Eubank on It

There are many very important issues like transportation requirements, water, toxins, and preservation of biodiversity. But if I have to pick one, I'd say pay close attention to the sun, and use every technique you can to harvest its energy and other benefits. Simply orienting typical subdivision homes to address the sun properly can reduce their energy consumption by 30 percent. Using the sun to fullest advantage allows the creation of homes in which a comfortable interior climate can be maintained without active heating (even in very cold climates) and cooling systems (except in very hot, humid climates). This technology is already well demonstrated and being commercialized in other countries. Taking this concept a step further, there are even pilot projects for houses that produce more energy than they consume over a year. For an excellent list of simple things owners of both new and existing homes can do, see the Rocky Mountain Institute's Home Energy Briefs (and many other resources [PDF]).

The USGBC is a founding member of the WorldGBC and is currently our most important supporter financially. But we operate independently of it, and are proud that the USGBC supports this position. We do coordinate our efforts pretty closely with the USGBC and respond to every international inquiry they share with us. At our founding meeting, we unanimously adopted the position that we would encourage our members to create green-building rating systems that were appropriate to differing cultural, climate, and economic situations in their countries. We believe there is a lot to be learned in that process, and that local consensus development fosters ownership, buy-in, and voluntary participation. Currently, our seven members use four different rating systems. At the same time, however, there is rapidly growing demand for a unified global system, and we have begun to take some steps in that direction, while still respecting our members' individual needs and priorities.

There are lots of good, inventive ways that federal, state, and local governments can encourage green building. The USGBC's LEED website has a list of many ways these jurisdictions are using the LEED system. But as Amory Lovins at the Rocky Mountain Institute likes to say, "Government should steer, not row." The best incentives for green building are market incentives -- the real ones that come from projects being more profitable for the builders, better investments for their owners, and better environments for their occupants. This works for industrial and residential developments as well as it does for commercial office buildings.

My answer to a lot of these questions is, "A rising tide lifts all boats." The green building movement is making more and more excellent precedents available, all of which can be cited -- by designers, by the public, and by regulators -- as examples of good reasons for doing things differently. I think of green building as a new kind of quality control! The way to get the message to your local regulatory people is by involving them in the design process in a new way. Include them in an integrated design charrette for the project and let them become part of the solution -- even let them think the cool ideas are their own! These are all things that WorldGBC members advocate. At the end of the day, the project team has to be willing to spend the time to appeal antiquated rules. But if the regulators have been involved in the process all along, the task is much less painful.

Yes, there are lots of certifications, and that's why I'm partial to a national program such as the USGBC's LEED Accredited Professionals (and, hopefully, a related global program some day). Unfortunately, that program does not certify that a person knows a lot about green design, but it does indicate a serious level of interest and commitment that I think is very important. Energy Star is an important program that is making a big difference in building performance. But, on average, LEED is driving a higher level of performance in buildings, and it is much more holistic.

I see this question comes from a ringer, but it's a tough question and I really like it, so I'll tackle it. Both easy to sell to the mainstream and effective? Well, my son, information is a very powerful thing. I'm extremely fond of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive program that the E.U. has recently put into action. It's an elegant program that simply requires an energy-performance report card be created for all buildings, and energy-performance certificates be made available when buildings are constructed, sold, or rented out. Simply having to make this information available, and having the info available when making decisions about what to buy or lease, is already having a profound impact on individuals' behavior. The program has been ramping up for several years and just went into full effect this past January. Annual energy cost savings from the program are expected to be about $8.9 billion annually. That ought to get people's attention.

Frustrating, isn't it? Some schools really "get it" and are into sustainability in very big and exciting ways. And some architecture schools are still teaching theory and aesthetics over everything else, like there's no tomorrow. Maybe there won't be if they don't wake up soon. (One big reason I left hands-on architectural practice was because I hated working on projects where aesthetics were king, functionality and efficiency be damned. I love exciting architecture, but if it doesn't work, and work well, it can't really be beautiful.) Seems to me your son has two choices. One is to move to a school that gets it. The other is to grab the reins and force some changes. Often the initiative for schools to change comes from the students themselves; I like to say, "If the people lead, the leaders will follow." Fortunately, the generation upon whom we are bestowing the mess we (and previous generations) have created does seem to be forcing change.

Integrated design. That's what it's called, and that's what it takes. It's a central pillar of green design, and hopefully the green building movement is convincing the design professions to make integrated design standard practice. The process starts with all members of the design team -- plus the whole community of "stakeholders" in the project -- working in a charrette to get their best ideas into an integrated design. The design effort then proceeds in a carefully integrated process, as opposed to the traditional process in which every consultant makes his or her contribution at the "appropriate" time, in a linear fashion. The charrette process can take several weeks, but it also can significantly reduce the overall time required for design. The Rocky Mountain Institute defines charrettes as "intensive workshops that enable design teams to use whole-systems thinking to explore the interconnections among such elements as restorative site development, innovative energy-saving design and engineering, creative functional design concepts, worker productivity enhancements, and strategies to improve environmental sensitivity in design and construction." I understand the Japanese say design is 80 percent planning and 20 percent doing; that seems about right to me.

This can be a great opportunity. The first thing you have to do is educate yourselves about what you want. Read David Orr's excellent book The Nature of Design, and then give it to your campus planners and talk to them about doing an integrated plan (ideally in a charrette) that spells out your school's environmental and other goals (i.e., the goals of the entire school community) for the new construction. Those goals define what you want and can be used to inform the selection of the design team. Green building is not about high-tech solutions; often, the best answers are the most simple. It's important that you look at the green credentials of the entire design team -- not only the architect. Green design needs to be an integral part of their design ethic and process, not some add-on option. And the team needs to be talking about integrated design and showing solid examples of how they do it. Look for real experience building high-performance green buildings, not simply LEED-certified professionals. In part, this can be indicated by LEED-certified buildings in their portfolio, but look closely at the buildings they show you to see how they really work.

G'day way out there in Perth! Get involved in the Green Building Council of Australia. I don't know if they have a group in Perth yet; maybe you could start one. You will meet cool people and learn valuable stuff -- and maybe even find great mentors and your future employment.

As you can imagine, starting a new council is an enormous task that requires some very special and dedicated people. The first request we receive from them is for stories about how other councils "did it," and for copies of all the documents required to "do it." We are creating a tool kit to meet this need. Before we can go much further, we have an obligation to perform due diligence. Once we're confident that we're backing a winner (or, hopefully, a group of winners), we want to help them in every possible way we can to leapfrog over the usual hurdles and reach operational status as quickly as possible. One of the most effective ways to help is to provide seed funding for their startup. The other way is by making experienced people available to help at appropriate times. That's where things get really tricky, because we are still primarily a volunteer organization. However, we offer some pretty attractive opportunities to companies looking for a global profile, and we are beginning to get their backing for our efforts, along with backing from individuals who believe strongly in our approach. In addition to funding, we are seeking creative ways to partner with leading global organizations.

When I left Gensler (in 1996), the attitude about green building was, "We'll do it when the client asks for it." I understand the attitude today is, "Every building we do is green." That may be a bit of a stretch, but I highly commend the attitude -- it's a very important step.