CT Green Scene

What Is Smart Growth and Why Should You Care?

By now, you probably get the idea that our planet's resources are finite, but many people are beginning to catch on to the fact that our need to design, plan and build communities that are "smart" and conserve our limited natural resources, while creating a strong sense of community is imperative.  On the financial side of the coin, developers, architects, builders and real estate agents are seeing great investment potential in smart growth, even in a slowed up economy.

So what is Smart Growth?

Smart growth as defined by experts at CT Smart Growth:

Mixed land use: "Our post World War II land use decisions have separated and compartmentalized the various aspects our lives.  We live in one place, work in another, and venture to still another place for shopping and entertainment.  This separation has created a car-centric society and taken away from the vitality of the traditional town center or Main Street. Smart growth supports the integration of mixed land uses into communities as a critical component of achieving better places to live. By putting uses in close proximity to one another, alternatives to driving, such as walking or biking, once again become viable."

Compact Building Design: "Compact building design suggests that communities be designed in a way which permits more open space to preserved, and that buildings can be constructed which make more efficient use of land and resources. By encouraging buildings to grow vertically rather than horizontally, and by incorporating structured rather than surface parking, for example, communities can reduce the footprint of new construction, and preserve more greenspace."

Housing Opportunities: "Providing quality housing for people of all income levels is an integral component in any smart growth strategy. Housing is a critical part of the way communities grow, as it is constitutes a significant share of new construction and development. More importantly, however, is also a key factor in determining households' access to transportation, commuting patterns, access to services and education, and consumption of energy and other natural resources."

Walkable Communities: "As the personal and societal benefits of pedestrian friendly communities are realized - benefits which include lower transportation costs, greater social interaction, improved personal and environmental health, and expanded consumer choice -- many are calling upon the public and private sector to facilitate the development of walkable places."

Other elements include: Strong Sense of Place, Preserve Open Spaces, Infill Development, Wide array of Transportation Choices, Fair and Predictable Development Decisions, and Community Collaboration. To find out more about the other 6 elements of smart growth, as well as valuable resources, visit CT Smart Growth. Also, check out this incredible Smart Growth project slated for Georgetown.

 

 

Holy Green Buildings Batman!

There are LOADS of green buildings sprouting up all over the state and the Connecticut Green Building Council recently recognized the most "intriguing" residential and institutional structures in the state, and from Yale to Usquepaug, they are certainly worth a peek.

Residential

	MOST INTRIGUING was awarded to the Usquepaug Residence designed by Lindsay Suter AIA. This project is a culmination of architectural training in good design using quality materials and interesting sustainable principles. A very nice project, every passive sustainable device was used. The project is modest and simple resulting in an elegant affordable residence. The unique aspect to this design is the taking advantage of a great northern view by using a lot of glass to obtain the view and even daylight without glare, but solving the heat loss potential by an effective and handsome shutter system.

INTRIGUING was awarded for another simple basic, responsible Norfolk Residence again by Lindsay Suter AIA. This design is compact and efficient; using natural ventilation for the building. The basic fuel for heating is a wood stove that was reduced in size due to its ability to work efficiently. The materials selected and attention to best construction practices result in a fine lesson on how to build an affordable house.

Institutional

	MOST INTRIGUING was awarded to the Yale Sculpture Building and Gallery, designed by Kieran Timberlake Associates in association with BVH Engineers. The building incorporates just about every sustainable device and design possible. This project demonstrates what good design and extraordinary planning can produce. A green roof covers about 90% of the whole structure.

	INTRIGUING was awarded to the Barnard Magnet School whose design showed a very aggressive energy program undertaken by the City of New Haven. The significance of this project, designed by Roberta Washington and David Thompson collaborative architects is what can be done using public funds. The project incorporates an existing school building and a fine looking addition to meeting the goals of LEED Gold. Much attention has been paid to using all the building functions as a learning laboratory for its students.

	INTRIGUING was awarded to the Yale School of Medicine, Sterling Hall Laboratory Wing by Svigals and Partners architects. The building design was used as an experiment by Yale to see what can be achieved using sustainable ideas in a laboratory environment. The use of Daylight transparency, strategies to develop a better work environment, recyclable materials and products that produce no off-gases was a significant attempt to demonstrate what can be done. The project has been widely published and now sets a standard for all laboratories for Yale medical school.

INTRIGUING was awarded to the Burton Family Football/Mark Shenkman Training Center Complex by JCJ architects in collaboration with HOK Sports. This project is significant in that it is the first NCAA Athletic Sustainable project as well as the first LEEDproject on the UCONN Campus. A challenging site and a building configuration lead to a solid design and planning effort to make this building a responsible partner on Campus.

For a look at more incredible green building projects in and around Connecticut, visit BuildingCTGreen.com.

