Sustainable Design Part One: Building An Environmental Ethic

What is Sustainable Design?Part One:Building an Environmental Ethic

Terri Meyer Boake BES, BArch, MArch, LEED AP

Associate Director School of Architecture University of WaterlooPast President of the Society of Building Science EducatorsMember OAA Committee on Sustainable Built Environment

Presentation Summary

In this presentation, we will discuss:• The Definition of Sustainable Design• Why is this important• Global warming• The role of buildings in the environment• The inclusive nature of sustainable design

Building an Environmental Ethic:

how architecture can ~ “live lightly on the earth”

Aldo Leopold Legacy Centre, Wisconsin – Carbon Neutral and LEED Platinum

What is Environmental Design?“the modern architect has produced the most flagrantly uneconomic and uncomfortable buildings…which can be inhabited only with the aid of the most expensive devices of heating and refrigeration. The irrationality of

this system of construction is visible today in every city from New York to San Francisco: glass sheathed buildings without any contact with fresh air,

sunlight, or view.” Lewis Mumford.

Environmentally sensitive design looks to design in harmony with, and in response to the climate. It attempts to use the natural solar and ventilation characteristics of the local climate/environment to inform the building design so to minimize use and dependency on consumptive non renewable energy sources. Sustainable building design looks to “live lightly on the earth” so that there will be quality and resources remaining for generations to come.

Eden Project, United Kingdom– incorporating nature and

innovative architectural design

The Sustainable Ethic:

Sustainable building is not a new style of building. It is a way to think about how we design, construct, and operate buildings. Its primary goal is to

lessen the harm poorly designed buildings cause by using the best of ancient building approaches in logical combination with the best of new

technological advances. Its ultimate goal is to make possible offices, homes, even entire subdivisions that are net producers of energy, food,

clean water and air, beauty, and healthy human and biological communities.

Green buildings try to take less from the earth and give more to people.

Definitions of Sustainable DesignSustainable development is seeking to meet the needs of the present without

compromising those of future generations.

Sustainability envisions the enduring prosperity of all living things.

Sustainable design seeks to create communities, buildings, and products that contribute to this vision.

To paraphrase educator and author David Orr: Sustainable design is the careful meshing of human purposes with the larger patterns and flows of the natural world.

To paraphrase architect Bill Reed: Sustainable design is a process that supports and improves the health of the systems that sustain life.

“The world will not evolve past its current state of crisis by using the same thinking that created the situation.”

– Albert Einstein

The current environmental problems of the world are the result of Design …the world of DESIGN needs

some Radical thinking if we are to Design ourselves out of the problem!

Industry 25%

Transportation 27%

Buildings 48%

POLLUTION IS AN ACT OF DESIGNRemember, EVERYTHING that is called 'disposable' was DESIGNED from day one to be garbage--as its PRIMARY and overriding design

consideration.”

EVEN THIS BUILDINGWas designed to be

thrown out!

Radical PHILOSOPHY!??

WASTE = FOOD(the human race is the only species to DESIGN things with the INTENTION that they become

GARBAGE!)

Design for a closed loop where WASTE becomes FOOD and FEEDS back into a healthy cycle….

compostable end product

MIMIC NATURAL CYCLES

Radical PROPOSITION!??

DESIGN FOR DISASSEMBLYSo that we can take things (even buildings!)

apart and easily repair or reuse themREUSE MEANS LESS ENERGY THAN RECYCLE

DESIGN BUILDINGS TO COME APART SO THAT THEY CAN BE REPAIRED, REUSED AND RECYCLED – EASILY!

MIMIC OTHER INDUSTRIES

BUILDINGS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR BETWEEN

40% TO 70% OF WORLD CARBON EMISSIONS

Inconvenient TRUTH

Radical Wake Up Call The Northeast Blackout of

2003 was a massive widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the Northeastern and Midwestern United States, and Ontario, Canada on Thursday, August 14, 2003, at approximately 4:15 pm EDT (20:15 UTC). At the time, it was the most widespread electrical blackout in history. The blackout affected an estimated 10 million people in the Canadian province of Ontario and 45 million people in eight U.S. states.

ICE STORM = NO POWER = NO HEAT

Radical PROBLEM!• No power…• Hot August weather… or• Cold January temperatures…• Hooked on electricity, heat and A/C• What buildings/environment/systems

“worked”?• What buildings/environment/systems

“didn’t” work?

