Some of the revisions being made to underperforming sites include replacing compost with better draining biosoils, adding underdrains and adjustments to side slops and asphalt berms along sidewalks that created trip issues for some residents.

For some, 1/3 of the gardens with under performance issues is failure. But that might also seem like a “glass half empty” mentality, as 2/3 succeeded. No matter which way you think of it however, this is in fact a PILOT, which is exactly the time to learn what works, ax what doesn’t and refine the design to make future rounds of rain gardens better. I was pleased to see the City’s letters documenting changes, resident concerns, and schedules of work posted on the Pilot website – transparency and collaboration are key aspects of making this a positive experience. If we are to reach WSU & Stewardship Partners goal of 12,000 rain gardens across the region to address our biggest water pollutant according to the Puget Sound Partnership – stormwater – then a bit of trial and error may be necessary on smaller scales so we can achieve the long goal.

For those in the Seattle area, there are tours this weekend of the Ballard Rain Gardens. See My Ballard post for more details. Residents will be in attendance also for Q&A. A map of the rain gardens can be found here.

Laguna Gyre, plastic bags for good

If you’re looking for more ways to reuse plastic bags (the ones you got when you left your reusable one at home), check out 7 Ways to Reuse Plastic Bags and keep them out of the landfill.

According to Seattle’s Mayor Mike McGinn, arts are an essential part of a sustainable city, creating shared cultural identity and forums for civic dialogue. At the opening of an exhibit of selected works from the City’s art collection, “Seattle as Collector”, the Mayor commented that “when community groups come with proposals for neighborhood projects they almost always include public art as a high priority. They don’t even always know why they want it, but they believe it’s important.” Expression through art is one of the things that defines the evolution of our species so it’s no wonder people yearn for it when it’s missing.

Public art can take many forms – music, dance, drawing, painting, sculpture. Arts aren’t just good for community spirit; they also benefit our city’s bottom line. A recent ArtFunds study indicates the arts bring in over $2 billion per year to Seattle and the greater Puget Sound area. For example, the Seattle Art Museum’s Picasso exhibit in the fall of 2010 brought hundreds of thousands of visitors into the downtown Seattle area, bringing revenue to local shops, restaurants and attractions during an economic downturn. The Picasso exhibit set new attendance records for SAM, and brought a welcome economic lift.

“Seattle as Collector” is is a sampling of paintings, sculpture and other portable works from their 2,800 piece collection. Or from our collection I should say as it is ours as citizens of the City. The exhibit is on display through October 23rd in the mezzanine of the Seattle Art Museum, an area of the museum that is free and open to the public during normal SAM hours.

Beyond the current exhibit, site based art abounds throughout Seattle. See Seattle’s Public Art Walking Tours for a maps to public art in the city as wells as a listing of temporary installations on construction fences, vacant storefronts, etc.

Jacques Moitoret, The History of Seattle, Act II Garden Scene, Aria: Castles in the Clouds, 1994-95, oil on canvas, 50" x 160". Photo by Spike Mafford.

*1% for Art Program specifies that 1% of eligible city capital improvement project funds be set aside for the commission, purchase and installation of artworks in a variety of settings.

According to the Institute’s CEO & founder, Jason McLennan, we are in the last decade in which to avert the worst effects of climate change.  “The Institute takes this urgency seriously,” he commented.  “If we are truly in a critical moment for action, we have to take the principles that have informed the Living Building Challenge and apply them aggressively to aspects of the built environment, and to the humans and organizations that shape it.  The Institute’s prime directive is to do just that.”

More on the Institute’s components:

The Cascadia Green Building Council is the largest chapter of the US Green Building Council and is also a chapter of the Canada Green Building Councils (USGBC and CaGBC, respectively). Cascadia GBC advocates for progressive green building laws, regulations and incentives. Cascadia will translate the Institute’s focus on global-scale transformation to the cities and communities of the Cascadia bioregion and continue administering the Living Building Challenge.

The Natural Step Network USA provides a framework for transformation.  It helps organizations and communities take steps toward sustainable business practices through education and collaboration.  It remains an affiliate of The Natural Step International.

