a couple of years in architectural offices, I had a working knowledge of most materials available. Today, many materials in my original pallet have been replaced with new composite and engineered alternatives, and new products appear at rates that are impossible for te individual architect to assimilate.

But environmentally friendly alternatives are also being developed at a rapid rate.

The Harris Directory of Recycled Content Building Materials, first published in 1993 with approximately 900 product listings. The directory now has more than 3,000 listings.

With increases like these, there is no easy way for us to keep up with the changes, and especially when we try to double check to see that environmentally correct decisions are being made. Fortunately, in the Pacific Northwest we have an active community of people ad organizations working to inform and help others. The more we use, the better the prices will be, the more available environmentally responsible products will become, and the more demand for them there will be among design clients.

Resources

Here is an overview of workshops, seminars, speakers, forums, guides and newsletters to make finding a direction easier.

There is still an opportunity to participate in a Building With Value Workshop. These are a series of eleven held around the state and in Portland. The workshops address what makes a building resource efficient, with tips on how to balance traditional issues of cost, availability, and performance, with environmental choices like waste prevention, low-toxic construction, resource efficient materials and techniques, energy efficiency, and job site recycling. The program is presented by the Northwest EcoBuilding Guild and funded by Washington State Department of Ecology, City of Seattle Solid Waste Utility, King County Solid Waste Division, and Metro REM Portland. Three workshops in the series are still available: Friday, Nov. 8 -- Residential, in Silverdale; Thursday, Nov. 21 -- Multi-Family, in Seattle; and Friday, Nov. 22; Residential, in Olympia. To register, call O'Brien & Company, project manager, (206) 842-8995.

Another information source is the northwest EcoBuilding Guild, a three-year- old membership organization with chapters in Seattle, Olympia, Bellingham, Portland, and Eugene. Its mission is to function as an educational forum to facilitate building practices that encourage sustainable resource usage, protect human health, and foster long-term economic vitality. Guild membership includes builders, design professionals, building material suppliers, and interested home and land owners. Monthly chapter meetings are a time for networking and presentations that reflect the interest of a diverse membership. Guild publications include; the newsletter, Ecobuilding Times and Green Pages, a listing of ecologically sustainable designers, contractors, suppliers, and professional services. For meeting and publication information call the Guild office, (206) 622-8350.

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) initiated, in 1990, the Committee on the Environment to produce the Environmental Resource Guide and promote the profession's interest in environmental issues. AIA Seattle's Energy and the Environment committee has an ambitious series of monthly seminars and roundtable presentations, both open to the public. At 4:30 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month project case studies are used to discuss environmental and energy issues. These are held at the AIA Seattle office with a $12 attendance fee. Their monthly meetings include roundtable discussions, with topics such as projects costs, daylighting, water conservation, recycling, etc. These are at noon on the second Thursday of each month at the Seattle Lighting Design Lab. For more information call Christian Overby, (206) 583-0200.

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