Green from the Ground Up, a 19-Part Series from Tyee Solutions Society on Sustainable Building Solutions in B.C
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from en the ground e up gr A 19-part series on green building from The Tyee Solutions Society Contributors: Katie Hyslop Colleen Kimmett Justin Langille Monte Paulsen Christopher Pollon from en the ground e up gr Welcome to Green From the Ground Up, a 19-part series from Tyee Solutions Society on sustainable building solutions in B.C. and beyond. Green from the Ground Up is the result of months of research, interviews and investigation by our team of reporters on the Carbon Shift hub. Their journey took them to all corners of the province, where they spoke to builders, home owners, renters, policy makers and academics alike to get every angle on the past, present and future of green building in Canada. The re- sult? Nineteen stories exploring everything from pre-fab to passive house, affordability verses sustainability and what makes a green house a home. Tyee Solutions Society is a non-profit based out of Vancouver that produces catalytic journal- ism in the public interest. Currently, any organization that would like to republish all or part of a Tyee Solutions Series can do so free of charge (with permission). For more information, contact Chris Wood. All articles in this series first appeared onThe Tyee, Tyee Solutions Society’s primary media partner. Elements of the series were later re-published in various forms by Regarding Place, Alternatives Journal, Green Real Estate Investing News and others. This series was made possible through the support of the Vancity/Real Estate Foundation Green Building Grant Program. Support for this project does not necessarily imply endorse- ment of the findings or contents of these reports. from en the ground Katie Hyslop reports on education for the Tyee Solutions e up Society. She is also a frequent contributor to The Tyee and Megaphone Magazine, and has written for OpenFile gr Vancouver, Vancouver Sun, Globe and Mail, and The In- dependent, a former provincial newspaper in Newfound- land and Labrador. Colleen Kimmett is an environmental journalist focused on agriculture, energy and green building. She reports on sustainable food systems for the non-profit Tyee Solutions Society and is a contributing editor at The Tyee. Colleen has written about everything from demoli- tion to eating pigeon in various other online and print Monte Paulsen publications. Justin Langille is a Vancouver-based photojournalist Contributors whose work has been featured in The Tyee, Xtra and Briarpatch. He’s always interested in collaborating with writers and contributing to innovative media projects. Monte Paulsen is a veteran investigative reporter and green building enthusiast based out of Vancouver, B.C. He has written for numerous Canadian publications, including The Tyee, The Globe and Mail, Tyee Solu- tions Society and The Walrus, where his feature, Far from Home, won a National Magazine Award. Sustain- able building is among Monte’s current passions. He is a LEED Green Associate who is studying construction technology at BCIT. Christopher Pollon is a freelance journalist and Tyee Contributing Editor based in Vancouver. He is a regular contributor to the Globe and Mail, BC Business Magazine and Canadian Geographic. 3 from en the ground e up Building Green From the Ground Up -- One Story at a Time gr “We’re seeing projects now that will never have an energy bill and water bill, they will never release carbon into the atmosphere.” -- Jason McLennan, founder of the Living Building Challenge The houses, hospitals, apartment buildings, schools and office towers we build today will all have an impact on our planet for decades to come. Monte Paulsen The fact is, we have to start building sustainably now. Green building must become the norm if we are to stop the worst impacts of climate change. With buildings responsible for approximately one-third of greenhouse gas emissions in North America, this is im- perative. In Green From the Ground Up, my reporter colleagues Monte Paulsen, Katie Hyslop and Christopher Pollon, along with photographer Justin Langille and myself, Colleen Kim- mett, highlight some of the most innovative and successful examples of green buildings. Reporter’s Notes We explore trends in the next generation of green building and examine the policy mea- sures and market forces that have the potential to turn today’s best practices into tomor- row’s business as usual. When reading through the series, be sure to look for two important primers put together by Monte, which will help prep you on industry terminology and standards referenced in the other pieces. How Do They Decide a Building is ‘Green’? offers a complete guide to green building certification systems, from LEED (that’s Leadership in Energy and Envi- ronmental Design) to the Living Building Challenge. Five Myths About Green Building is a thorough dismantling of some of the