New Publication Provides Energy Efficiency Guidance for Warehouses

The latest publication in the Advanced Energy Design Guide series will help guide the construction of warehouses using off-the-shelf technology that can cut energy use 30 percent or more annually.

                 The Advanced Energy Design Guide for Small Warehouses and Self-Storage Buildings, published by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, gives guidance to architects, engineers and others on building design teams on how to use best design practices to create energy-saving warehouses. Written in partnership with The American Institute of Architects, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, the U.S. Green Building Council, and the U.S. Department of Energy, the book is available for free in electronic form at www.ashrae.org/freeaedg. Hard copies are available for purchase in the ASHRAE Bookstore through the same Web page.  The Metal Buildings Manufacturers Association (MBMA) contributed to the book’s authorship.

Today's Green Building: A New Spin on Good Old Common Sense

Long ago, we used our intellect to create shelters out of our surroundings. We were connected to the land that we lived on, took only what we needed and moved on to "greener pastures" when weather or a lack of resources dictated. Back then, we taught our children skills of self-sufficiency and survival.
Once we settled down and became skilled at building permanent structures, the timber for framing came from the trees on the lot, we built close to the road and we oriented to the south for natural day lighting and ventilation. We built houses that lasted a century or more, and every room was used every day.

Today, the average size of our homes—often built using virgin materials that are shipped thousands of miles—has more than doubled since 1950, while our family size has decreased by one-fourth. We use building materials that contain toxins and carcinogens (as identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) that are emitted into the air inside our homes for years after their installation.

Enter green building. The concept grew from the geodesic and solar days of the 70s and 80s when engineers, builders and architects sought out environmentally friendly solutions to an energy shortage (sound familiar?). As they built south-facing structures to take advantage of natural day lighting and improve the performance of solar systems, they broadened their focus as they realized there were a lot of ways to improve the way we build.

Mercy Center at Madison: Connecticut’s Green Conference Facility

You’ve worked really hard this past year and now you need to get your staff psyched to launch a new product line. Or maybe your nonprofit organization is serving more people with fewer resources and you need to come up with a new fundraising plan. Setting aside a day once a year for a staff retreat to reconsider your mission and vision can yield big results.

Even better: schedule a staff retreat day to put your company’s sustainability plan and environmental policies on paper while enjoying and learning from an unusual organization that has made the commitment to sustainability themselves.

Mercy by the Sea, a 33 acre facility with 1100 feet of private beach offers nonprofit, government and business groups a “unique setting where learning, planning, exploring and innovating can flourish”, as described on their website, www.mercybythesea.org.

Two years ago they made a strong commitment to greening their operations and added an Ecology Department and Director, Sherill Baldwin, to their organization.

Heartland Community Destroyed by Tornado Goes GREEN

By Sherwood Martinelli

If you do a couple of Internet searches, (Eco-Town and Greensburg) you'll see that a small town in America's Heartland, Greensburg Kansas, is getting a whole lot of attention. That's exactly what they need, since the tornado that strolled down Main Street, destroyed more than 80 percent of the city's infrastructure.

My own involvements with the community began some weeks ago when a close friend of mine, Bill Thomas of Green Home Solutions rang me up in the middle of the night and said, “I had a dream, and you and I are going to go spend a week in Kansas helping the people of Greensburg rebuild their town.” My first thought was, “Why Greensburg?” I mean any town or city devastated by a natural disaster deserves all the help we can give them--but too often there just does not seem to be enough help to go around, with the best known example being New Orleans, and the Ninth Ward--so why Greensburg?

CT and NY-based Involvement

All communities ravished by natural disasters deserve attention, and a growing group of us here on the East Coast have recently formed a new organization aimed at helping Greensburg, and other communities recovering from natural disasters to not only recover, but to re-build using green building materials, to rebuild a more eco-friendly sustainable community. Green Helping Hands will help get GreenTown what it needs.

The town and GreenTown want to build an eco village with six green homes cited in the village, another six built at other locations throughout the town, thus creating a real life model of sustainable green living that others can visit and study, which in turn will create eco-tourism for this small rural community.

So far, Green Helping Hands has the attention of GEM motorcars, manufactured by Chrysler, and McGraw Hill Publishing.  We are also raising donations of green building products, books for the new library, and more.

Many Hands, Many Minds

Green Helping Hands has proposed to have a competition wherein the best architectures in the world could compete to have their plan chosen for these green home builds. The idea has been well received, so stay tuned or better yet, come and join us!

   

Green Companies Launch National Solar Energy Initiative in Tri-State Area

 The Great, Green Race has begun! The goal: install one million solar roofs on American homes within three years. Through strategic alliances in the construction, solar energy and banking industries, making it financially feasible for most families and businesses to afford solar powered electricity, and enabling them to realize immediate energy savings of up to 25 percent and more.