SEALED BUILDINGS CANNOT BREATHE

ELEVATORS AND LIGHTS NEED POWERMODERN ARCHITECTURE DOES NOT WORK!

Radical AWAKENING!

• Grid and energy dependent buildings/environment/systems DID NOT WORK!

• OPERABLE WINDOWS WORKED!• NATURAL VENTILATION WORKED!• SHADE WORKED!• SUNLIGHT WORKED!• DAYLIT SPACES WORKED!• WALKABLE NEIGHBOURHOODS WORKED!• BICYCLES WORKED!

Radical THOUGHT!??

MAYBE WE SHOULD BEGIN TO DESIGN OUR BUILDINGS/ENVIRONMENTS IN

REVERSE!Start with a basic UNPLUGGED building

Four Key Steps:#1 - start by UNPLUGGING the buildingThen…#2 – heat only with the sun#3 – cool only with the wind and shade#4 – light only with daylight

USE the ARCHITECTURE first, and mechanical systems only to supplement what you cannot otherwise provide.#5 – USE RENEWABLE CLEAN ENERGY BEFORE HOOKING UP TO NATURAL GAS, OIL OR THE REGULAR ELECTRICAL GRID (with all of its nastiness – including CO2)

RADICAL STEPS!

Radical IS Passive…

PASSIVE DESIGN is where the building uses the SUN, WIND and LIGHT to heat,

cool and lightARCHITECTURALLY

Radical REALIZATION

#1 - OUR NORTH AMERICAN LIFESTYLE OF CONSUMPTION IS NOT SUSTAINABLE#2 – DEVELOPING COUNTRIES (WITH

ZILLIONS MORE PEOPLE THAN WE) ARE STRIVING TO BE JUST LIKE US….

CO2 Production by Country in 1997

Country CO2 Produced (tonnes of carbon)Total (millions) Per Capita

U.S. 1,489.6 5.48China 913.8 0.75Russia 390.6 2.65Japan 316.2 2.51India 279.9 0.29Germany 27.4 2.77UK 142.1 2.41Canada 133.9 4.42Italy 111.3 1.94Ukraine 100.4 1.97Source: Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee

CO2 Production by Country in 2006

• Country CO2 Produced % total world emissions

• metric tonnes• U.S. 5,752 20.2%• China 6,103 21.5%• European Union 1,314 13.8%• Russia 1,564 5.5%• India 1,510 5.3% • Japan 1,293 4.6%• Canada 545 1.9%

The Global situation in the past 10 years has become many times WORSE. China’s emissions INCREASED by 668% in 10 years.

Source: Wikipedia, accessed Sept 3, 2009

Canadian GHG Stats:

Canadians create 2% of global GHGs, but are0.05% of global population.

Canada is 9th largest emitter of GHG emissions, but Canadians are the 2nd highest per capita creators of GHGs in the world.

Energy use and GHGs by Sector in Canada:Industrial 39% energy 33.3% GHGsTransportation 29% energy 35.7% GHGsResidential 17% energy 15.5% GHGsCommercial &Institutional 12% energyAgriculture 3% energy

Kyoto Protocol:To stabilize atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases at today's levels will require reducing human-

generated emissions by 80 percent immediately.There are six greenhouse gases covered under the

protocol to the international convention on climate change (the Kyoto Protocol) – carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs),

perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).

The Kyoto protocol was agreed upon through international co-operation under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which was created in 1992.

The Kyoto protocol came out of the UNFCCC’s December 1997 meeting held in Kyoto, Japan.

Under the agreement, industrialized nations must reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases by an average of 5.2 per cent (from 1990 levels) by the period 2008 to 2012.

Consider the percentage of energy used as a direct result of “buildings”…

Who designs buildings?

So, who should be held responsible for them?

US figures

Sustainable Checklist:"Treat the Earth well. It was not given to you by your parents. It was loaned to you by your children." --- Kenyan Proverb.

Ideally a sustainable building should:• make appropriate use of land• use water, energy, lumber, and other

resourcesefficiently

• enhance human health• strengthen local economies and

communities• conserve plants, animals, endangered

species, and natural habitats• protect agricultural, cultural, and

archaeological resources• be nice to live in• be economical to build and operate

The Liu CentreUniversity of British ColumbiaArchitectonica/Stantec

Scientists firmly believe that we are running out of oil and the bottom line is that while consumption is ever increasing, production is felt to have peaked and is predicted to rapidly decline.

The End of Oil

Radical CONFLICT!??

