Our current framework for net-zero buildings doesn’t account for embodied carbon – that is, carbon pollution created during material manufacturing and distribution. In this session, we will show how systems thinking about carbon and an integrated design approach can change building practices from a problem to a solution. We will present data on the embodied carbon impact of green buildings; address how to quantify embodied carbon in design/build practices; and discuss present-day carbon-positive construction materials and assemblies, which can reduce the carbon load in the atmosphere. This effectively uses buildings as carbon-sequestering reservoirs, which can mitigate and even reverse climate change effects. Understanding the carbon cycle, and how we as design/build practitioners can make beneficial choices, is the next horizon for integrative green building.

The city is an important scale for holistic innovation that can play a major role in global decarbonization. Practitioners can learn to optimize this scale to integrate building-level, streetscape-level, and community-level clean energy ingenuity. Audience members will interact with: a community psychologist who has used a whole systems approach to shape our culture and places for decades; a regional practitioner who helps to usher in smart-city innovation; and a state agency that is working to foster community public-private microgrids. Each participant will leave with 3 action steps to implement a city-scale measure in their ecosystem.

Parking creates numerous environmental impacts, including excess energy consumption, urban heat island effect, stormwater runoff, traffic congestion, and pollution. This presentation will illustrate how well-designed and efficient parking structures can dramatically improve a property's carbon footprint by minimizing natural resource use and incorporating green design. Best-in-class parking sustainability standards, including the USGBC's Parksmart Certification, benefit neighborhoods and communities, while maximizing the bottom line. Topics covered will include low-carbon strategies, electric mobility, stormwater management, and green infrastructure.

CANCELLED

This session will provide a unique opportunity for sea-level rise to be discussed at three various scales by experts approaching this timely issue in different ways. Shaun O’Rourke, Chief Resiliency Officer for the State of Rhode Island will discuss his on-going efforts at the state level by focusing on sea-level rise, urban heat and flooding. Barnaby Evans, founding-artist of internationally acclaimed WaterFire, will share his work at the city level by touting sea-level rise mitigation as an economic development tool. Stephanie Zurek, of Union Studio Architects will highlight on-going work at the neighborhood level by sharing the impact of sea-level rise on historic Newport, RI from previously published “Keeping History Above Water.”

The PHIUS Passive House Primary Energy (PE) criteria is currently set at 6200 kWh/occupant/year. Recent multifamily Passive House projects have not met PE by passive measures alone but have required onsite renewable energy generation. Is it possible for cost-effective passive measures to meet the PE goal?

The floods and hurricanes of 2017 and the winter weather of 2018 all highlight the need for buildings and communities that can withstand natural (and human-made) disasters and continue to provide critical energy needs. The speakers will discuss (1) resiliency in general, (2) how building design professionals can incorporate resiliency into their projects, and (3) examples of communities that are starting to incorporate resiliency into critical infrastructure (microgrids).

As an increasing number of states legalize cannabis for not only medical but also recreational use, the energy consumption of indoor cannabis cultivation can no longer be ignored. Its relatively tentative legal state and its somewhat taboo status have stifled efforts to reduce the impacts of cannabis cultivation.

We all know we should be saving water in our multifamily buildings, but how? Most tenants pay their own electric bills so switching off lights makes economic sense, but since water is usually included in rent, thousands of running toilets and leaky faucets go mostly neglected every day.