most com- mon misconceptions about green buildings; that they cost more, are built from exotic, imported materials, claim exaggerated energy savings or are merely a fad that won’t stick around. After myth-busting, we arrive at the facts: Green building is one of the fastest grow- ing sectors in North America’s construction industry, and it doesn’t have to come with a million-dollar price tag or lots of complicated technologies. In fact, our research through- out this series shows that some of the greenest buildings are small, simple and affordable. After all, sustainability is more than just a small carbon footprint. A truly sustainable building takes into account every aspect of its construction and operation, from water use to indoor air quality, improving not just environmental conditions but also social and health conditions for the people inside. 4 from en the ground e up Finding ways to make green affordable was one of our priorities. In the series, you’ll be introduced to the Common Ground co-operative housing project on gr Lopez Island, in the San Juans, south of Vancouver. Each of the 11 family homes in this co-op cost about $236,000 to build -- total. Each uses 60 per cent less energy and 30 per cent less water than similar buildings. You’ll also be reminded of the Saskatchewan Conservation House, a home built in the 1970s to a standard approaching the modern and internationally-recognized ‘PassivHaus.’ It was so well constructed that even in the harsh prairie climate it requires just a small hot water heater -- no furnace -- to keep inhabitants warm year round. And we’ll give you a tour (of sorts) of the ‘Zigloo Domestique,’ a 1,920-square-foot open concept home in Victoria that was framed with eight recycled shipping containers. “In my mind, a sustainable concept is one that makes use of materials that have already served their purpose,” said the Zigloo’s designer and owner, Keith Dewey. “Initially, everyone’s perception is that steel containers must be cold, cramped and uninviting... that perception dissipates as soon as they step inside.” What all of these green homes have in common is a high-performance envelope: thick- walls insulation, air-tight doors and outlets, and double- or triple-glazed windows. All these features far exceed what’s required by the B.C. Building Code, however. Reporter’s Notes Because building codes apply to all new construction, they have the potential to trans- form our built environment. In the European Union, which has some of the world’s most stringent building codes, pushing the envelope has stimulated a new industry in energy efficiency, fuelling job creation. “By 2008, there were more jobs in energy-saving technologies and the renewable energy sector than in the whole German automobile industry,” said Guido Wimmers, a Dutch architect who now works in Vancouver. “First of all, push the code. Make it more chal- lenging. So that legally allowed ‘worst-case’ [least efficient but allowable construction] scenario? Just push it a little big higher, raise the bar.” Raising the bar in building can help the economy as well as the planet. In the U.S., grant programs to help citizens undertake efficient upgrades on their existing homes are simu- lating job creation. And similar efforts are underway in Vancouver. Our reporting team found some impressive examples of green building projects that harmonize environmental and economic sustainability. Along the way, Monte met Linus Lam, the executive director of Architecture for Humanity Vancouver. The two decided to work together to plan a two-day event called Quick-Homes Superchallenge, a community forum which attracted nearly 100 participants, including City councillors, funders, archi- tects, planners, non-profit housing managers, designers and students.You can find a video of the event here. Canada has the knowledge and technology to build green now, immediately reaping the 5 from en the ground e tremendous environmental, economic and social benefits. But while our policies, rules up and regulations may need to catch up, so do societal attitudes toward buildings and their legacy for the future. gr Luckily some of the most innovative and ambitious green building projects are happen- ing in educational settings. The University of British Columbia’s Centre for Interactive Research in Sustainability (CIRS) is a building that actually gives back to the earth by treating its own water and producing more energy than it will consume. It will serve as a kind of living laboratory for research on green building. When the building opens in the fall of 2011, John Robinson, director of the university’s sustainability initiative, says he aims to have its inhabitants sign a sustainability charter, committing themselves to achieving the CIRS goal of benefiting the environment. “Can we... create a building where people have a sense of place and engagement in their building? With their actual building, and with the spaces where they work?” asked Robin- son.