#1 – GLOBAL WARMING – too much CO2

#2 – RUNNING OUT OF OIL (oil causes CO2 )

The conundrum…

• Greenhouse gas emissions are ruining life on the planet as we know it

• Greenhouse gas comes from burning fossil fuels• We are running out of fossil fuels, so potentially

the faster we run out of fossil fuels the more quickly we can solve Global warming

• So, why is this a problem?

If fuel production declines, there is not enough fuel to heat and cool the present building stock in 40 years time -- not to mention heating

and cooling any buildings we might add between now and then….

Also of concern is the growing reliance on OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries), or non North American fuel sources,

given the instability in the Middle East.

The Challenge

• Architects need to figure out how to solve this problem by designing buildings more sustainably and holistically

• Also to use less and less fossil based fuels as eventually we simply won’t be able to rely on them.

Design and Construction Industry as potential single largest contributor (40%) to Canada’s solutions for compliance with the Kyoto Protocol and for creating long term ecological sustainability.

‘Environmental Design is definitely an avenue towards sustainability.

Great potential for ‘Environmental Leadership’ in architecture

Environmentally responsible architecture CAN make a huge difference.

Environmental Architecture:

The George and Kathy Dembroski Centre for Horticulture at the Toronto Botanical Garden Montomery Sisam ArchitectsToronto, OntarioLEEDTM Silver

* Healthful Interior Environment.

* Energy Efficiency. * Ecologically Benign

Materials. * Environmental Form. * Good Design.

Five principles of an environmental Architecture: (Thomas A. Fisher, AIA, November, 1992)

The Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research University of TorontoBenisch and Architect Alliance Architects

Healthful Interior Environment.

* All possible measures are to be taken to ensure that materials and building systems do not emit toxic

substances and gasses into the interior atmosphere. Additional

measures are to be taken to clean and revitalize interior air with

filtration and plantings.

Cambridge City HallDiamond Schmitt ArchitectsCambridge, OntarioLEEDTM Gold

Energy Efficiency.

* All possible measures are to be taken to ensure that the building's use of energy is minimal. Cooling, heating and lighting systems are to use

methods and products that conserve or eliminate energy use.

Stratus WineryNiagara-on-the-Lake, OntarioLes Andrew ArchitectLEEDTM Silver

CMHC Healthy HouseMartin Leifhebber Architect(Breathe Architects)Toronto, Ontario

Ecologically Benign Materials.* All possible measures are to be taken to use building materials and products

that minimize destruction of the global environment. Wood is to be selected based on non destructive forestry practices. Other materials and

products are to be considered based on the toxic waste output of production.

Jackson Triggs WineryNiagara-on-the-Lake, OntarioKPMB Architects

Mountain Equipment CoopWinnipeg, ManitobaPrairie Architects

Environmental Form.

* All possible measures are to be taken to relate the form and plan of the design to the site, the region and the climate. Measures are to be taken to

"heal" and augment the ecology of the site. Accommodations are to be made for recycling and energy efficiency. Measures are to be taken to relate the form of building to a harmonious relationship between the

inhabitants and nature.

YMCA Environmental Learning CentreParadise Lake, OntarioCharles Simon Architect

Good Design.* All possible measures are to be taken to achieve an efficient, long lasting and elegant relationship of use areas, circulation, building form, mechanical systems

and construction technology. Symbolic relationships with appropriate history, the Earth and spiritual principles are to be searched for and expressed. Finished

buildings shall be well built, easy to use and beautiful.

Glen Eagles Recreation Centre, Vancouver, BCPatkau Architects

White Rock Operations Centre, White Rock, BCBusby and AssociatesLEEDTM Gold

Your ecological footprint…

If we are not going to be part of the PROBLEM.

We are going to learn how to be part of the SOLUTION!

Project #1: Calculate your ecological footprint. How many planets are YOU using now….

What is an ecological footprint?

It is a measure of our consumption and/or emissions as a result of our lifestyle.

The bottom line is

SMALLER IS BETTER! Calculating your “ecological footprint”

… can naturally extend to an understanding of your “carbon footprint” S

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www.zerofootprint.net

"Future generation is the most important" --- Confucius.“Sustainable development is seeking to meet the needs of the present without compromising those

of future generations.”"It's not easy being green." --

Kermit the Frog, 1972.

Presentation Summary

In this presentation, we discussed:• The Definition of Sustainable Design• Why is this important• Global warming• The role of buildings in the environment• The inclusive nature of sustainable design