Jane Greenstein, Founder & CEO of The Great Green Race in Roslyn Heights, New York and Bill Thomas, COO of Green Home Solutions, LLC in Norwalk, Connecticut agree, “We’re going to jump-start America’s Green transformation by eliminating the single greatest barriers in the adoption of this sustainable energy alternative – the payback period and up front costs.  Using her 30 years of experience in mortgage finance with The Seldin Organization, Inc., a Long Island firm, Jane has designed a Green Banking Program that will dramatically increase the public’s ability to act now.  "Through our affiliations with local banks, homeowners will become part of the solution to substantially reduce carbon emissions," says Jane. She continues, "Affordable financing of this green investment is the key. By offering a variety of creative low-interest payment options like special “Green” home equity loans and long-term graduated payment loans where interest may be tax deductible, installation costs are spread out over a long term. In that way, homeowners realize net savings immediately; and over 25 years, average homeowners can expect to save up to $40,000 on their electric bills."  Federal and state energy efficiency rebates could further reduce the cost of installing solar power. Important to note: according to the Appraisal Institute, the market value of a solar powered home would immediately increase by 20 times the annual electric savings, which equal $36,000 for the average American homeowner with a $150 monthly utility bill.

CT-Based BuildGreenSchools.org

An amazing Web site, buildgreenschools.org, has launched!

A few things to check out:

Spotlight on Green Schools Advocates: As the name suggests, this will be our opportunity to highlight your successes. Please keep us posted on your advocacy efforts: speaking engagements, green school victories and other noteworthy milestones.

Resource Library: This is only a preliminary list. We intend to expand this section considerably. If you know of a Web site that belongs on this page, please email me with the site address and a 2-3 sentence description.

Contact: Those interested in joining your Green Schools Advocacy Teams will be able to link directly to you. Please go to this page and click the Green Schools Advocate link that corresponds to your region. Confirm that your email address is correct or if you would like to use a different email address as a contact, please let me know and I will have it swapped out right away. Also, note that your regional chapter coordinator will be copied when someone sends you an email from the Web site. This will allow us to gauge the volume of emails going to different regions and provide you with additional resources and support where necessary. Get ready to start plugging interested individuals into your Green Schools Advocacy Teams!

MySpace profile and discussion group: We have created a discussion group through MySpace for all who are interested in promoting green schools to get together and share their vision! Hopefully, the discussion group will foster some great dialogue. To participate you will need to create a MySpace account which is free and only takes a few minutes. Added benefit: If you have teenagers, this will earn you cool points.

The Web site is a work in progress and I encourage all of you to offer feedback as to how we can make improvements. I would encourage you to become familiar with the content of the site so that you can refer others to appropriate information and resources. LEED for Schools 101 Online course, Generation g, LEED for Schools checklist and Rating System and the full Green Schools press kit can all be accessed from buildgreenschools.org.

Check it out and let's get green schools booming in Connecticut!

Energy Star Homes on the Rise

Energy Star homes are built for maximum energy efficiency and includes things like installing insulating windows and doors, using super-insulation in walls and roofs, installing Energy Star appliances, and sealing ductwork, windows and other potential leaky areas. Luckily, there are rebates and financial incentives for building Energy Star in Connecticut. Perhaps that's why they're catching on. Want to save money, help the environment and build or remodel Energy Star?

Connecticut rated among the top 15 states for new Energy Star homes, and nearly 200,000 new homes nationwide earned the Energy Star in 2006, bringing the total number of Energy Star qualified homes across the nation to almost 750,000, according to the EPA. To date, these homes have locked in annual savings of more than $180 million for homeowners by saving over 1 billion kWh of electricity and 100 million therms of natural gas.

Energy Star homes are least 15 percent more energy efficient than homes built to the 2004 International Residential Code, and include additional energy-saving features that typically make them 20 to 30 percent more efficient than standard homes. Build more efficiently--it just makes sense.

Source: environementalleader.com

Who Says Connecticut Isn't Building Green?

A few years ago, many considered Connecticut one of the least green states in the nation. But thanks to individuals, organizations, and businesses realizing the multitude of benefits to building green, that's no longer the case.

According to a post on Auctor Verno's blog, here's just a taste of commercial green building projects underway in Connecticut.

"Donald Trump got into the green game and announced the Trump Parc Stamford will be built to LEED standards and Naugutuck will get a $700 million green make-over courtesy of a public/private partnership between The Conroy Development Company of Fairfield, Connecticut and the Borough of Naugatuck and the Naugatuck Economic Development Corporation.

Some other green projects recently announced are either just getting started or close to being finished include:

Metro Green, Stamford
Harbor Point, Stamford
Georgetown Land Development, Redding
Fairfield Metro Center
Campus at Greenhill, Wallingford
iPark, Norwalk
Wall Street Project, Norwalk
Mansfield Town Center
L.L. Bean Store, South Windsor
The Henry Lee Institute of Forensic Science, West Haven"

Do you know of a commercial or residential green building project you'd like to share? Contact Us.