Ecotone Publishing is the first U.S. publisher to focus solely on green architecture and design.  As the outreach and communication arm of the Institute, it will publish books, manage content creation and distribution of Trim Tab, and assemble Living Building case studies.

Environmental Performance Index 2010

Why are we slipping? Here’s where we are lagging the most:

Eco System Vitality

In the wake of the Deep Horizon oil spill, do I need to say more? Corporate interests, lobbyists, and industry organizations have more influence on politics, and therefore ecosystem protection, than any public voting process.

What can you do? Learn more. Understand your local eco system. Take a class at a local community college or university extension, read a book on your area’s wildlife. Get outside, and reconnect with your environment. If you want to continue enjoying your area’s flora and fauna, get involved. Volunteer on restoration projects, vote for funding for parks and ecology departments, and reduce your consumption of resources that we know come from sensitive areas – oil, natural gas, non-FSC wood, etc.

Climate Change

Well, simply put, we use too much energy, and it isn’t clean energy. At 23 metric tons of carbon emissions per capita, we are one on the world’s largest contributors to carbon build up in the atmosphere. And, for those that don’t believe in climate change, the fact is energy is expensive! So using less is good for business. Particularly when gas is around $4/gallon!

What can you do? Buy energy efficient appliances, homes and buildings. Support PV, Wind and other alternative power sources – with your wallet, your vote and your voice. Carpool, bus, bike or walk as much as you can instead of driving alone. When you see companies using alternative fuel vehicles, reducing packaging, or offering more efficient products – let them know you appreciate their efforts and even if it costs a few cents more, show them by purchasing more resource efficient products.

Air Pollution Impacts on Eco Systems

The fact that the EPA is not even a Cabinet level department speaks volumes about the priorities in our houses of government. Without the ability to enforce the rules, there might as well not be rules. OK I’m not advocating dropping the rules, but empowering the EPA, the Mines officials, and others on the regulatory scene to actually, well, regulate would be a start.

What can you do? Yes, here’s the voting plug again – support measures that help public agencies enforce the law. Call or email your representatives and let them know that you’d like to see our environmental laws enforced. If you are not in favor, ask yourself why. If the law hurts your business, is there a way you can do things differently so it actually helps your business? Turn the problem on its head.

Ultimately, we need to follow the simple mantra of Less is More! And although it’s a simple saying it’s not such a simple task. But until we collectively overcome the aversion to the idea of using, having and destroying less resources then we will continue on our current course.

The Seattle Energy Disclosure Ordinance

The new Seattle Energy Disclosure Ordinance was signed into law February 11, 2011 and will take effect in stages. As each date is reached, the utilities will provide individual meter and sub-meter data to both building owners and a City database. In the City’s announcement of the Ordinance, City Council Chair Richard Conlin  stated, ”Energy disclosure is a key first step to tap into the gold mine of opportunities to save energy and money while improving the City’s existing building stock… You can’t manage what you don’t measure.”

Buildings 50,000 SF and greater will need to report by October 3, 2011 and annually on April 1 thereafter.

Buildings 10,000-50,000 SF will start annual reporting on April 1, 2012

Multifamily buildings with 5 or more units will required to report Energy Star Portfolio Manager benchmarking data only.

26% of Seattle’s emissions are from buildings, and much of it’s just energy wasted by existing buildings that aren’t as efficient as they could be. At the April 18th meeting of the Seattle Energy Design Round Table, Jayson Antonoff, City of Seattle Sustainable Strategies Policy Advisor, shared the goals and realities of the Ordinance. “The goal of the Ordinance is to share information to drive performance improvements.” While Seattle is a national leader in sustainability, our building stock still needs improvement to meet City goals of reducing emissions from existing buildings by 20% by 2020 and hitting 2030 Challenge targets for new construction.

Building energy represents 26% of Seattle's Carbon Emissions. Source: Seattle 2005 Community Greenhouse Gas Inventory.

As the Ordinance requirements come online, building owners will be required to disclose utility data only to potential buyers, tenants or lenders, and provide annual energy reports to the City for aggregate trend research. The benefit to owners though is two-fold. One, those who invest in energy efficiency may see an associated increase in building valuation, a benefit that has long been promoted yet has been hard to prove. And, second, the Ordinance will reduce workload for owners in benchmarking their buildings with readily accessible utility meter data.

