Living Building Initiative – The New ‘Star’ of Sustainability
Lucas Hamilton
Now that developers have achieved LEED Platinum on their projects, someone needed to throw the target out further to challenge the design and build community. The Living Building Initiative may just be the answer. The Cascadia Region Green Building Council in Oregon (a member of both the US and Canadian Green Building Councils) is setting the bar higher with the Living Building Challenge This initiative does not replace or compete with any other program, it is simply a new level of commitment to sustainable development.
Believe me, there is more pain than up-front profit on projects that strive to meet the strict requirements of the Living Building Challenge, but Cascadia is challenging developers to build to these standards for both commercial and residential—and they are succeeding.
There are 16 requirements that must be met for a building to be considered a Living Building. For example,
- The site must be on existing developed land, brown fields or grey fields. It can’t be farmland, prairieland, parkland or wetlands. For every acre used, the developer must set aside an acre for open space for 100 years. This is called habitat exchange and guarantees open space.
- The project must account for its embodied carbon footprint and buy a one-time offset. The project must offset the amount of carbon dioxide used to develop and construct the building by planting trees or other measures.
- Water must be 100% cycled or recycled which means closed-loop or collected on site.
- The project must contain features “solely for human delight or cultural celebration.” It goes beyond the building and incorporates the human spirit.
- The building must be available to the public at least one day a month for educational purposes.
Are there areas outside of Portland that are rising to the Living Building Challenge? Do you know of a Living Building Challenge project going on in your area?
I would love to hear from anyone out there who is involved with a Living Building initiative.
Lucas Hamilton is Manager of Building Science Applications at CertainTeed Corporation
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[...] is one of the aspects I really admire in the Living Building Challenge. I am referring to the requirement for an educational component to make building owner/operators [...]
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[...] to become LEED Platinum. Because LEED Platinum has become easier to achieve, GE is focused on the Living Building Challenge which is the next benchmark for the green/sustainable movement. A growing part of GE’s [...]
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[...] and mechanical staff to properly maintain and operate these buildings? If you remember from the Living Building initiative, it is imperative that education of the building operators and occupants be part of the [...]
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[...] Nations, Inuit and Métis artists from across Canada. This meets one of the requirements of the Living Building Initiative; public [...]
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[...] that Oregon is the testing ground for this new program given the State’s focus on sustainable and living building initiatives. The label would convey the home’s annual energy usage, energy costs, and carbon [...]
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[...] Wilde has been involved in building with photovoltaics and his firm supports initiatives like the Living Building Initiative. He had some interesting insights into the benefits of photovoltaics compared to integrated wind [...]
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[...] the early days of my blogging, I talked about the Living Building Challenge and the early adoption taking place in Portland, Oregon. The Challenge aims to certify green [...]
Hello Lucas,
I just read your article “The Living Building Initiative – The New ‘Star’ of Sustainability.
FYI…Our civil engineering firm, 2020 ENGINEERING, is currently involved with seven Living Building projects, and have provided advise on at least 4 other Living Buildings. We focus on the two prerequisites of the “Water Petal”: net zero water and sustainable site discharge. Our LB projects are in the Pacific Northwest; Oregon,Washington and British Columbia, Canada.
Here’s a link to our company’s general marketing packet:
http://www.2020engineering.com/LID.LEED.LivingBuildings/
Mark
Mark,
It is great to hear from an involved design professional. Thanks for sharing your projects. Your response mentions the “petals” of the living building challenge. I invite everyone to research these “petals” at http://ilbi.org/. It gives a glimpse of how the emphasis may evolve.
Lucas