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EverGreen house Councilmember Piedmont-Smith and Rollo's Green Building Ordinance: Ordinance 09-04

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Green Building Methods

Introduction What is LEED? Benefits Costs

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Sustainable development is emerging as a major issue among cities and communities in the 21st century. As global climate change becomes an increasingly serious concern for the future and American dependence on foreign fossil fuels for energy creates greater international tension, an interest in high-efficienct, low environmental impact buildings has begun to transform the notion of building design, construction, and operation. As it stands, the more than 81 million buildings in the United States consume an extraordinary amount of resources while taking an enormous toll on the environment.

The City of Bloomington's EverGreen Village project is being developed as a LEED pilot project. For more information, see the EverGreen website

In the United States, buildings consume 1:

40% of total energy used 68% of electricity used 12% of potable water supplies 40% of raw materials used

In the United States, buildings generate 2:

36% of total anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, the primary greenhouse gas associated with global climactic change 46% of sulfur dioxide emissions

19% of nitrogen oxide emissions and 10% of fine particulate emissions, affecting air quality, causing acid rain and smog, and posing risks to human health 136 million tons of waste from construction and demolition alone, 24% of the total municipal solid waste stream.

What is green building?

Green building is an approach toward building design, construction, operation, and removal that seeks to reduce human impact on the environment while fostering healthy and comfortable communities. There is no single blueprint for green building; rather, it is a set of processes that may be adapted to best suit the needs of the particular project and community. Green building practices revolve around a few basic principles:

Integrated, whole life-cycle consideration in building conception, design, and maintenance. Planning for maximum efficiency, health, and costeffectiveness of a building over the long-term-- construction, operation, maintenance, and potential disassembly. Designing individual systems to work together for the highest possible effectiveness.

Environmentally sensitive siting and design. Planning and placing buildings so as to preserve natural growth, species, habitat, and land quality. Clustering development in urban area to preserve greenspaces and redeveloping brownfields. Taking advantage of natural resources such as sunlight and wind for heating, cooling, lighting, and other functions. Controlling harmful byproduct effects like stormwater runoff, soil erosion, airborne dust generation, waterway sedimentation, and heat trapping.

Maximum sustainability in materials and processes. Utilizing ecologically friendly construction and operation procedures that may be reproduced indefinitely. Use of low-impact, recycled/recyclable, regional, non-toxic, and sustainably-sourced materials.

Resource and energy efficiency. Employing alternative and renewable

energy sources such as photovoltaic and wind power. Management of systems and for optimal effectiveness and efficiency, including conservation and recycling of water and energy.

Indoor Environmental Quality. Optimizing indoor conditions for health and comfort through management of pollutants, adjustable light, heat, and ventilation controls, natural lighting, and inclusion of windows.

Green building is not a simple development trend; it is an approach to building suited to the demands of its time, whose relevance and importance will only continue to increase. The benefits to green building are many-fold, and may be categorized among three fronts: environmental, economic, and social. Green Building in Bloomington

On March 25, 2009, the City Council formally adopted a Green Building Program Ordinance. This ordinance directed the City of Bloomington to incorporate green building principles into municipal facilities by committing to the use of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system, developed and awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), for projects involving city government buildings and facilities.

LEED is a guidance and evaluation system. It sets sustainability benchmarks and awards certification based on their application. Note that green building does not equal LEED certification; buildings need not necessarily be LEEDcertified to be sustainable. Still, LEED provides a widely recognized measure of green building efforts. For more information, please see What is LEED?. References 1.U.S. Green Building Council, "Green Building by the Numbers," 2008. Available at http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=1718 2.U.S. Green Building Council, "Building Momentum: National Trends for HighPerformance Green Buildings," 2003. Available at http://www.usgbc.org/Docs/Resources/043003_hpgb_whitepaper.pdf Information in Green Building Methods

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News 2010-08-06 - City Builds on History of Energy Savings with New Green Building Contract

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