Beyond benefits to building owners, access to aggregate data and trends among specific market segments can help local jurisdictions tailor policies and programs for greatest impact and drive utility customers toward incentive programs.

Additional Resources:

• Seattle Energy Disclosure Ordinance Overview by the Institute for Market Transformation.
• The Ordinance’s listserve for updates and notifications.
• A comparison matrix of state and city disclosure policies by BuildingRating.org.
• IMT’s summary of benchmarking and related property valuation.

For upcoming presentation topics of the Seattle Energy Design Round Table (SEDR), visit the Cascadia GBC calendar. SEDR meets the 3rd Monday of the month, in the US Bank Center building in downtown Seattle.

Teresa is a founder and co-chair of SEDR.

Passivhaus Homes are Here in the NW

Mini B Passivhaus Cottage, Architect: Joe Giampietro.

There were 2 on the tour; the Blackbird Builder’s one in Columbia City and the Mini B temporarily stationed in the Phinney Ridge Neighborhood Center. Two key things in common: thick walls with serious rigid insulation and an emphasis on controlled ventilation systems to keep the air fresh in the Passivhaus’ required air-tight space. The Blackbird home sported Canadian brand Cascadia windows, but with the calculations to show that the energy saved in the home will outweigh shipping impacts!

Columbia City Passivhaus by Blackbird Builders.

Vertical Solar Hot Water Collectors. Remdoel by Envision Homes.

Solar Can Do in Seattle

A feature of the Mighty Homes remodel in West Seattle that caught my attention here was the “expandable” PV system. Using a Solar Epiphany system, the PV array starts small with the intent to add additional panels as funds become available. This could offer a more affordable way for many home owners to jump into PV. Also in West Seattle, a new Envision Homes remodel sported an amazing view, with a vertically mounted solar hot water array on the south facade. The SHW system pre-heats domestic hot water year round.

Craftsmanship is King!

The artfulness of these projects was a delight to experience. Not only were many of the construction details a thing of beauty in themselves, art was also often a focal point. At the FiveDot Design Build’s Phinney Retreat the salvaged wood floors from an old structure in British Columbia, re-milled and finished on Bainbridge, and installed with a low voc finish for a unique, rustic floor. It does take owner buy-in, as the grooves and rough edges of these heavy wood planks will require a bit of extra attention from the vacuum.

Throughout the Highpoint Neighborhood Center, which also has the largest PV array in Washington, ceramic art provided a link to the hydrological cycle and salmon habitat for area residents. Concentric and overlapping zinc circles inlaid into a rich stained concrete floor were meant to represent rain drops falling on water. Lovely indeed, the art of sustainability cannot be overvalued.

Salvaged wood flooring at Phinney Retreat

Hydrological Art at Highpoint

While much of what has been spent has been focused on single family housing and some infrastrucutre, the retrofits of existing commercial and multi-family building stock has been a bit left out.  Yet, some of the money is going to some good green retrofits that will hopefully set an example of the impact those funds can have. For many in the architecture and design world new HVAC systems aren’t hot news. But, if existing building retrofits provide jobs for the lagging A&E sector, and that would be hot news!

A recent article in the Chicago Tribune highlighted a few nice examples of the federal building stimulus funds in action, including a HVAC retrofit at Mies Van der Rohe’s Chicago Federal Center. Up on the sex appeal scale, the Celebrezze Cleveland Federal Building gets a new double skin facade, designed by Interactive Design Eight Architects.

For many large cities, such as New York, the bulk of their building stock by 2030 will be existing, and aging, buildings. With billions of dollars in the pipeline for energy efficiency improvements, look for both publc and private sectors to be jumping on the retrofit wagon.

First Passivhaus: Darmstadt-Kranichstein, Germany; Photo: Wolfgang Feist.

But, boon to us in the NW, there’s one open for a tour during the NW Eco Building Guild’s spring Green Home Tour. For more on the Passiv Haus super-insulated, super air-tight, solar heat gain approach, see Getting More Aggressive About Passivhaus article on the NW Eco Building Guild’s website.

