Aiming For Truly Sustainable Buildings

What are the attributes of truly sustainable buildings and how can the development community get on board to help change outdated regulations here in Jersey City that prevent greener buildings from coming to market ?  In this article some of the discussion touches on certification systems like LEED, the Living Building Challenge and Passive House and the differences between them - good to understand !  While changing the regulatory guidelines can be a lucrative opportunity for developers, lower energy consumption / costs and quality of life aspects are what appeal to occupants seek out these all too few gems.  My personal interest is in seeing these technologies applied to more affordable price brackets, rather than just the luxury market, but that's another conversation. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/03/realestate/aiming-for-truly-sustainable-buildings.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1383598024-+/PjAJHXbiw/Z+8JS5spDQ

SJC hosts a monthly community education event series called 'Greener Buildings, Energy Efficiency & Water Conservation For Neighborhoods'.   Our next talk is tomoro nite with Geopeak's Mike Babb, covering off on various solar options available to businesses and residences, including a discussion about the solar array they are putting on the roof of St. Paul's Community Center.  These projects are important to Jersey City and there should be more of them.  Join us if you can - details here.

Rain Gardens

Rebuilding: One Year After Sandy

Urban planner and the founder of Outside New York, Carter Craft, spoke on Sunday night at Grace Van Vorst Church about rebuilding the areas affected by water damage from Sandy. The essence of his message, as far as I understood, was that water needs to move and flow and it needs access to places where it can do that harmlessly. Inlets, wetlands, canals, etc. Humans have tried to restrict water's natural inclinations and it's not working. He also stressed the need for interaction between people and the water. Boating, fishing, swimming, paddle boarding, etc. A lot of this touches on the notion of who has access to the water's edge, what socio-economic groups "own" the water's edge and restrict "non-owners" from accessing it. https://outsidenewyork.wordpress.com/

http://www.waterfrontalliance.org/

Rebuild by Design is a competition between some of the brightest minds in the design world. They have attempted to come up with solutions to rebuilding the Sandy affected regions in a sustainable way. I went to the presentation at NYU by the ten design groups who have been chosen as finalists. What excited me most about their plans were the strategies that involved the factors Carter Craft talked about....accessibility of water into the water's edges and the interaction of people and water.

Go to Rebuild by Design's website to see updates on their public forums in and around Jersey City.

http://www.rebuildbydesign.org/

EPA Releases New Green Infrastructure Strategy, Focuses on Making Green Infrastructure a Part of Business as Usual for Communities

EPA Releases New Green Infrastructure Strategy, Focuses on Making Green Infrastructure a Part of Business as Usual for Communities EPA has launched a new strategy to expand the use of green infrastructure, with the goal of making green infrastructure a part of business as usual for local communities. The Agency’s 2013 Green Infrastructure Strategy builds on its previous 2008 and 2011 green infrastructure strategies. The new strategy maintains a focus on information exchange and community engagement, while focusing on improving federal coordination, Clean Water Act regulatory support, research and information exchange, funding and financing, and capacity building.

More information:  http://water.epa.gov/infrastructure/greeninfrastructure/gi_support.cfm

Jamie Piziali

US EPA - Office of Wastewater Management

Green Infrastructure Program

202-564-1709    piziali.jamie@epa.gov

COSMIC UNITY PROJECT