Additional Passivhaus Resources:

• Passivhaus US
• Passivhaus NW
• Passipedia

2009 Seattle Energy Code RS-29*

Mr. Hogan did a great job of guiding us through the key changes in the Seattle code, pointing out some fine points of using the new Reference Standard-29 Analysis Path, and providing some of the reasoning behind a few things that may seem odd without explanation. Here’s a quick fire of some of the key take aways from the presentation. For the full overview, visit Seattle’s code page.

• First, the 2009 WSEC is in effect for both residential and non-residential projects.
• Energy consumption is now based on TOTAL energy consumption, including elevators, garage ventilation, etc.
• You can only take credit for components that are included in the model and on the permit set you are submitting. No electrical design yet, then no credit for “planned” reductions in LPD. If it hasn’t been designed yet, include code-compliant variables in both model cases.
• There are some places where RS-29 grants a code variance, but only if the proposed variance is fully modeled.
• To meet the energy code using the RS-29 Analytical path, the Proposed Design must be at least 5% below the Basline Building.
• Since simulation software may vary in design settings (dry bulb, wet bulb, etc.) for the Seattle climate, RS-29 has provided default values that must be used to keep things consistent.
• The modeling methodology follows ASHRAE 90.1 Appendix G, with a few modifications. The “Baseline” & “Proposed” terminology from Appendix G replace “Standard” and “Design” terminology for comparing a code compliant building model with the actual design model.
• The energy models must include shading by adjacent buildings and include terrain.
• Unmet load hours must be less than 300.
• RS-29 includes maximum fan system power requirements that are not in the base WSEC.
• Prescriptive Path compliance review is included in the standard building permit review fee. Component Trade-off review and RS-29 reviews are charged an hourly fee. It’s alot of work from both directions, but it’s also for good intent.
• In mixed use buildings, different use areas meet the applicable code, ie. condos meet residential requirements while lower retail meets commercial.
• The model must match the permit drawings. One might think this a given, but apparently DPD often got models that really haven’t been updated to reflect final design changes.
• While in the State code, receptacle and lighting loads in the occupancy schedule are considered equal, the Seattle code allows for lighting reductions based on the City’s more stringent lighting controls requirements.
• This one’s big – the Baseline is derived from modeling code requirements, then running 4 simulations, at 0, 90,180 & 270 degrees of rotation, and taking the average. This allows teams that design for best orientation to get credit for their good choices. It doesn’t apply much in the urban core, but the code doesn’t distinguish based on location…. yet. When rotating the model, the context and shade from surrounding buildings can be rotated at the same time, as on some sites a rotated model might not even fit.
• The options for Baseline walls, roofs, floors, doors and slab on grade have been simplified, just one option for each and not tied to glazing %.
• Reporting has gone up a notch, or several, but is more aligned with ASHRAE 90.1 Appendix G and LEED. Although, keep in mind the LEED Baseline may be different. Also, while a code compliance report might qualify for documenting LEED points, the reverse is not true.

Whew, we went through all this and more in just under 90 minutes! I’m glad I got an overview, even though I’ll still have to review the code to make sure it all sinks in. If you can catch one of John’s presentations, I highly recommend it.

Seattle Energy Design Roundtable (SEDR)**

Originally the Seattle Ecotect User Group, SEUG for short, this energy design savvy group has been around since June 2009. After over a year delving into Ecotect Analysis models, quirks, scripts, work arounds and more, we started also discussing Rhino, Grasshopper, Energy Plus and Radiance and realized our group had expanded its focus and we liked it.

Thus SEUG became SEDR (sounds like “cedar”), the Seattle Energy Design Roundtable. Basically, we are an open forum for sharing information on energy efficiency early in the design process for maximum results. Some people are more into design and some more into technology, we’ve got both architects and engineers and I think even a landscape architect. So if you’re looking for an energy design tribe, check us out the SEDR yahoo group or Linked In.

*Code summary information is provided for informational purposed only. Any persons using the 2009 Seattle Energy Code should perform their own code review.

**Disclaimer, I am the founder and co-chair of SEDR, and yes, there’s just a little bit of friendly recruiting here, so come join us and share in the energy design conversation!